Tag Archives: crepes

Breads, Breakfast & Brunch, Main Dish, Recipes, Vegetables & Salads, Vegetarian

Broccoli and Cauliflower Crepes Are So Good

Photo: Broccoli and Cauliflower Crepes

Happy 2020. The start of a new year and a new decade. We’ve had better starts throughout the years, but let’s make this one the best we can. Right?

I launched my new year  with determination to conquer the crepe, so I bought a crepe maker. Not the dip and cook model I’d seen on Facebook that looks so simple, but the flat cooker that will make bigger crepes, not as big as the ones at the Las Vegas Paris Hotel’s buffet though. Those babies are huge! This one might go to a 10-inch crepe, but initially, I made the smaller and easier to flip 7 to 8 inch ones.  My first crepe on it was a mess, stuck, wasn’t completely cooked, and practically shredded when I tried to flip it. After that, I sprayed it with cooking spray, made sure it was up to high heat, and tried again with much better success.

New flash! It’s going to be a while before I’m an expert with crepe-making, but even with the odd-shaped pancakes, they do work and taste quite good.

So, I made a simply delicious broccoli-and-cauliflower-filled crepe with ricotta and spinach and an amazing cream sauce on the top. Pop in the oven to just lightly toast the sauce and warm the whole dish up and you have a great meal for a meatless Monday or a delightful side dish with any meat or seafood entree.

While I haven’t tried it yet, I believe you can make crepes with coconut flour and unsweetened coconut milk, which makes it easier to find the flour ingredients. I’ve posted the carb count and the recipe for coconut flour crepes in case you want to experiment. When I make a batch, I’ll update this to let you know how well it works.

So, without further ado, here’s the recipe for these heavenly crepes.

Broccoli and Cauliflower Crepes with Cream Sauce

1-1/2 cups of Cauliflower, chopped
1-1/2 cups of Broccoli crown and stems, chopped
3/4 cups Mushrooms, sliced
1 cup Baby Spinach
1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese
8 Cherry Tomatoes, halved

Cream Sauce
1 tablespoon Butter
1 tablespoon Low Carb Flour
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
1/4 cup Water or Vegetable Broth
1/2 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb Seasoning
1/3 cup Parmesan Reggiano Cheese, grated

Crepe Recipe:
3/4 cup Low carb Flour
3/4 cup Cream
1/4 cup Water
2 Eggs
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Pepper
Basil or Oregano if desired

Make the crepes batter.  In a blender, add all the crepe ingredients and pulse until the ingredients are mixed together, then blend a little longer to make sure the flour is completely mixed in. Put in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.

While the crepe batter is chilling, prepare the filling:

In a skillet, heat a tablespoon olive oil. Add cauliflower and broccoli and sauté until lightly browned. Add 1/4 cup of water plus Garlic and herb seasoning and stir. Cook a few minutes more until the vegetables are almost tender. Add sliced mushrooms and cook another 3 to 4 minutes. Remove vegetables to a bowl and set aside.

Add about a teaspoon of olive oil to the pan and heat it a minute. Add spinach and sauté until it is limp. In a small bowl, place ricotta cheese and stir to loosen and smooth,, then stir in spinach. Add a little basil or Italian seasoning and mix. Set aside.

Cook the crepes: Heat an 8 inch skillet or crepe pan until a drop of water skittles across the surface. Spray the surface with cooking sprray for each crepe. Pour 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan, lift pan from the heat, and gently roll until the batter coats most of the pan. If you have a crepe pan, spread the batter with the back of a spoon or a spreader, keeping the rounded or oval shape. Cook until the crepe looks dry on the top then carefully slide a wooden or silicone spatula under the crepe and flip it to cook the back side.

Cook for about a minute, then put on a plastic, parchment, or foil sheet on a plate. Put another sheet on top, then make the next crepe. The recipe will make 8 crepes. You will only need four for this recipe, so save the others for another meal. You can fill with eggs and cheese for breakfast.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Assemble the crepes. Put the crepe in a baking pan, spread 1/4 of the ricotta mixture down the middle. Spoon in 2 to 3 tablespoons of the vegetables, then top with two cherry tomatoes cut in half. Roll or fold the crepe over the vegetables. (Mine looked more like tacos.) Slide the crepe to the end of the baking dish and repeat to make four crepes.

Photo: Top view of crepes.
A few of my tomatoes escaped during the plating, but they still tasted yummy. You can see these weren’t the neatest crepe yet they tasted wonderful. Cooking doesn’t have to be perfect.

Make the sauce. In a skillet or pan, melt the butter. Lower the heat to medium. Stir in flour and cook until it begins to form a paste. Add cream and water along with seasoning and stir until the liquid sauce begins to thicken. Add grated cheese and stir until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Spoon 1/4 of the sauce over each crepe. Bake for 15 minutes or until the sauce looks slightly browned.

Serve with a salad or riced cauliflower.

Makes 4 crepes. A pair of crepes make a substantial dinner serving, or you can use just one as a side dish.

Coconut Flour Crepe Recipe

5 tablespoons Coconut Flour
1 cup Unsweetened Coconut Milk
2 Eggs
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Pepper
Basil or Oregano if desired

In a blender, add all the crepe ingredients and pulse until the ingredients are mixed together, then blend a little longer to make sure the flour is completely mixed in. Put in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes. Pulse a couple of times before using.

Cook as directed above. Take extra care in turning the crepes as they will be delicate.

Nutrition for Broccoli Cauliflower Crepe

Nutrition for Crepes with low carb flour and with coconut flour

Nutrition Information for filling
Nutrition information for the filling and sauce only.
Main Dish, Recipes, Seafood

Seafood on Meatless Monday is okay

Photo: Scallops and Zucchini crepes

If you like seafood, then it’s okay, according to my sources, to have it on “Meatless Monday,” but if you don’t feel free to substitute another vegetables into this lovely recipe for scallops and vegetable crepes. I wanted to make Coquilles Saint Jacques, a deliciously wonderful creamy dish with scallops, mushrooms, and wine, but I didn’t have all the ingredients. So I settled for this light, but delicious dish of crepes with scallops and zucchini.

Making crepes can be a hit or miss situation. I don’t make them often enough to perfect six at a time, so usually, I can figure on one or two of them being unusable.  It takes a bit to get the temperature of the skillet just right and to pour the right amount of batter, even though you’re sure you put in 1/4 cup. So don’t be discouraged if your first one comes out a little messy. The dog will probably like it.

I used a small copper skillet to make mine. It’s the omelet pan size, so it’s perfect for a six-inch crepe. Getting flipped it another issue. You have to let the batter cook long enough that it moves on the pan easily, then gently slide the spatula — one without any raised edges– under the crepe and turn it over.

The filling uses scallops and zucchini, but you can substitute in other vegetables for the scallops or zucchini if you wish. Mushrooms, butternut squash, kohlrabi, turnips, spinach,  and kale are a few possibilities. For this recipe, I used CarbQuick as my flour, but you can use any other low carb flour. Almond flour will probably not work as a thickener, so I wouldn’t suggest it.

I used a hard Romano cheese so I could use the hand cheese grater, but you can purchase it already grated.

 

Scallops with Zucchini and Cream Sauce


Photo: Crepes with scallops and asparagus

For the Crepes:

2 Eggs
1/2 cup Low Carb Flour
1/4 cup Almond Milk
1/4 cup Vegetable Stock
1/4 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Melted Butter
1/2 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Herb and Garlic Seasoning

For the Filling:

1 tablespoon Butter
1 tablespoon Low Carb Flour
1/4 cup Heavy Cream
1/8 cup Water or Wine
1/2 cup Zucchini, chopped
1 teaspoon Onion Flakes
1/2 teaspoon Herb Seasoning
8 oz. Sea Scallops, rinsed and drained
1/8 cup Romano Cheese, grated

Make the crepes:

In a blender or drink mixer, add eggs, low carb flour, almond milk, stock, salt, seasonings, and melted butter. Pulse until mixed, then blend to get any lumps out. If batter is too thick — it should be pourable — then add a little water until it is fairly thin, Put in the refrigerator about an hour.

Heat a non-stick 6 or 8-inch skillet or a 8-inch cast iron skillet on medium high heat. Add a little cooking spray. Put the batter jay back on the blender and pulse a couple of times to remix and check the consistency. Add a little water if needed.

Pour 1/4 cup of batter into the skillet, then lift it and swirl it around until it coats the bottom evenly. Cook the crepe for 2 to 3 minutes, checking to see if it is drying on the top and that the bottom is not getting too brown. When the crepe is done enough, it should slide without too much effort. Use a spatula to carefully flip the crepe over. Cook the back side for 1 minute. Remove to a plate, place a piece of wax paper on top and cook the next crepe. Repeat. Batter should make six crepes.

Make the filling:

In the skillet or a sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat, then add the flour, stirring until it is mixed in. Add the cream and stir it to make a creamy sauce. Add the water or wine and stir together. Add in the zucchini, onion flakes, and seasoning. Cook a few minutes until the sauce thickens. Add the scallops and cook for 5 to 8 minutes, depending on the size of the scallops, until they are done all the way through. Don’t overcook as they will get rubbery.

On a plate, place one of the crepes, add 2 tablespoons of filling, fold it into a roll, then place seam side down on a serving plate. Repeat with three more crepes. Put shredded Romano cheese over each crepe.

Recipe makes four filled crepes. You have two extra crepes (if they all came out successfully). These are smaller crepes, so two filled crepes is a good serving portions. Each filled crepe is 4.1 grams of carbs, so both are 8.2 grams per 2 crepe serving.

Hint: You can make this same recipe with shrimp, lobster, or diced chicken in place of the scallops.

Image: Crepes Nutrition Info Image: Scallops filling nutrition info