May 27, 2001
cookin' (crepes and split-pea soup)

I recently decided to make a concerted effort to eat and cook healthier food, so I started with the Open Directory's soup recipes, and came across the Moosewood recipe for split pea soup, which turned out really well, and was a hit at the potluck that I brought it to. It's a vegan recipe, and it's yummy. I recommend it.

For the last two summers, I had a routine of cooking a large stack of crepes every Sunday morning, and inviting everyone I knew to drop in and partake, on the condition that they bring something to drink or something to put on/in the crepes. It made for some good conversation, but mostly just a chance to relax and talk to people who are usually really busy. Today, some of the regulars from last summer decided to pick up the tradition and serve crepes in their apartment; people brought all kind of decadent toppings, like stewed apples, rhubarb, pecan and peanut butter, cream cheese and rasberry, rhubarb, strawberry, and apple spreads/jams. A good degustation (sp.), and good conversation was had by all.

Crepes

~5 eggs

some flour

a few lemons

buttermilk (soy milk will probably work, but I haven't tried it)

vanilla extract

Beat the eggs with a whisk, and gradually sift flour into the eggs, while mixing to avoid clumps as much as possible. Add flour until it's difficult to mix in any more. When a fairly consistant dough has been achieved, add some buttermilk, letting it soak in to the egg/flour mix without creating chunks. Once the mix is back to consistant, liquid form, grate the and juice the lemon(s), adding both to the mix, along with a few teaspoons of vanilla extract. Finally, add buttermilk until the batter is thin enough spread over a pan in a thin layer, but thick enough to stick together on a pan. (This is kind of tricky. When the batter starts to drip off the fork quickly, it's close, but it's probably wise to cook a few test crepes to get a sense of the desired consistancy.)

Cook the crepes in a pan over medium heat. Add a spot of cooking oil to the pan before each crepe (this is more important for the first few, as the pan tends to be sticky at first). To get thing crepes, tilt the heated, oiled pan at a 45 degree angle, and pour a small amount of batter at the top with a ladle and let it spread over the pan. Meanwhile, shake the pan back and forth to get the batter to cover the surface, while dripping batter from the ladle to patch up spots. Cook until the surface looks dry, then wait 15-30 seconds and flip. You can also use a crepe pan to make equally thin crepes, but it's not as much fun.

posted by dru in culture
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