Basics : Crepe Dinners

So far I have shown you how to use egg crepes to make noodles for chicken noodle soup and to make tasty fruit crepes for dessert.  But did you know these are also wonderful to have in your freezer for quick and easy dinners?

Crepes are another way to use up leftover chicken, seafood or meat.  All you need is a bit of a sauce, some vegetables, and you have an easy one-dish meal.  Here are a couple of sauce recipes.  You can also use tomato sauce with or without added cream.

Cheese Sauce

Ingredients :

-  2 tablespoons butter
-  1/2 cup heavy cream
-  1 cup grated Cheddar
-  salt and pepper

Directions :

-  Melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the cream and heat until almost boiling, then add the grated cheese.  Stir until cheese has melted.  Do not let this boil.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Chicken or Beef Cream Sauce

Ingredients :

-  2 tablespoons butter
-  1/2 cup chicken or beef stock
-  1/2 cup heavy cream
-  1 tablespoon arrowroot
-  salt and pepper to taste

Directions :

-  Melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the stock and cream and heat until almost boiling.  Mix the arrowroot with some water to create a watery paste (a whisk is best here)  then add a couple of spoons of the hot stock cream mixture and whist this in until smooth.  Now add this to the rest of the mixture in the pot, continuing to whisk until the sauce is smooth and thick.  season with salt and pepper to taste.

Basic Dinner Crepes
This serves 2.  Just double the recipe for 4.

Ingredients :

-  4 medium egg crepes
-  1 cup of sauce
-  2 cups of chopped protein (seafood, chicken or meat)
-  2 cups of chopped vegetable (broccoli, asparagus or peas work well)

Directions :

-  Preheat oven to 375'F.
-  Mix the sauce with the chopped protein and vegetable. For each serving fill two crepes.
-  Place in a greased baking dish.  You can top with some more sauce or grated cheese or both.
-  Bake for 20 minutes.

Here are a few ideas on what to put into your crepes :

grilled chicken or steak, asparagus and mushroom crepes with cream sauce

Seafood crepes with cheese sauce

Only have a couple of servings of food but need to serve a crowd?  Try these meal-stretching crepe ideas :

Italian crepes filled with Italian meat sauce and topped with cheese and olives

French crepes filled with Burgundy beef or Coq au Vin

Mexican crepes filled with Pulled pork and topped with salsa, olives, avocado and grated cheese.  

Finally here is a great idea from yummly.com for a breakfast for dinner dish.  How about some ham and egg squares?  Just place some crepes on a baking dish, add a slice or two of baked ham, fold as shown, and top with an egg.  Place in the oven and bake until the egg has set.  Simple and delicious.

"Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food." - Hippocrates