Holy Crepe!

I had the impression crepes were a difficult, finicky thing to make with a paper thin consistency that seemed destined to tear or end up in a jumbled mess. I also thought you had to have a crepe pan to make them which I do not have. So, as you may imagine, I've never made crepes ... before today. 

As part of the wrap up weekend of making recipes from Terry Hope Romero's Vegan Eats World for a review I am writing, I decided to try the International House of Crepes recipe because I had all the ingredients and she said I could make them in a cast iron skillet (which I have.) 

International House of Crepes (p. 203) 

 It turns out crepes are only moderately difficult to make. You really don't have a lot of wiggle room once you drop the thin batter onto the well-greased cast iron to swirl it into a thin perfect circle. I made 6 crepes and they will pass, but none of them were beautiful. The one in the photo above was the last one I made and so is a little thicker than the rest because I was finishing off the batter. I made so many because I like the tip Romero has to store them in the fridge under plastic wrap and use them as you wish.

Last week when I was sampling recipes from the cookbook, I made a Korean dish that had me using 8 recipes in the book. Today, I wanted to keep it simple, so even though Vegan Eats World had a number of delightful savory filling options, I elected to do a little earth balance buttery spread and bee-free honee with a dollop of blackberry preserve. I felt less guilty for taking this shortcut after attending a book reading this week by Isa Chandra Moskowitz for Isa Does It. In response to an audience question, she said whenever the dish involved a lot of steps and looked like it would take a lot of time it was probably her friend Terry Hope Romero's recipe. Unlike last weekend, I wasn't itching to get in the kitchen and cook for hours, and the nice thing is I didn't have to. Though I do wish the red wine braised leeks would magically appear in my kitchen to stuff into a crepe. :)

Earlier in the week, I did an adaptation of Vegan Eats World's Jigae stew (p.151)to use the leftovers from our Korean feast and I definitely will be making this again. It's a perfect winter stew of kimchi, tofu and eggplant with a bit of kick from chili powder....mmmm.

My advice after making a dozen new recipes from Vegan Eats World? If you haven't in awhile, take one of the cookbooks off the shelf and find a new recipe to try...and then actually make it. It's been fun to explore.