To any who might read my blog, I apologize for being so conspicuously absent this past month. I got a craving of a different sort - a craving to draw, paint or something along those lines and that has occupied my time of late. Since we moved to Arizona last summer, we are occupying a far smaller house than had been our usual, and there are no spare rooms to set up my painting supplies (easel, table to hold all my paints, brushes, paraphernalia, chair). That leaves me with a lot of supplies, but no way to truly use them. Racking my brain for some way to satisfy this urge to create a picture of some kind, I finally remembered my iPad Pro and an app called Procreate. I love the app. I love being able to zoom in and work on intricate things. And I love what I've created. I have yet to attempt printing my work, so I have no idea whether this is a truly viable venue to work from, but at least it has calmed my creative urges to some degree. These are some things I have done this month.
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| My "Procreate" Art |
And then, anyone who knows me, also knows how much I love frogs, and tadpoles and the color red, when it comes down to it! Frogs have been a life-long fascination for me. In all their strange forms, I just find them cute / adorable / interesting. And so, I chose to create a little folly with a whole lot of tiny little Poison Dart Frogs. These little bitty frogs are often less than an inch long. While they mainly live on the rainforest floor, once their tadpoles emerge, they are taken, individually, on their mother's back, to great heights up into the trees and deposited in any tiny body of water - often in the centers of bromeliads. Each tadpole is placed into its own body of water, with this great journey undertaken repeatedly until all are safely stowed, and then mama frog has to repeat the journey to each tadpole daily, for feeding. And so, my little folly; with one or two more frogs still to be set into the picture before I am done:
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| Frog Frolicking Folly |
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On to FOOD:
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| My First Try at Buckwheat Rye Crepes |
My son and his significant other also live in AZ, but nearly 4 hours away from us. They are currently living in a huge motor home, by choice. And over winter, it sprang a leak and mold was forming, so it is now in the shop for repairs. While it is being repaired, they needed to dispose of a lot of foods that would spoil in their fridge, so they bestowed their largesse on me.
Crepes, Belgium and Buckwheat
One of the things they gave me was an unopened, but thawed, box of "Belgian Boys" Belgian Crepes. I had never bought crepes before, though I have made them - see my recipe here. I had no idea what the crepes in the box were like, only that they said "Belgian style." Once I opened the box, knowing I had the ingredients for fillings whether these turned out to be sweet or savory style, I found them to be a little sweet, so that left out a savory filling. They were also rather dark in color, compared to any crepes I had made or eaten in past. Until we sat down to have them as dessert, I had reserved any possible judgement on them, but oh my, were they ever tasty! I commented to my husband that they might just have buckwheat in them, as I am pretty familiar with that flavor. I use buckwheat flour in pancakes, breads, scones and anywhere I can find use for it. So, I checked the ingredient list on the package.
Lo and behold, not only buckwheat flour, but also rye flour and "maize starch," (I am assuming might mean cornstarch, but I am not certain) in addition to "wheat flour." These crepes are made in Belgium. I am not at all sure that the ingredient list shows things in order of how much of any one thing is in them, as is the usual for in the U.S. The ingredients listed "water, wheat flour, sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, buckwheat flour, rye flour, maize starch, soy flour, dextrose, salt, natural flavoring, natural vanilla extract."
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| Second Try at Buckwheat and Rye Crepes |
I felt that I might just be able to duplicate these crepes, at least to my own standards of taste. As usual, I went online and checked out recipes for "Belgian crepes with buckwheat flour." I had no idea what I was getting into!
Turns out that in parts of France, and Belgium, buckwheat crepes are a real "thing." Two ingredients: buckwheat and water. Period, end of story. Eaten as a savory crepe and often folded around a food as with a galette or rustic pie, these are apparently very well known and loved - as well as devilishly tricky to make!
Okay, this was so NOT what I was looking for. Yet any search that involved the word buckwheat along with crepes yielded only this sort of crepe. If I skipped the word buckwheat in the search for "Belgian Crepes," I got plain white flour crepes. Okay, so back to my drawing board.
My Version of These Crepes
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| Second Try at Buckwheat and Rye Crepes |
I opted to take my old tried and true recipe for crepes and just play with the flour amounts. In essence, the ingredient list on the box of Belgian Boy crepes listed all the normal things in my crepes: flour, liquid, fat, eggs. All I had to do was change the flours out a bit, add vanilla, use oil rather than butter. My first attempt at these was day before yesterday. They came out splendidly, if I do say so myself. The flavor was exceedingly close to what the boxed crepes tasted like, though I felt that a little more buckwheat was called for. To that end, I remade the recipe yesterday morning, using more buckwheat and less white flour. Other than that, the identical recipe. They already tasted great; this was just my own finickiness at work.
The results were not hugely noticeable. Still, I could tell a difference, and so my second attempt remains my preferred recipe. If you happen to be able to get hands on buckwheat and rye flours, do give these crepes a try. I made a dulce de leche and cream cheese mixture to put inside them, and this was also amazing.
Buckwheat and Rye Crepes
Makes 7 to 8 Crepes, about 10-inches in diameter
Early in the day, combine together in a bowl the three kinds of flour, sugar and salt. Stir or whisk to dry ingredients to evenly distribute the ingredients. In a measuring cup, combine the water, eggs, oil and vanilla extract. Whisk well and pour all at once into the dry ingredients. Using a whisk, briskly combine the ingredients until the mixture is smooth. No need to overwork the batter. Mix only until smooth. Cover the container and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight before proceeding.
Heat a non-stick skillet with a 10-inch diameter base over medium heat until very hot. Put a small amount of neutral oil in a small bowl and use a pastry brush to very lightly coat the surface of the pan. Pour in at least a one-third-cup portion of batter, then quickly lift and rotate the skillet to let the batter reach the edges of the bottom of the pan. You are looking for a 10-inch crepe, made slightly thicker than usual crepes. Once back on heat, watch as for pancakes: there will be small bubbles form, the wet, shiny surface will become dry looking and the edges will begin to turn golden brown and lift slightly away from the pan. This should take about 2½ minutes. Lift an edge with a spatula, and once the bottom is golden, flip the crepe and cook this side for about 1 to 1½ minutes. Remove the crepe to waxed paper and begin again, with lightly brushing the pan with oil. As each crepe is done, set a new piece pf waxed paper atop the first, set the next crepe on top and repeat with each. Keep watch on the heat of the pan. If the crepes begin to get done too quickly and look like there are dark brown spots, lower the heat to medium low. This seems to happen by the end of the second crepe.
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| Process of cooking crepes |
If not using right away, refrigerate the crepes. They can be rewarmed briefly in the pan before using, if needed.
Dulce de Leche Filling or Dip
Makes 1¼ cup
8 ounces cream cheese
4 tablespoons dulce de leche
2 small pinches of Kosher salt
Place the ingredients into a bowl and stir until smooth or use a hand mixer to mix until smooth. Use a tablespoon or two per crepe, spreading over the surface of the crepe, then roll or fold the crepe to serve, dusted with confectioner's sugar.
My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.
