Blackberry Ancho Chili Wine Reduction

This is a play off a Boby Flay recipe, but I've made it much simpler while capturing all the flavor.  Once you make this, you'll be craving it.  I've used frozen organic blackberries, as well as fresh, so you can make this sauce year around no matter where you are located.



Ingredients

1 each Garlic clove, chopped

2 tablespoons Canola oil

2 tablespoons Cilantro, chopped

2/3 cup Brown sugar

2 tablespoons Ancho Chili powder

3 cups Red wine (merlot, shiraz or cabernet)

1 can Apple-Raspberry frozen juice concentrate

10 ounces Blackberries (fresh or frozen)



Heat a 4 quart saucepan on med-high heat. Add oil, garlic and Ancho Chili powder. Sauté for about one minute, until fragrant. Add wine and simmer vigorously until reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Add brown sugar, cilantro, juice concentrate and blackberries. Cook until syrupy or reaches 225 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat. Can be served warm or at room temperature.







Yields: 1 ½ cups or enough for about 10 – 12 servings.

Mole Chile Rub

This is a great rub to use on chicken, pork or beef.  The chocolate adds a great backdrop to the chile with just a touch of sweetness of offset the bite of the chocolate and chile. It's great all by itself, by with the Ancho Chile Blackberry Wine Reduction sauce, its exceptional.  The flavors combinations will send your taste buds to heaven.
Ingredients

1/2 cup Brown sugar

2/3 cup Ancho Chili powder

2/3 cup Granulated garlic

1/3 cup Smoked paprika

3 tablespoons Sea salt

1/3 cup Cocoa powder

Place all ingredients in bowl and mix thoroughly with a fork. Store in an air-tight container.

Sprinkle one to two tablespoons on meat about 30 minutes before grilling or cooking.



Yields: 2 ¼ cups

Coffee Rubbed Grilled Steak with Cilantro/Garlic Butter

Summer's not complete without a grilled steak.  Try something a bit different with this Coffee Rub.  I know, coffee?  Yes, but you can't really taste the coffee. And I know it seems like a lot of spices, but it takes less that 5 minutes to put them all in a bowl and mix and you can store this in an air-tight container and use all summer.  The coffee gives the rub a deep flavor without overpowering it, so you can use this on pork, or chicken.  I've even used it on a grilled turkey breast that I chilled in used in a salad for lunch.  Yum.

Don't skip the Cilantro Garlic Butter on the steak.  This lets your taste buds know their not at your local Western Sizzler.  If you've never put a dab of flavored butter on your steak and let melt before you dig into it, you're in for a real treat.  The butter's fresh flavor adds a succulence to the meat that is just to die for.  You'll love it.  Definitely an easy way to bring your steak up a notch.

Grilled Coffee Rubbed Steaks with Cilantro Butter

 Serves 4

Coffee Rub Ingredients:

1/4 cup chili powder

1/2 cup instant coffee granules

4 tablespoons Spanish paprika

4 tablespoons dark brown sugar

2 tablespoon dry mustard

2 tablespoon kosher salt

2 tablespoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoon dried oregano

4 teaspoons ground ginger

4 Sirloin or rib-eye steaks, 1 1/2-inches thick

Canola or olive oil

8 tablespoons Cilantro Butter

Directions

Combine all spices in a bowl and mix thoroughly with fork, being sure to break up any brown sugar lumps.

Preheat grill to high heat. Brush each side of the steak with oil and then season each side liberally with 2 tablespoons of the coffee rub onto 1 side of each steak. 

Cook the steaks, rub side down until golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Flip the steaks over, cook for 2 minutes and then turn grill down to medium heat and cook until medium-rare doneness, about 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove from grill and top each steak with 2 tablespoon of Cilantro Butter and let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Cilantro Garlic Butter

Top your steaks with this and you'll be the named the grill master. Also good on grilled shrimp and chicken or fish.

Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter, slightly softened

6 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves (1 bunch rinsed and stems removed)

fresh lime juice from half a lime

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

Combine the butter, garlic, cilantro and 1 teaspoon lime juice in a food processor and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, and add more lime juice if needed.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

It's been easy to have been seduced by food manufacturers.  We're told how busy we are and how we need convenience, and these quick to cook products will make our lives oh so much more wonderful and allow us to cope with all the multi-tasking we are putting ourselves through.  Well, I think its a bunch a crap.  Not only that we're so busy, but also what they're shoving down our throats in advertising and marketing as healthy food is crap. And what passes for food today is crap. Literally.

If you can't pronounce it and don't know what it is, it can't be good for you. Ignorance is not bliss.  It's dangerous.  Do you really care that the FDA says it's allowable.  As consumers we've been lied to before and continue to be lied to by food producers with a vested interest in making a profit and by the governmet with a vested interest in keeping their jobs.  You have to be your own advocate and to do that you must not believe the bill of goods you are being sold by food manufacturers.  You have to believe in your eyes, your sense of smell, you taste and your senses.

We need to rethink our priorities.  What are we doing that is so important that we can't serve healthy food? What are we doing that we can't take an hour to cook a meal?  Why do we demand that food be placed on the table in 30 minutes or less?  Yes, you can make a healthy meal from real food in 30 minutes or less, but we're missing so much more if that's what we limit ourselves to everyday.

I'm not a scientist.  I don't know what the connection between perservatives, additives, growth hormones and antibiotics and the vast amount of diseases, and health issues there are today, but I do believe there is a connection as I've watched the numbers of those stricken increase year by year.

Let's stop being duped and as adults and parents let's make a better, healthy future of our children and their children.  Join the Food Revolution, learn to shop better, learn to cook better, learn to make healthier choices for those you love and care about.

Jamie Oliver is going out on a limb and I admire him for taking a stand.  Please think about what you can do and every small change is a good change.  Be proud of what you eat by knowing you created it.  Be proud of what you eat knowing your food was grown and produced by people who care about the land, the environment and your health. Be proud in knowing that you don't buy into the mass marketing that tells you that you don't have time to create a good healthy meal for your family from real food.

Please watch Jamie Olivers' Food Revolution tonight.  Sign the Food Revolution Petition and let our government know we want a Food Revolution in our schools.

It's not easy to make change, but our wellness and the wellness of our children depends on it.

Sweet Potato Bliss

My family loves sweet potatoes, but some have diabetes and can't or shouldn't eat those traditional servings with heaps of brownsugar and melted marshmallows. Not a marshmallow fan myself.  So I've come up with this recipe, which I've served again and again with many requests for the recipe.  Well I've finally had to write it down for a contest from the North Carolina Sweet Potato Comission, which has some other great recipes.  This is going to be one of your favorite recipes for summer, fall and holidays.  This dish goes with chicken, pork, ham, steak, and salmon.  Slightly sweet, creamy, smoky with just a hint of spice. The Chipolte and Ancho add flavor but not enough to make it hot or overly spicy and the fresh nutmeg brings all the flavors together nicely. Try it for your self and see what you think.  Write a comment and tell me if it's not one of your favorites or if you've just died and gone to heaven.

Ingredients


6 large sweet potatoes

¼ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg (about ¼ of a whole nutmeg or approximately 20 turns on a grinder)

1 quart of heavy cream

½ teaspoon ground Chipolte pepper

½ teaspoon ground Ancho chili pepper

1 teaspoon oil or cooking oil spray


Preparation


Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel sweet potatoes and slice into rounds about 1/8th inch think (about the thickness to two quarters put together). Place in a large bowl and sprinkle the sugar over the potatoes and toss (the sooner you get the sugar on the potatoes the less brown spots will develop).


Take a whole nutmeg (found in most grocery stores and online) and grate over potatoes and toss again to distribute nutmeg. It’s better to use less nutmeg than more, if you’re unsure of how much you’ve grated, but ¼ to 1/3 of the nutmeg will have been grated off to get about 1/4 teaspoon.

Oil or spray an oblong or oval oven-proof baking dish (approximately 4 inches deep and 11 inches long and 9 inches wide. Place the potatoes into the baking dish, layering potatoes until the dish is full.


Pour heavy cream evenly over potatoes. Sprinkle with the Chipolte and Ancho chili peppers.


Cover with foil and bake for 30 mintues. (set pan on cookie sheet in case cream boils over)

Uncover and bake for about another 30 minutes, until the cream has thickened and the potatoes are tender.


Let set for about 5 minutes before serving .

Beef , Barley and Mushroom Soup

The cold winds of March are still chilling our bones.  I developed this hearty soup recipe to stave off the chill until the blossoms emerge.

Ingredients

4 ounces thick bacon slices, cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips (I like to use Rays/Chiefs Smokehouse or Applewood smoked)

2 pounds chuck steak or roast cut into cubes or stew meat

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup finely chopped carrots (about 3 carrots)

1/2 cup finely chopped celery (about 2 stalks of celery)

2 garlic cloves, minced

½  pound sliced mini-bella  or button mushrooms

2 cups dry red wine (merlot, cabernet sauvignon, shiraz)

4 cups water

2 cups beef stock or canned beef broth

2 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth

1 cup Quick 10-minutepearl barley or regular pearl barley

 3 large Swiss chard or spinach leaves, thinly sliced crosswise (about 3 cups packed)

Grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Cook bacon in heavy large soup pot (I used and love the Mario Batali 6 Quart Dutch Oven) over medium-high heat until fat is rendered. Add beef and brown. When all liquid from browning beef is evaporated, add onion, carrots, celery, garlic and mushrooms to beef in pot ; cook until soft, about 10 – 15 minutes.

Add 2 cups of wine and cook down to half. Add 4 cups water, both stocks, and bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat; simmer until beef is tender, stirring occasionally.

After an hour add the barley and cook until the beef and barley are tender (total cooking time about 1½ to 2 hours depending on type of barley used). Can be made 1 day ahead to this point. Cool slightly. Refrigerate uncovered until cold, then cover and refrigerate. Bring to simmer before continuing.)

Add chard or spinach to soup; cook until wilted, about 1 minute. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with cheese.

Spring into Salmon Asian Style

Here is an easy and quick salmon dish that I developed that will wake up your taste buds from the winter doldrums and get you thinking about Spring.  This has passed the Jerry taste test (not a salmon lover), so I think you'll like this and it's very quick and easy.  I used frozen salmon fillets and defrosted them in the fridge.  Fresh salmon of course will be even better, but for those of us who live in areas where fresh is relative, flash frozen can be a better choice than "fresh".

Asian Salmon

Yield:  Serves 4

Ingredients

4 (4 - 6 ounces) pieces salmon fillet with skin, patted dry (if frozen thaw completely in refrigerator)

3 scallions, chopped

Marinade

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

½ cup orange juice with pulp (fresh squeezed from 2 oranges or not-from concentrate)

Dressing

1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger

1 clove of garlic

¼ cup orange juice with pulp fresh squeezed from 1orange or not-from concentrate)

2 teaspoon grated orange peel (from one orange)

3 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons chopped fresh cilantro

¼ cup canola oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

For marinade and fish:  Combine all marinade ingredients in a small bowl.  Pour the marinade into a plastic zipper-lock bag.  Put the salmon fillets into the bag, and seal. Marinate the salmon in the refrigerator for at least an hour or up to overnight.

For the dressing: Blend all the ingredients in a blender or food processor until emulsified (blended thoroughly) and set aside.

Heat a large non-stick skillet until hot.  Remove the salmon from the marinade and arrange in the hot skillet skin side down. Pour the marinade into the pan and cover.

Cook on medium to high heat for about 4 to 5 minutes (depending on thickness of salmon fillets). The salmon should be slightly rare in the center and will continue to cook slightly once removed from the pan. Remove to plate.

To serve:  Drizzle dressing over salmon and sprinkle with chopped green onions on top.

Columbus Ohio Foodie Tour - Restaurant Week

I arranged a foodie tour of Columbus for our neighbhorhood foodie group.  What better time to make the two-hour trek but during Restaurant Week.  Eat good food, buy good food. What could be better?

I'm happy to report that all participants had a great time.  It was just a fabulous weekend despite the rain on Sunday.  There were six of us all together, so I though packing a 5day cooler, a insulated bag, a 24 can cooler and a rolling cooler that we'd have enough space for our frozen and refigerated items.  Well just barely.  Next time we'll need to bring more coolers.  I also thought that since we had the entire bed of Avalanche, we cleared out all our regular stuff, and just had 2 small and one medium-size suitcases and a bag (my friend Leslie packs light making up for my husbands tendency to overpack), that there would be plenty of room for our non-pershible food finds.  Well, just barely.  We ended up moving all the suitcases to the accompanying vehicle's backseat.  On the drive home as we looked in the rearview mirror we could see that they couldn't see out their rearview mirror since at  the the last stop rearrangement of our shopping finds made the items rise to the top of the rear window occluding their view.  We shopped till we dropped and have the stuff to prove it.

CAB Natural brand beef ...vegetarian feed, antibiotic free and minimally processed, in-house smoked trout and salmon, sustainable fish, natural and organic cheese, hand-made pastas, organic small-batch citrus-infused olive oil, cardamon, lentils, ghee, and masala mixes from the Indian market, steamed bbq pork buns from the Japanese bakery,  dolce Gorgonzola from the cheese shop, ground ancho chili, five types of curry powder, saffron,  and many other items were some of the wonderful things we brought back.

We had a wonderful bottle of wine at the hotel bar then headed to dinner at Luce Enoteca in Powell.  The price fix menu was $19.00 and everything was absolutely wonderful.  I had the lamb lollipops with a cherry marmalade...delish and perfectly cooked.  Others had the pasta with mussels and chorizo, and beef short ribs.  All the plates were practically licked clean. We had a Ferrari Carano Zin for $30 that I saw at Whole Foods for $24...great value and nice to see a restaurant that not's doubling the retail price of wine very refreshing.  We will definitely be making more trips to Luce.

Another high spot was the Northstar diner for breakfast on Sunday.  The one on High street was very busy, but as we drove by two other locations that were not so busy, we might try them next.  The Sweet Potato Turkey hash was outstanding as well as the Mushroom Fritatta.

Can't wait to do it again.

Sous Vide Chuck Roast

02.01.10

Cooking Sous Vide results in tender, juicy pot roast, but home-made version is not as easy to control as professional Sous Vide equipment.

I had been thinking about trying Sous Vide after watching Top Chef and seeing them use the Sous Vide machine, but then when Sur La Table had the first home version one in their catalog for a mere $500, (a bargin compared to commercial versions), I really wanted to try this cooking method, but didn't want to spend $500.  So I searched the internet and there are many sources on the Sous Vide method of cooking. But even the home versions used time/temperature controllers ($100+) with a crock pot, but didn't want to spend that kind of money unless I really thought the results were going to be worth the investment.

I decided to try to do sous vide in my regular crock-pot with chicken (only thing I had defrosted in the fridge). Even on the warm setting, it was too hot and I ended up with poached chicken.  Not good.

Then while doing research for my annual Valentine's dinner, I saw 72 Hour Short Ribs on one of a restaurant's menu.  So I searched for a 72 hour short ribs recipe, and Thomas Keller's book came up on the SousVideGeek blog (where he blogs about the Sous Vide Supreme that he acquired). So, I decided I really needed to do this, but still couldn't afford the SousVide Supreme or other contraptions, which lead to the purchase of a new Cadillac-version crock-pot by Hamilton Beach.  So the experiment began.

I decided I'd use a chuck roast and have my parents over to dinner as guinea pigs before trying this out on my friends. If you haven't done the math yet, 72 hours is a very long time.  After reading the crock-pot manual I devised my game plan.  The pot roast had to be in the slow-cooker no later than Thursday by 5:00 pm to be ready by Sunday at 5:00 pm.  I vacuum packed the pot roast. Actually, I un-vacuum packed it from its freezer storage since I put the lablel in with the meat (a time saving trick, I  use to save writing on the back, but rethinking this method) and re-vacuum packed in a new bag with some salt/pepper and seasonings.  Hot water went into the crock-pot, topped with lid and insterted probe, set to 140 degrees.  Add newly vacuum packed pot roast and we were to to sous viding heaven.  At least I hoped.

Even though the crock-pot is made for long slow cooking, it's really not intended to sous vide.  After 13 hours on warm it shuts itself off.  Good safety feature.  Bad for sous vide.  So every night before I went to bed and and every morning when I got up (even though it hadn't been 13 hours), I turned the crock-pot off and reset it back to the 140 degree temp.  I have to say the Hamilton Beach Set'n'Forget slow cooker was wonderfully reliable, warm is higher than 140 degrees.  It was consistently 157 degrees.  Based on the recipe, the short ribs are supposed to cook at 140 degrees for the 72 hours.  So the worrying started.  What would happen, would I get to Sunday and have dried out pot roast, should I take them out sooner?  Then the worry snowballed into what if I put to much seasoning in?  Will it be so salty we can't eat it?  Do the seasonings concentrate in that long period?  Then someone (a dark-headed helper, I think) readjusted the probe and poked a hole in the bag.  Now I'm thinking it's totally ruined, but the hole was small and at the top and didn't let the water into bag.  It just wasn't vacuum sealed any longer. Panic was starting to set in. Well, a couple of glasses of wine later, I calmed down.  It's an experiment.  If it's awful, we'll order pizza or get a bucket of chicken. Explaining this to my parents would be much less embarrassing than explaining to my friends, although to my friends credit, I know they would be understanding.  I've cooked lots of things I haven't liked, but I can only recall one time I cooked something my friends didn't like (in an attempt to use less sugar for my husband who is a diabetic and my friend is a sugar fend--he adds extra frosting to Cinnabons).

D-day finally arrived and it was show time for the pot roast.  It was delicious.  Fork tender, plenty of juice to make gravy (not sure if this is normal or due to the hole in the bag).  My parents and husband loved it.  The real question is whether these results are any better than when I cook in my Mario Batali dutch oven. The whole morning/night resetting thing was not bad, having the crock-pot on the counter for three days straight was pain.

I'll have to give it another try and see what the results are.  Let me know if you try sous vide and what your results are and if you've figured out a way to do sous vide for under $100 bucks.  Do you think it's really worth waiting three days for a dish?

Cooking Demo at Ray's Northland Supermarket Saturday March 6th 12 to 2 PM.

I'll be at the Chief's market in Celina, Ohio on Saturday, Feburary 6th from 12 to 2 doing a cooking demo.  I'll be cooking Chorizo-Chicken Quesadillas with Cilantro Lime Crema for a hearty appetizer for game day and Amaretto Cherry Crepes with Hot Fudge and Creme Anglaise for the perfect Valentine dessert.

Come by and learn how to cook these very easy dishes and impress your friends, family and loved ones with delicous and tasty gourmet dishes.  Everyone will be impressed and no one will guess how easy they were to make.

And better yet, for both dishes your can prep and cook everthing ahead of time and then just have a little last minute assembly and cooking that will have these done in a flash.

Chorizo-Chicken Quesadilla with Cilantro-Lime Crema

Amaretto Cherry Crepes with Hot Fudge and Creme Anglaise

Amaretto Cherry Filling

Ingredients


2 one-pound bag frozen dark sweet cherries, thawed

2 cups cherry or apple juice

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon of Amaretto liquor or almond flavoring

4 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with enough cold water or juice to dislove and make a slurry.



Preparation

Mix 2 cups cherry or apple juice and sugar into a 4 quart sauce pan and bring to a boil and reduce by half. Add thawed cherries and any juice in bag. Return cherries and liquid to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and whisk in cornstarch slurry to thicken. Stir constantly to avoid lumps. If too thick add 2 tablespoons of water at a time until consistency is similar to pie filling. Add Amaretto and set aside or refrigerate until ready to use.

Note: Depending on sweetness of juice, you may want to add another 1/3 to 1/2 cup of sugar if you want this as sweet as pie filling.  I'm not into really sweet desserts, so I like this with less rather than more sugar.

Amaretto Cherry Crepes with Hot Fudge and Creme Anglaise Sauces

If you’re looking for a dessert to melt your valentine’s heart, this one is sure to do the job. There is wonderful cherry filling with just a touch of almond, creamy, rich chocolate and a lovely vanilla custard sauce that adds sophistication to the dish. Although, it may look challenging on first glance, this recipe is very, very easy and to make it even better, it can be made completely ahead of time and assembled at the last minute. Can served warm or cold.


Ingredients

8 Dessert Crepes

Amaretto Cherry Filling  or 1 can of cherry pie filling with 1 tablespoon of Amaretto mixed in

Hot Fudge sauce

Crème Anglaise sauce

Toasted slivered almonds and/or powdered sugar for garnishing the plates

Preparation

Place crepe on work surface and add 2 to 3 tablespoons of the Amaretto cherries and roll up (like a tube) and place in center of dessert plate. Drizzle with Hot Fudge sauce (re-warm if made ahead) and Crème Anglaise sauce. Sprinkle with toasted slivered almonds and/or powdered sugar for garnish.

Chorizo-Chicken Quesadilla with Cilantro-Lime Crema

Ingredients

• 2 chicken boneless breasts or 4 boneless thighs rubbed with olive oil and salt and pepper
• 4 large (12-inch) flour tortillas
• 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack and/or mild Cheddar
• 1/2 pound fresh chorizo (in tube)
• 2 scallions, chopped
Cilantro-Lima Crema:
• Handful cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice and zest from one lime
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Prepration
For the Cilantro-Lime Creme: Mix all ingredients together and season with salt and pepper to taste. Puree in blender or food processor until smooth.

For the Chicken: Preheat a nonstick skillet or griddle pan to high heat. Cook chicken until done (160 degrees). Set aside for 4 to 5 minutes to let juices reabsorb. Slice chicken into julienne pieces and set aside.

For the Chorizo: Preheat a nonstick skillet to high heat. Remove casing and crumble into pan. Break up pieces. Cook until well done, about 4 to 5 minutes. Set aside.

For the Quesadilla: Preheat a nonstick skillet or griddle pan to high heat. Blister a flour tortilla for 20 seconds, flip. Cover half the tortilla surface with shredded cheese, bits of chorizo and chicken and chopped scallions. Fold the tortilla in half and cook a minute longer, about 30 seconds on each side, pressing down gently with a spatula.

To serve: Place 1 quesadilla on each plate and cut into quarters. Drizzle with the Cilantro-Lima Crema.

Makes 4 dinner servings or 8 appetizer servings

Dessert Crepes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole milk

2 large eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons melted butter for brushing the pan during cooking



Special equipment: a 10-inch crepe pan or a 10-inch nonstick skillet, pastry brush, heat-resistant mixing spatula (silicon), 8 pieces of parchment paper to place between crepes to prevent sticking.

Preparation

Blend milk, eggs, flour, granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons melted butter, and salt in a blender or food processer, scraping down side once or twice, until batter is smooth, about 1 minute. Pour into a pitcher or large measuring cup with spout. Let batter stand at room temperature 1 hour (this prevents tough crêpes).

Heat the skillet over moderate heat until hot, about 30 seconds, brush surface of skillet with melted butter sand wipe with paper towel, then pour 1/4 cup batter into skillet, tilting to coat bottom evenly.

Cook until underside is pale golden, 11/2 to 2 minutes. The edges will just be turning golden brown, then loosen the edges of the crêpe with a heat-resistant spatula and flip crêpe with the spatula.

Cook until underside is pale golden, 30 seconds. Transfer crêpe with spatula to a work surface or plate lined with parchment paper or foil, turning over so that side cooked first is facedown.

Repeat for remaining seven crepes, placing a piece of parchment paper between each crepe.

Crepes can be made ahead 2 to 3 days and refrigerated (bring to room temperature before filling)

Makes  about 8 crepes

Notes:  If this is your first time, make a double batch of batter.  Several things can go wrong during crepe making, but just make extra batter and keep trying till you get the hang of it.  You'll love the results. 

Too Hot Pan:  Your batter should sizzle just a bit when you add it to the pan, but if it bubbles up out of the pan, it is way too hot and the center will burn before the crepe is done. 

Too Much Batter:  You crepe will the thick, not a horrible mistake to make, but you won't get eight if they are all too thick and one of the great pleasures is the delicate balance of crepe texture and taste with the fillings and sauces, so a thin crepe works the best.  Use a measuring cup to measure out the batter until you get a good eye for how much you need for your pan.

Batter is Too Thick:  If you pour your batter into the pan and when you tilt it, it doesn't move, your batter is too thick.  Many things can cause this, but you'll just need to add a 2 tablespoons of milk at a time until you get your batter to the right consistency.  It should slowly spread when you tilt the pan.

Batter is Too Thin.  If your batterspreads immediately to the edges of the pan as you pour it in, its too thin.  Pour it back into the blender/processor and add 2 to 3 tablespoons of flour and mix.  Test the batter in a pan and if still too thin add another 2 tablesppons.  Do not add too much flour as it will change the ration to the other ingredients and the texture and flavor of the crepes.

Trying to Turn Too Soon: Be patient.  Wait for the edges to start to turn brown and crispy and the surface of the crepe to become opaque.

Flipping and Ripping:  You do not turn crepes like pancakes.  You want to use the spatula and slip it underneath the middle of the crepe and lift straight up (the sides will be drooping down), then flip quickly.  It takes a little practice, but even if the crepe rips, it will still tates great and you can just cover the ripped part up with sauce and it will look beautiful.

Tilting the Pan:  Once you pour in the batter, its just a twist of the wrist to tilt the pan slowly in a circle to evenly spread the batter out.  A good method to try is to point your thumb up as you're holding the pan and draw a circle with your thumb in the air counter-clockwise.  If you tilt it all to one side and its not a round crepe, just roll that side under when serving.  The more you do it, the better you'll get at it.

Parchment versus waxed paper.  I don't recommond using waxed paper to keep the crepes from sticking to gether as you make them, they are quite hot coming out of the pan and if the wax melts, it could affect the taste of your crepe and I'm not sure how healthy that would be.  If you have a GFS (Gordon Food Supply) store near you, they carry a 50 pack of  commercial-sizesheets, that I cut to fit my cookie sheets and then cut into squares to place between the crepes, but Amazon. has a source for sheets as well.

Don't be discouraged by all the notes, I want to make sure that you have all the info you need to be a successful crepe maker. Making crepes is one of the best things to learn how to cook, since you can make them into a main dish with a savory filling, like creamed or curry chicken or a dessert crepe filled with cherries or ice cream or cheesecake fillling. The variations are limited only by your imagination. They're great to make ahead and warm for a quick dinner for yourself or guests. Crepes can make even the most ordinary of days special.

Hot Fudge Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup whipping cream

1/2 cup light corn syrup

12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips or 6 ounces semisweet and 6 ounces dark (60%) chocolate chips

2 tablespoons butter



Preparation

Put cream, corn syrup and butter in microwave bowl and
microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth and glossy.

Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.

Re-warm Hot Fudge Sauce in microwave for one minute at a time until warm stirring to mix in between each minute.

Makes about 2 cups

Crème Anglaise Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup half-and-half

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon cornstarch

Preparation

In a 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan bring half-and-half and heavy cream just to a boil over medium to med-high heat (use lower heat for lighter weight pans – do not recommend using a non-stick pan as the Teflon may fleck off into the custard). Be careful to keep a close eye on the milk.  It will boil over quickly if you don't get it off the heat as soon as it starts to boil.

While cream mixture is heating, in a bowl whisk together yolks, sugar, vanilla and cornstarch until slightly thickened and pale, about 2 minutes.

Add hot cream mixture in a stream, whisking, to bowl (set bowl on rubber mat or silicon pot-holder to hold bowl in place), then transfer custard back to pan.

Note: do not scrape any clumps or browned custard (if any) into bowl and remove any lumps or browned bits from pan before transferring custard back.

Cook custard over moderately low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until a thermometer registers 180°F., about 2 minutes (do not let custard boil). Transfer custard to cleaned bowl and cool to warm, stirring occasionally. Crème anglaise may be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered (press plastic wrap into surface to avoid crusting). Keep refigerated.

Makes about 1 2/3 cups

The Freshest Whipped Cream

As a Christmas present to myself, I purchased the iSi Whipped cream maker and extra chargers.  I have drooled over this in the kitchen catalogs and coveted for a long time.  But since my friends tease me about knocking out a wall and adding an addition to hold all my kitchen gadgets, I've been reluctant to add things to my collection, unless I really, really needed it.

So, by really big need was that I wanted to make cinnamon flavored whipped cream to go with apple crisp that I was making for a neighborhood get together on New Years day, instead of purchasing cinnamon ice cream.  Easy justification.  $40 whipped cream maker versus $6.00 ice cream.  Ah, but it was Christmas and don't I deserve to be indulged too? And it's reusable.

Well, to me it justified its self with the first use.  Not only was it easy to use
and the results were absolutely fabulous, but the amount of fun to be had was totally unexpected.  Everyone wanted whipped cream not only on their apple crisp, but all the other deserts that were brought to our neighborhood potluck.  And it would have melted the grinch's heart to see our friends little girls (4 and 6) holding out their hands to have "just one more" spray of cinnamon whipped cream put into their hands and watching them dip their faces down into the fluffy pile and gobble it up. Just adorable.  Best gadget I've bought all year! Will make whatever you're putting it on taste better.