Fossil food!

[rikibeth]

I went very old-school French for dinner tonight. We had most of a spiral ham left, and asparagus was on sale, and I wanted something creamy and sauce-y and good, so...

Crepes.

With ham, asparagus, and a cream sauce with white wine, mushrooms, and caramelized onions. A little Parmesan sprinkled on top, and run under the broiler while I set the table.

The nice thing was that it had the meat and the vegetable all together, and the crepes were thin enough that they were just the right amount of carbohydrate for a Christy-friendly dinner.

The even nicer thing was that the caramelized onions and the novelty of a pancake wrapping caused melovechocolate to eat a serving nearly the size of the adults'.

I caramelized a LOT of onions, on purpose, so there'd be extra (a whole 1-pound deli container, yay!) to go into the meatloaf that shadowflyer is planning to make tomorrow, when I'm at work. Mmm, meatlof sandwich for lunch on Tuesday...

I wish I could find my small palette knife/offset spatula from my school kit. None of the other utensils in the house are as well suited for flipping crepes.

This is another side effect of the job -- the cooking requires no actual menu-designing creativity, so I am once more exercising my desire for making interesting food at HOME.

Yes, I think I like my new job.

Comments

[mybleubird.livejournal.com]

*drool*

[daniellec.livejournal.com]

That sounds AWESOME! I love experimenting with food. Usually, it's a stir fry and I just walk around the produce section and go "Oooh, that looks cool". There's also this chicken roast I do. I debone a roasting chicken and have fun stuffing it with whatever I have laying around. The last time I made it I stuffed it with this rice, sausage and pepper stirfry. It came out great. If only I had my good knives (left in Florida when I moved) I could do it again. Not with these hopelessly loose American knives.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

You left your good knives behind when you moved? WHY? Were you running for your LIFE or something?

clearly, you need better knives again.

I took the pastry course, not the full culinary arts, so I am clumsy when it comes to deboning a chicken, or even carving one. I keep meaning to ask if I can audit the school's fabrication course.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

The crepes sound absolument magnifiques! Wish we had a crepe pan. (Although I should ask my mother; she's got all sorts of odd cookery things she's pickt up at some point in the past and never uses.)

Actually, we've got a decent griddle that would likely do the trick. And the cookbook of Julia et Jacques, which I'm reasonably sure has a crepe batter and from which I got my galette aux pommes. (Which I made last night after Easter Vigil, mostly cos it's one of my aunt's favourite things, I'd not got round to it all week she's been here, and she's left this afternoon. She puts up with my mad gran, so it was the least could do. :-)

Yes, I think I like my new job.

Glad to hear it.

[daniellec.livejournal.com]

The first time I deboned the chicken it came out horrible. It was all over the place and I accidentally cut off key peices of chicken. But you get better at it the more you do it.

Yes, $200 knife kit. Berghoff from Germany. I bought it from a guy that my teacher knew that went to Germany. Very shady character, but I got some nice knives. I left them with my mom so when we go back down to visit I'm bringing them up here on the plain. They're in this kick ass brief case. And they're razer sharp, at least they were. I'm going to scream if my my mother used them and didn't take care of them.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Crepe pan? For heaven's sake, I just used a small cast iron skillet. Haven't you got one?

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I've got my lovely Henckels block that was a wedding gift.

If they need sharpening I've got a good electric sharpener -- I suck with a stone and oil.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, crepes. :)

[daniellec.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I would end up cutting myself with a stone and oil. They should be ok, but if not then I might as well buy an electric sharpener.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Berghoff (or however you spell it) is the cheap knock off of Henckel. Those fricken rule.

[ghilledhu.livejournal.com]

Wow...ditch the fungus, and that definitely sounds like Food!

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Crepe pan? For heaven's sake, I just used a small cast iron skillet. Haven't you got one?

I've got one of those, ayup. It's kind of deep, though. Is that a problem?

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

See, that's why you need the small offset spatula, to make it easy to flip the thing over.

But no, not much of a problem. Especially if you are not impatient and let the crepe set up propery before you try to flip it, remembering that it is a crepe and not a blintz, after all.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

I'm going to scream if my my mother used them and didn't take care of them.

I hope you don't have to scream :-)

My mother doesn't take care of knives, either. I've tried to persuade her to use mine cos hers are dull and they worry me, but it may be just as well she doesn't.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

It'd work without the fungus, yes.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Especially if you are not impatient and let the crepe set up propery before you try to flip it, remembering that it is a crepe and not a blintz, after all.

I see. Thanks!

The only time I've ever made crepes was years ago, at high school, on one of those little crepe irons with the convex face that somebody'd brought in. (It was some sort of silly school event, senior year, and the one-French-teacher-who-could-actually-speak-French had got the idea that our class should set up a little creperie and, speaking only French to each other and English only to customers if there was no other choice, sell crepes.:-)

I'm not sure why the iron had the convex face. The creperie in Cork City (was run by a local man who'd moved back after living some years in Brittany) had big flat round griddles. God, those were wonderful crepes. He had fresh homemade mustard and, in season, duck eggs.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I would end up cutting myself with a stone and oil. They should be ok, but if not then I might as well buy an electric sharpener.

FWIW, I find that sandpaper on a piece of glass (or even a smooth, level board) works well. Start with 120 grit (80 if the blade is very dull) then work up through the grits to 600 or 800. A wide piece of sandpaper and a wide surface to set it on makes it easier to hold the bevel, I find. Some people wrap their finger with several layers of tape and use it as a guide between the flat of the blade and the paper.

You can finish with green polishing compound on a piece of cardboard; I've also heard of using brown paper bags for a final stropping.

Diamond stones also work well, and can be lubricated with water or used dry. I've only got a little pocket sized E-Z-Lap (under ten bucks at the Evil Arkansas Empire Mart) that I use on my whittling and pocket knives; I think you'd want a bigger for chef's knives.

PS

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

I think you'd want a bigger for chef's knives.

Which is the problem with the things. They start getting pricier very quickly as the size goes up. :-(

[shoeless-girl.livejournal.com]

I'm so happy you are liking your new job *snugs*

[simplykimberly.livejournal.com]

A non-stick pan works great, too, in my experience :)