Thursday, November 4, 2010

what's cooking?

as usual i spend about 3 hours in the kitchen cooking on saturdays-i do this so that dinners during the week are a bit easier. this weekend i put together stuffed bell peppers, veggie lasagna for sunday dinner (leftover ratatouille makes great veggie lasagna), and italian sausage to go with the lasagna so that the boys would be willing to eat it. saturday dinner included sauteed loin chops (enought leftovers for another meal-yea) with a mushroom sauce, spaghetti squash, and asparagus. cooking the squash was a first for me. i added a tad of butter, fresh basil and parmesan cheese. i'd like to try this at a restaurant to get an idea of what it's supposed to taste like.
for dessert we had crepes-these really are super easy-step 1 included throwing all the ingredients in a blender-giving it a whirl and refrigerating for 2 hours. i use the recipe in the art of french cooking. now julia child doesn't write that you throw everything in and give it a whirl-but i bet she said it a few times on her show! anyway, i have a ladle that provides the perfect amount of batter (2 ladles)- so the key is to make sure you have a non-stick pan, add melted butter, and let it get real hot, then add the batter (not too much)-swirl it around the pan
once the edges start to get a bit brown and "crispy" looking, remove from heat, flip the crepe, i use an off set spatula and my fingers.
let it cook a bit longer, then onto a plate. these are great cause you can make them ahead and stuff them with whatever you want.
i fill mine with marscarpone cheese, and i made 2 toppings-reduced blackberries with just a bit of honey, and simmered apples with a bit of honey, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. roll up and enjoy


2 comments:

Beth said...

Yum!!! The crepes look delicious and the squash does, too. (I like squash but don't make it often because nobody else here eats it.)

Mary said...

yummy! your family eats much better than mine does, for sure! I watched a tyler florence ultimate yesterday and it was about pancakes. he visited lyon to see about making crepes. yours look better than the ones he had on his show (were they as good as they look?)