Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Buckwheat Crepes with Sauteed Apples or Scrambled Eggs #recipe @LeslieBudewitz

LESLIE: I love breakfast. It’s one of my three favorite meals. My usual at our favorite local café is scrambled eggs, with mushrooms, green onions, and cheese, stuffed in two crepes and covered in beautiful hollandaise.

Oh, my.

I spotted this recipe for buckwheat crepes with sauteed apples in the Washington Post, which borrowed it from cookbook author Ellie Krieger. But I need eggs or other protein, so when Mr. Right and I tested this recipe, we filled half the crepes with apples and half with eggs. In addition to adding the egg option, I tweaked the ingredients and rewrote the instructions.

Buckwheat, it turns out, is not actually wheat, and is gluten-free, so these could be made entirely gluten-free by substituting a gluten-free baking mix or combo for the all-purpose flour – check out some of Daryl’s recipes for recommendations on the best gluten-free baking combo. Buckwheat flour is darker, with a lovely, nutty flavor, and highly nutritious. Plus yummy.

Don’t skip the chilling stage, even if you have to stick the blender in the laundry room because it doesn’t fit in your fridge. (Okay, our fridge. It didn’t fit in our fridge.) It allows the flours to absorb the liquid fully.

The apples are spiced perfectly. We’ve used both yellow delicious and home-grown red delicious, and enjoyed them both. The original recipe called for peeling them, but I rarely do, and didn’t here. We tried the recipe with Greek and regular low-fat yogurt, and both were equally tasty.

Surprisingly, the cooked crepes keep several days in the fridge and freeze nicely. You can also store the batter in the fridge a couple of days, although you may want to thin it when you pull it out.

Buckwheat Crepes with Sauteed Apples or Scrambled Eggs

For
the crepes:

1 cup 1% or 2% milk
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup buckwheat flour
1/3 cup whole-wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour or a gluten-free all-purpose flour blend
3 tablespoons canola oil or other neutrally flavored oil
3/4 cup plain yogurt, for serving
1/2 cup toasted, chopped walnuts, for serving (optional)

For the apple filling:
1 t
ablespoon unsalted butter
2 medium red or Golden Delicious apples, sliced into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch salt
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup

For the egg filling:
nonstick cooking spray or butter
2 eggs
1-2 tablespoons water or milk, to your preference
2 green onions, sliced
salt and pepper, to taste
2-3 tablespoons grated cheese, such as cheddar or colby-jack
Parsley, for serving

DIRECTIONS

For the crepes: 

Combine the milk, eggs, water, maple syrup, and salt in a blender; blend on "mix" or low until fully blended, about 45 seconds. Add the flours; blend about 15 seconds until very smooth. Add the oil and blend about 5 seconds. Place the covered blender canister in the refrigerator while you prepare the fillings.

For the apple filling:
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the foam subsides, add the apples and sprinkle in the spices and salt, then stir. Cook about 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until browned and softened but not mushy. Stir in the maple syrup and cook another 1 to 2 minutes. Place in a bowl and set aside. Wipe out the skillet.

For the egg filling:
Beat the eggs with the water or milk. Heat the skillet and spray or butter. Pour in the eggs and scramble, adding the onions and salt and pepper. Set aside.

Heat a crepe pan or a 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Brush with oil. Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to ladle batter into the center of the pan. Tilt and rotate the pan so that the batter forms a thin layer. Cook until the top is no longer liquid and the bottom is nicely browned, checking with your fingers or a spatula, about 1 minute. Flip the crepe and cook the other side lightly, about 15 seconds. Place the cooked crepe on a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter; you should have 8 crepes. You will not need to re-oil the pan. Stack the finished crepes on a plate.

To serve, lay a crepe on a plate and add about 1/3 cup spiced apples. You may top with a tablespoon of yogurt and a tablespoon of nuts and roll, or roll then top, adding a little of the maple syrup from the bowl of apples with a spoon. Repeat with another crepe and eggs, adding the cheese and parsley before or after you roll the crepe, as you prefer. Serve and eat immediately.

Serves 4.










Mr. Right's plate was cuter than mine!

Bon appetit!


From the cover of AS THE CHRISTMAS COOKIE CRUMBLES, Food Lovers' Village Mystery #5 (Midnight Ink, 2018, available for pre-order now):  

In Jewel Bay---Montana's Christmas Village---all is merry and bright. At Murphy’s Mercantile, AKA the Merc, manager Erin Murphy is ringing in the holiday season with food, drink, and a new friend: Merrily Thornton. A local girl gone wrong, Merrily’s turned her life around. But her parents have publicly shunned her, and they nurse a bitterness that chills Erin.


When Merrily goes missing and her boss discovers he’s been robbed, fingers point to Merrily—until she’s found dead, a string of lights around her neck. The clues and danger snowball from there. Can Erin nab the killer—and keep herself in one piece—in time for a special Christmas Eve?

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries and the Spice Shop Mysteries—and the first author to win Agatha Awards for both fiction and nonfiction. A past president of Sisters in Crime, she lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher.

Swing by my website and join the mailing list for my seasonal newsletter. And join me on Facebook where I announce lots of giveaways from my cozy writer friends.


9 comments:

  1. Wow! Those look really yummy! And I've never even bought buckwheat or eaten it I don't think. Like your egg idea too. The new book looks fun!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! I see we did manage to clear a space in the fridge the first time we made these -- which must have been too stuffed with Christmas leftovers the second time!

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  2. Boy do you have energy! This looks awesome, Leslie. Hugs.

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  3. Looks delicious. Especially the spiced apples. Buckwheat pancakes are delicious. We used to buy a buckwheat pancake mix and made them often. I didn’t know buckwheat is gluten-free. We make a grain free waffle with lots of eggs, mashed banana and coconut flour. The warm apple mixture would be sooo good on top. Thanks. Enjoy these any time of the day.

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    Replies
    1. Sounds delish, Jane -- and yes, I'd top that with these apples!

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