Cooking Class - The Appetizer

Confession: Most of my meals are either eaten out or ordered in. If I do "cook," it's usually a bowl of cereal, a frozen pizza (I prefer Stouffer's french bread - plain cheese - in case you were wondering) or lots of goldfish (parmesan cheese, of course). Which is why it was so great that Aubrey recently organized a cooking class for a group of us. Emily (our instructor, and randomly a woman I went to elementary school with) invited us into her home (ok fine, her parents' sweet house in Pacific Heights) to teach us how to cook a menu entitled "Elegance with Ease." (The "with ease" part is a bit debatable, and the ten bottles of wine we plowed through might have detracted from the "elegance," but all in all, the evening was a success.

Ali_aubs_kevin

For Crepe Batter

1 cup flour
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 egg
1 tbsp. fresh chives, snipped
2 tsp. fresh chervil, snipped (I know, I'd never heard of chervil either. It's similar to parsley, but not as coarse. You can substitute sage, thyme or parsley.)
1/4 tsp. salt

The average crepe equals one cup milk and one cup flour. (I can't remember why I took this note.)
Add a tablespoon of sugar for dessert crepes.

For Pumpkin Filling

1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree (or butternut squash) - this comes in a can
5 oz. chevre, at room temperature
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 tsp. fresh chives, snipped
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

butter or canola oil for preparing crepes (we used butter)

How to make them

In a medium bowl, prepare the filling. With a fork, smash together the pumpkin puree and the chevre until blended. Add the nutmeg and chives and stir through. Season with salt and peper and set aside. (You can do this the night before, if you'd like.)

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking dish with aluminum foil.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, milk, water, olive oil and salt until smooth. Add the egg and beat until well combined. Stir through the fresh herbs. The batter should have the consistency of heavy cream and add additional milk, water, or flour as necessary to achieve this consistency.

Crepe filling

Heat a small (6-inch) nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and brush with softened butter or oil. Pour in about 3 tbsp. of the batter and tilt the pan evenly (pour in a circle and let it swirl to the edges) until the batter lightly coats the base of the pan. Allow to cook until edges start to come away from the sides - about 30 seconds - 1 minute on 1st side. Use a firm spatula to loose and flip (15 - 20 seconds on second side). Transfer crepes to a plate and proceed with remaining batter. (Look how much fun we were having!)

Making crepes

Once you've cooked all the crepes (which you could also prepare the night before), take one crepe and spread 2-3 tbsp. of the pumpkin filling in a strip in the center of the crepe (this must be done right before baking). Roll the edges of the crepe around the filling and place in the prepared baking dish, seam side DOWN. Repeat (duh.)

Place filled crepes in the oven and cook for 15 minutes until warmed through and lightly golden. Remove from oven and allow crepes to cool for a few minutes before serving. Crepes can be served whole or sliced into small pieces and served standing up.

We DEVOURED these.

Shrimp, snapper and dessert recipes to come!