Crêpes for Mardi Gras

The tradition in France is to eat crêpes for Mardi Gras (certainly not King's Cake--that's for Epiphany). So I made crêpes, with some assistance. My sous-chef is an excellent chopper.

The crêpe recipe is very simple as well as incredibly easy to make.

• 1 cup flour
• 1 and 1/2 cups milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbps vegetable oil

The best thing is to mix the liquids first and slowly whisk in the flour, to prevent lumping. When making non-dessert crêpes, it is common to use half whole-wheat and half white flour. I forgot this and use all whole-wheat, resulting in rather dense batter.

You'll need a very shallow non-stick pan, no butter or oil, and a spatula. Over medium heat, pour enough batter in to form a thin layer covering the bottom. When the edges start curling, it is time to flip it.

The filling itself was more a make-it-up-as-you-go creation. I love to use spinach as a filling, but not many people will like just spinach.

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• Mushrooms, sliced
• 1 or 2 chicken/turkey breasts (depending on number of people), cubed
• Butter, flour, milk (for white sauce)
• Fresh spinach (not baby spinach) - one bunch will suffice. Wash and chop.

Mince and sauté the garlic and onion in butter (or olive oil, if you prefer). When they are brown, add the mushrooms. Sauté them for a few minutes, then add in the meat.

I didn't want to get a new pan out, so I just made the white sauce in a corner of the pan, pushing the rest aside. Now the quantities will vary depending on how thick you'd like your white sauce,

and I didn't even measure. The key is to melt the butter (I used roughly 2 tbps) and then add in the flour (probably used about 2 tspbs as well), and once the butter/flour is combined, pour in milk slowly and stir constantly so that it doesn't stick. More milk=more liquidy sauce, more flour=thicker sauce. Stir everything together.

Once the meat is cooked, toss in the spinach, as much as desired. It does shrink a lot once wilted so you'll probably want more than you think you do. Cover the pan o that the spinach will wilt more quickly. Once wilted the filling is ready!

It is a good idea to wait until the filling is ready to make the crêpes, since they are very fast to make and then will be freshest.