Chocolate Crepes

We have definitely not met our chocolate quota for the month.  In fact, it’s been about two months since our last chocolate recipe was posted.  Well, I am going to rectify that with this simple but amazingly luscious dessert.  Chocolate crepes filled with even more chocolate and strawberries.  They really are every bit as delicious as they sound. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 egg
• ⅔ cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup flour
• 2 Tablespoons cocoa
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Strawberries
• Cocoa almond spread

In a mixing bowl, sift together your flour and cocoa.

It’s really important to always sift your cocoa, or you’ll end up with these lumps in your finished dessert, and that’s not fabulous.  Just push them through the sieve with a spoon or even your fingers.

Add your sugar and salt to the bowl.

Then mix everything together and set it aside.

In another vessel combine your milk, egg, and vanilla.  (Ignore the extra egg in the ingredients picture.  There's only one in this recipe) I like to just measure the milk and add the egg and vanilla to the measuring cup. 

Whisk until it becomes foamy.  I like to use a handheld mixer because I’m lazy, but you could just use a whisk if you prefer. 

Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix until it is smooth.

I like to pour the whole thing back into my (quickly rinsed) measuring cup.  It makes for easy pouring into your pan. 

Now before you start cooking your crepes, you need to prep the filling ingredients.  Wash, hull, and slice some strawberries.  Figure 2 – 3 berries per crepe. 

For the chocolate filling, I used Trader Joe’s Cocoa Almond Spread.  If you have a Trader Joe’s within a two hour drive, it’s well worth the trip.  If not, have a friend ship you some… or if you really can’t get it, I suppose you could substitute Nutella. 

Now it’s time to make the crepes.  Place your pan over medium heat and put a little butter on a paper towel. 

Spread the butter over the pan leaving just a trace across the whole surface. 

Pour a small amount of batter (maybe ¼ depending on the size of your pan) into the pan and tilt it in slow circles, allowing the batter to run to the edges.  You want it to be a very thin layer.

Seeley has some good pictures of this process in her crepes post.  When it looks just about dry on top, carefully lift one edge with a spatula, then give it a few seconds to cool slightly and just grab it with your fingers and peel it up and flip it over. 

Technically you don’t have to flip it.  It’s really already cooked all the way through, but I like to do it for good measure.  Seeley also showed how to keep the crepes warm in the oven while you cook the rest of them.  I’m going to just right to the filling.  Spread a thin layer of the cocoa almond spread over half of the crepe. 

Lay your strawberry slices over that, leaving a gap in the middle where it’s going to fold. 

Fold the top down.

And fold the whole thing in half. 

Sprinkle with a generous amount of powdered sugar and enjoy.  The delicate chew of the crepe filled with rich luscious chocolate and fresh berries is simply to die for. 

What’s your favorite Trader Joe’s product?

 
*This post was not brought to you by Trader Joe’s, I’m just slightly in love with many of their products. I have to admit, though, I am slightly peeved that I lived in Utah for 30 years, and now that I’ve left, they’re finally opening a store there. 

you almost need to make it twice

Why? Because it cooks so fast you can't believe you actually made dinner.

I'm afraid that right now, as I type this, it's late, my brain is a little fried and I'm not entirley convinced I can even explain a recipe as simple as this one.

So, that's about all the preamble you get, and I make no promises that I will meet my weekly quota of almost dirty jokes, innuendo, entendre, or fucks.

Pork and Bok Choy Stir Fry

Really, the name says it all.

What you need:

• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 1/4 of a small onion
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 2 cloves garlic
• an inch or so of ginger
• 1 tbsp peanut oil
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• big bag of baby bok choy
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp water
• sesame seeds and green onion to make it pretty

What you gotta do:

In a bigger bowl than you think you need, combine the first 7 ingredients (pork, onion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, cornstarch).

Dice the onion, mince the garlic, and grate the ginger first though...

You just did about half the work on this dish.

While that rests and marinates, dump all your mini bok choys into a sink full of cold water.

A quick bath this way will get rid of any residual dirt caught between the stalks. Trim the ends off and separate the leaves.

Those of you familiar with romance epublishing will totally recognize the Samhain Publishing logo.

 Totally looks like bok choy.

Drain most of the water off your little leaves, and set them aside while you start cooking.

Heat the peanut oil in a large pan over medium high heat. When it's hot enough that you want to start cooking in it, add the sesame oil.

Peanut oil can take the high heat needed for a stirfry, but sesame oil can't. Adding the sesame to the peanut helps protect it from burning in the 30 seconds it takes for you to get the pork in the pan.

Quick!

Don't worry, it won't burn in 30 seconds or anything.

But the pork cooks damn quick. You barely get it into the pan and it's done.

Once the pink is gone and you're thinking it's gotta be done (which takes all but 5 minutes, if that) drop in your still-damp bok choy.

This is why you needed a large pan. Greens like these start out big and wilt down to nothing in no time. Cover the pan and let them steam for 3-4 minutes.

I'm really starting to think I should have timed this one. I'll bet it's another one that can be done in less than 20 minutes.

The bok choy aren't entirly done yet, no, but it's only a couple minutes now.

In a small lidded container, shake up the last 3 ingredients (water, soy sauce, cornstarch), and pour them into the pan.

A bit of sriracha hot sauce would totally be awesome mixed in here, but I'm still working my kid up to hot chili sauce, so I refained.

In the time it takes for the sauce to thicken, the bok choy will finish cooking.

Serve on rice (leftover rice would make this one of the fastest dinners ever) or noodles.

I sprinkled mine with a little green onion and toasted sesame seeds. Lately I've been wanting toasted sesame seeds on everything and I'm trying to work out a cookie recipe that includes them.

I know a lot of people think stirfry has to be at least 8 kinds of vegetables and takes hours of chopping before hand, but really, it can be as simple as this. When I worked at a small town family owned Chinese restaurant, this is what I ate for dinner late at night with my employers. Home cooked family food. "Dinner for 4".

What do you like to order for take out?

Update on Monday, August 20, 2012 at 11:33PM by Seeley deBorn

Okay, two things:

1) once again I have totally unintentionally copied Taneasha... a fast and easy dinner of ground meat, green things, and rice. Dude. I don't know how I keep doing this!

2) I have no idea why there's a lime in the ingredients pic.