Ben's Day Wednesday

Ben Takes On The World!

Posted on by Liz

Today, fully vaccinated, Ben went back to school for the first time since November! What better way to celebrate his triumphal reentry into the world than to meet his international cooking challenge? Short of riding in on a donkey, on a path lined with palm fronds, cooking international is the next best thing. 

When France pulled ahead in the polls, we were très excited! Phil and I loved our trip to France, and we have several delicious French dishes in our arsenal, but what to make on a week night? We recommend that the next time you need a meal tout suite, go with crêpes! They are the perfect, easy, tasty base that works beautifully with savory toppings like ham, sautéed mushrooms, onions and spinach, and Gruyère cheese sauce. Served alongside a spunky baby arugula salad, we promise you will not be disappointed. But hold on, because the best is yet to come! Fill your last crêpe or two with fresh berries or Nutella, top them with whipped cream or powdered sugar, and your life (or at least your meal) will be complete.

Crêpes

1 cup flour

1 egg

1 1/4 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

Butter and non-stick cooking spray

Mix all ingredients with a whisk (rustic) or a blender. Spray nonstick cooking spray in pan that has been heated over medium-high heat. Melt 1/2 teaspoon butter in non-stick pan. The moment the butter melts, ladle 1/3 to 1/2 cup batter into pan and swirl pan until evenly distributed. When the top no longer looks liquid, flip crêpe and cook a minute or two on the other side. Each batch makes about 6 crêpes. We made a double batch.

Ben assembles ingredients the moment I come home!
Chef Ben works spinach into the mushroom onion mixture.
The juice from half a lemon was added to the baby arugula with olive oil and salt to make a great salad! Recipes always call for massaging the arugula. Since I figured I had a harder day than the arugula, there was no massaging of the greens. We just kind of pressed down on them a bit with the salad server to make our point. They were babies, after all.
Ben perfects his crêpe flipping game.
If your stack of crêpes doesn’t look like this, you’re not doing it right. (We may have some recipe insecurities, but this isn’t one. Phil has been making these since he was ten.)
How we roll: ham, mushroom, onion, spinach and Gruyere cheese sauce.
Arugula with lemon, salt and olive oil is the perfect side for our savory crêpes.
Blackberries, raspberries and powdered sugar…
…Plus whipped cream, and you have the perfect dessert.

The bottom line: if you have eggs, flour, and milk, you have a meal. If you have anything else in your kitchen to roll up in these beauties, you have a mouthful of France. C’est bon!

Our cheese sauce had a certain je ne sais quoi. We melted about a tablespoon of butter, added the same amount of flour, then added a cup or so of milk. When it started bubbling, we reduced the heat and added shredded Gruyere. It looked too thin, so we added some grated mozzarella. Perfection!

For our final cooking challenge this month, the theme is “Spring” and we want to hear from you! We have never needed a reawakening, a change of season, a fresh start like we do this year. Your suggestions for meals can be as general or specific as you’d like. What foods mean spring to you? Vote early, vote often! Chef Ben and I will consider all ideas posted on the blog or on Facebook before noon on Saturday. Thank you for inspiring us!