Spinach Crepes with Two Fillings

Matt and I are very lucky to live in a state, Vermont, that prides itself in local, fresh, delicious food. One way that we take advantage of this fact is enrolling in a CSA (community supported agriculture) program where we pick up a basket of veggies once a week throughout the summer (winter CSAs are available also). The drawback is that we do not get to choose what we get each week, instead, we get whatever the farmers have a lot of. Our CSA is really good about not giving us the exact same thing each week so that we do not get bored with the food. One of our items this week was leeks.

I love leeks! It took me a long time to discover them and actually start using them-- I think I didn't actually cook with leeks until college (which is strange because I remember finding wild leeks as a child). I started out using leeks in the normal way- Potato Leek Soup. Now, one of my favorite autumn recipes is a chicken, leek and apple dish (which was partly the inspiration for this blog's recipe). Also, for my birthday this year, my family took me out to a fancy Italian restaurant in Burlington, VT that I had wanted to go to for a long time. This restaurant is known for using local, fresh ingredients and fine Italian imported items together. When we visited the veggie of choice was roasted leeks which were served with nearly all of the secondi (meat) menu options.

With a fridge full of fresh Vermont leeks I went to the internet and searched foodandwine.com and foodnetwork.com for different recipes that I could try out. I came up with 5 possibilities that I wanted to try and let Matt choose which one he was in the mood for. He chose chorizo-leek crepes (see link to foodnetwork recipe below).

I have a tried and true crepe recipe from one of my cookbooks, which I use often. The recipe is actually for spinach crepes but I usually leave the spinach out and make sweet crepes (really just an excuse to eat nutella). This was the first time I included the spinach (another product of the CSA this week) to make savory crepes.

Spinach Crepe Recipe from Fifteen Minute Meals by Emalee Chapman

1/2 cup small spinach leaves (no stems)

1 egg

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup flour

3/4 cup milk

Place all ingredients in blender, blend for 1 minute, let sit a few minutes. 

To cook crepes (wait until fillings are prepared to cook crepes): 

Heat a small skillet (or crepe pan) until "a drop of water jumps in the pan". Put 1-2 tbsp of batter into the pan and immediately swirl the pan to allow the batter to spread into a 6-7" round. Watch as the batter cooks from the outside in and when the very middle of the crepe seems 3/4 cooked use a small rubber spatula to separate the crepe from the pan. Stack cooked crepes between layers of waxed paper. The crepes are so thin you do not have to flip them, also crepes will cook in about 30 seconds. Time is of the essence.

This recipe makes a lot, probably 15-20 crepes depending on size and they are bright green, which I love. 

As for the filling, the recipe I had was for Chorizo and Leek crepes with sour cream but I made my own filling so I'll post my invented recipe. 

Crepe Fillings

5 leeks, sliced thinly (white and light green part only)

2 links spicy Italian sausage, casing removed, chopped finely

2 tbsp Olive oil

1/4 lemon, zested

2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

1 Macintosh apple, cored and chopped

1/2 cup apple cider

1/4 lemon, juiced

1 cup spinach leaves

First wash leek slices very carefully by filling a large bowl (or a clean sink) with cold water and dropping in leek slices. Swirl leeks around in water and then let them come to a complete stop, allowing the grit and dirt to sink to the bottom. Scoop out leeks, drain water, refill with cold water, repeat until leeks have no grit left! You may need to gently separate leeks to allow stubborn dirt to come out.

Next, add 1 tbsp of oil to a large skillet and cook leeks over m/h heat for 5-7 minutes. The leeks should be pretty tender, move half of the leeks to a bowl. Add sausage chunks and a bit of the lemon zest. Cook until all of the sausage is cooked through. Use a rubber scraper to move all of the filling to another bowl and add half of the goat cheese.

Heat the rest of the olive oil (1 tbsp) in the same large skillet. Place the cooked leeks back into the skillet and add the chopped apple, the cider, the lemon juice and zest. Cook until the liquid has evaporated. Move the filling to one side of the skillet, add the rest of the goat cheese.

Turn the heat to low. Return the sausage filling to other side of the skillet. Place spinach leaves in center of pan to wilt. Cover skillet until sausage filling is reheated and spinach is wilted. The goat cheese should be somewhat melted.

(The best idea is to let the fillings warm over low heat while cooking the crepes (procedure above), as seen here!)

Now, assemble the crepes by placing a crepe on a plate, add a spoonful of whatever filling (or mix them!) and a few wilted spinach leaves to the very middle of the crepe, and fold one side over the filling, then the other side.

Matt asked if the folding was like a fajita or burrito and I told him that crepes are french! Therefore, the fold is far more delicate and fancy than anything Mexican. Think of it like a silk robe, where each side covers just enough of what is inside that some is still peeking out.

This was a really fun recipe to make. We used to have crepes fairly often as a brunch of breakfast item but it is definitely something we got away from, and I am glad to have it back. The actual crepe part of this recipe is super fast and easy and then you get to be creative with the filling. The fillings can be as complex or simple as you want. A very simple filling would be chopped lunch meat and cheese. I'm glad we didn't just choose to have potato leek soup (although we have lots of different kinds of potatoes from the CSA and it would have been delicious) because this was really fun to make and eat!