Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Vegetable Crepe with Orange Viniagrette

I made this vegetable crepe for lunch, using a fluffy shell from our Metropolitan Market. I just had to buy a package, to see how they felt and tasted.

Of course at the time, I had no idea what I was going to fill them with! It could be sweet, with a cream cheese-fresh fruit filling and a topping of raspberries. Or, it could be an experiment - and I chose the latter.
I started out with thin sliced turkey (I always keep strips in the freezer in little packages just for times like this), added fried bacon strips cut into matchstick size, sauted peppers and zucchini together, and then poured an orange-poppyseed vinaigrette over the works. I purposefully stretched out the crepe for my photograph, so before I ate the crepe I rolled it tightly up.

I had some oven-baked hashbrowns left over from breakfast, so I sprinkled some of those in too, for a bit of crunch before I rolled everything up, burrito style. These crepes are so delightful, they could be used as an accompaniment to a meal, like the photo shown here, which I'll save for George.

Some of my cookbooks feature asparagus crepes with a hollandaise sauce, and mushroom crepes. Most recipes require too many eggs, so I felt fortunate to find this whole grain crepe at our local market. These meals require a fork and knife, as they aren't like a burrito, which can be picked up with your hands. Many crepes have a rich cream sauce poured over the top.

I rolled one of the crepes into a funnel, bent the end shut, opened up the insides, and filled it with fresh strawberries that were lightly sugared. Then I poured "Greek God's" yogurt inside. I layered berries and yogurt on top, then sprinkled raw rock sugar on top. Greek God's Yogurt is a local Seattle company that produces yogurt from cream, making it very rich and heavenly, almost like ice cream. I now buy the smaller containers - fig, pomegranate, vanilla, and honey. I have often used these rich yogurts as a garnish, placing just a mound of it on top of fresh fruit or on pancakes. It is the best I've ever tasted.

I also made little cabbage salads - a bit of savoy, sliced leeks, fresh peas and soybeans, and leftover 'leavings' from miniature peppers. The Orange Poppyseed Dressing goes nicely with this salad.

And, for the windowsill, our first bright daffodils, the only two growing alongside the house in our yard.....they were bobbing in a little huddle out in the wind and rain today. When the sun-breaks arrived about 2:00, I brought them in.