living in the woods and making stuff

Ever have an extra bunch of chard in the fridge? I did yesterday, and so I made some Sunday lunch crepes to use it up. I love having everything that I need right in my fridge. Milk, check. Eggs, check. Extra bunch of chard, celery, onions, lettuce, olives, check, check, check…

I even had some yummy local cheese, and enough butter and flour to make a white sauce. Crepe time!

I made the batter first thing, as it needs to sit in the fridge for a while. I am not exactly sure why this is, but I do what they tell me.

Meanwhile, I made a bit of coffee, and started on the filling.

To cook the chard, use a little olive oil, (mine was flavored with Tunisian olives and harissa). To the oil, add chopped onion, chopped celery, and saute until the veggies are translucent. Then add roughly chopped chard and cook it until tender. Salt and pepper to taste. Covered the chard, and placed in the oven on warm.

For the sauce, I followed the recipe for “white sauce” in the updated Joy of Cooking. The recipe calls for flour, butter, and milk.

Mix the flour and butter, and when the butter is melted, slowly add the milk, and whisk away!

It certainly takes some whisking to make a white sauce smooth. I always have a bit of concern that it will turn out lumpy, but it is usually okay in the end.

That’s it. Oh, and salt and pepper. To make it cheese sauce, I added a bunch of prairie breeze cheese, chopped up into little bits. And some smoked Spanish paprika for flavor.

Back to the crepe batter. I warmed the pan, and Skye was over and he pretty much took over the job of crepe making. I actually don’t think that I flipped a single crepe.

As Skye finished the crepes, he transferred them to a plate in the warm oven, and right before all the crepes were finished, we warmed the cheese sauce, set the table, and were ready to eat.

Making crepes, and filling, and sauce is easy, but putting everything together is a little tricky. Making sure all the elements are warm and cooked at the right time…