Cherry Pie Crepes

We made these delectable crepes for New Year's Breakfast, but I haven't had an opportunity to post them. Crepes are among my favorite desserts, and well, cherry pie and I, we go way back. When I was a toddler, I used my acrobatic deftness to crawl up on the counter and plunge face first into a freshly baked cherry pie, that I blissfully gorged myself on til I was caught, nut red-handed, but red-faced. Photographs exist, but not here (Update--my mom sent the photo. See below). Oh, and never since then have I participated in a pie eating contest.

We had some sour cherries in the freezer that we had picked a while back. The crepe portion of this recipe comes from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook, and I originally posted it in the recipe Crepes with Blueberry Sauce. The sour cherry compote is adapted from Smitten Kitchen.

Cherry Pie Crepes (makes about 6 servings, with some crepe shells leftover)

For the sour cherry compote:

• 2/3 C water
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 shot port wine
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 C pitted sour cherries 

1. Combine water, brown sugar, lemon juice, port wine, and vanilla extract in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan and bring to a boil. stirring frequently.
2. Boil for about 7 mins, stirring often, ensuring that the mixture does not burn. Reduce heat to medium, and add the cherries. Cook for about 5 mins, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low, and keep warm while you prepare the crepes.


For the crepes: 

• 2 eggs
• 1 C milk (I use whole--let's not kid ourselves)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1C flour
• 2 Tbs melted butter

1. Beat the eggs well, then add milk, salt, flour  & butter. Let stand 30 mins. Don't worry if the batter is a bit lumpy--the lumps will smooth out when you cook the crepes.
2. Melt some additional butter in the crepe pan on medium-high heat. When butter is foamy, but not browned, add a small ladle of batter or 2 and swirl around in a pan. 
3. Cook for a minute or 2, so the underside is a bit browned--top should still look raw--and flip over. Cook for another minute or 2. 
4. Repeat til the batter is gone. If you don't feel like making all the crepes at once, the batter stays fresh for 2-3 days in the fridge. 


Fill each of the crepe shells with the cherry filling and serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream or vanilla extract. 


Kitchen Notes: Usually, with me the 1st crepe is a loss--make your dog happy with that one. Frequently, I need the lower the heat partway through the cooking process. As you're working, keep crepes in a low temp oven or warming drawer before serving. Extra crepes may also be frozen and thawed for later use. The original Smitten Kitchen recipe called for double the sugar, but I like to still have quite a bit of tartness from the cherries.

                                                                Me, circa 1985

Verdict? OK, so while my adult self used a fork and didn't bury my face in the crepe filling, I may have licked the plate (old habits die hard). This cherry filling would be marvelous for a pie, cobbler, or as an ice cream topping.

Pantry Purge: Easy Italian Polenta Bake

Pantry Purge challenges me to use up items that have been languishing in my pantry for a while. It's similar to Ingredient Elimination (see a few examples here, here, and here), except in ingredient elimination I develop/seek out recipes to use up a perishable, partially used ingredient in my fridge. In pantry purge, I scavenge through my pantry for items lurking in the dark.

                                                  Another Ugly but Goodie Casserole 

I located a package of sundried tomato & garlic polenta that was (ehem) past its sell-by date. Whoops. Since it still looked safe, I figured I'd give it a go. I put this together on an evening that I had just a little time, and I took some shortcuts (jarred sauce, pre-shredded cheese). The whole thing is put together in about 15 mins, then bakes. It's a great weeknight meal.


Italian Polenta Bake (serves 4)

• 1 roll premade polenta (I used sundried tomato & garlic)
• 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2/3 C chopped onion
• 2 C fresh spinach, rinsed and drained 
• salt & pepper
• 1 small jar pasta sauce (I used Newman's Own Fra Diavlo)
• 1 C shredded mozzarella

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly oil a small baking dish (I used a 9x9). Cut the polenta into 1/2 in rounds, and arrange in a single layer on the baking dish. 
2. Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the onions, and saute until lightly browned, about 7 mins. Add the spinach, a bit of salt and pepper, and saute til wilted, a couple mins. 
3. Spread the onion/spinach mix over the polenta. Pour the jar of sauce over the mixture and sprinkle the mozzarella evenly over the top. 
4. Bake, covered for 20 mins. Increase the heat to 375, uncover and cook for 15 more mins until the cheese begins to bubble. Serve hot. 

Kitchen Notes: While I think this will be good with any sauce, I think the spicy sauce gives it a little extra oomph. Crushed red pepper would also be good in the spinach.

Verdict? I'm decided that I love this as a quick weeknight meal. I'm looking forward to making it again and again. A fun alternative to spaghetti or eggplant parm.

Holiday Arrabbiata

Well hello there! It's been a long time! My pots and pans are lonely and my gas bill's been a bit lower from using my stove less. Life has been a bit crazy right now, so cooking's taken the back burner (ha ha, bad pun!). Additionally, I am still backlogged from holiday recipes, so before I ramble on further, I present Holiday Arrabiata:

Because we knew we'd eat our body weight in Latkes on Christmas morning, we wanted a fairly light, no-fuss, Christmas meal, so we came across this recipe in the America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook. Also, before I forget, I am submitting this to Presto Pasta Nights, and many thanks to Emma of Souperior for hosting this week's round-up!

The important thing with this recipe, is that it's so simple, that it's easy to mess up and make a lackluster sauce. There are so few ingredients, that there's no way to hide the fact that you used the wilted parsley hiding in the crisper bin, or the dregs of the red wine that's been sitting around for a while. Use the best ingredients that you realistically can, and your palate will do a happy little dance of joy.

Holiday Arrabbiata (serves 4-6)

• 2 28-oz cans whole tomatoes, undrained (I used San Marzano)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/3 C dry red wine (I used Red Zin)
• salt & pepper
• 1 lb spaghetti or similar (I used DeCecco fedelini)
• 1/4 C minced parsley

1. Reserve 3/4 C of the tomato juice--save all additional juice and tomatoes
2. Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil over medium-high heat, do not allow to burn. Add the onion, and cook until softened and lightly browned, about 9 mins. Add garlic, oregano, and crushed red pepper, and stir for 30 secs.
3. Add all of the tomatoes and juice--except the reserved 3/4 C--and cook, stirring often, until the liquid has evaporated and the tomatoes begin to stick, about 20 mins.
4. Add the wine, and cook until the mixture begins to thicken, about 1 min. Stir in the reserved juice, and scrape the pan to incorporate any caramelized bits. 
5. Bring to a simmer and stir occasionally, about 10 mins.
6. Turn off heat. When slightly cooled, transfer to a food processor. Pulse until smoothed to desired consistency. Season with salt, pepper and sugar as desired. 
7. Meanwhile, begin boiling water and 1 tsp salt for pasta. Add pasta and cook to al dente, reserving 1/2 C pasta cooking liquid. Drain the pasta
8. Add the parsley to the sauce. Add the sauce, remaining Tbsp olive oil and a bit of the pasta water to the pasta and coat, adding more pasta liquid if required. 

Kitchen Notes: The original recipe recommends cooking the tomatoes "til they stick" for 8-10 mins, however, it required 20 mins on my stove. This could be because I goofed the original instructions which called for reserving more juice til later. I've written my instructions the way I executed the recipe, but feel free to look up the original to get the exact precision of ATK. Salting the pasta water is important here. I was enjoying this sauce so much that I made a second batch. I didn't serve it all at once, and the first serving was a bit flat--I didn't salt the water. The second serving, in which the water was salted, had a lot more zing.


Verdict? I was really happy with the simplicity of this dish and I felt like I was indulging without a heavy meal. America's Test Kitchen Rarely steers me the wrong way, and I'll be making this (and modifying this!) again and again.