Perfectly Plated

I Dream of Brunch…and Crepes.

There are a very things that have always been in the back of my head that I’ve always wanted to make. One of those things? A Crepe Cake! I mean I’m a massive fan of all things French and Brunch so combine the two and it’s a dream for me. Also I love to flip a crepe! Not to mention one of my favorite combinations is lemon and strawberries.

The filling for this recipe calls for Lemon Curd which I didn’t have on hand so I made it. Here is the simple recipe for it.

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what you do:

In a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, whisk eggs, sugar and lemon juice until blended. Then, add butter and lemon zest, cook, whisking constantly until the mixture is thick. Transfer to a small bowl and let cool 10 minutes. Cover and put in thee fridge until it’s cold.

Lemon Strawberry Crepe Cake

For the crepes:

  • 4 cups flour

  • 8 eggs

  • 1/2 tsp salt

  • 2 tsp vanilla extract

  • 4 1/2 cup milk

  • 4 tbsp melted butter

  • 3 tsp sugar

    what you do:

    Simply add everything but the milk and butter to a very large bowl and stir. Then add milk slowly as you stir. Usually when I make crepes I use a blender so I broke this recipe in half and mixed it in the blender. I find nothing mixes crepes better than that. Take a pastery brush and before each crepe brush the pan. Use a 1/4 cup for the batter for each crepe. Pour into pan and swirl. Let cook for 1-2 minutes on each side. If you don’t want to flip the crepe then use a spatula and gently turn it over. Make at least 20 crepes but let me tell you this recipe makes about 400 crepes. Ok not quite but a lot.

for the filling:

  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream

  • 3 tsp vanilla extract

  • the entire lemon curd you made

  • 1 tsp lemon zest

Beat the whipping cream and vanilla (I used a Kitchen Aid) until there are peaks and then fold in the lemon curd and zest. Cover and store in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

Now, cut some strawberries for the topping.

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Thanks for stopping by and I hope that February has been extra sweet for you!

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A Little Crabby

Happy Wednesday! time to get a little fancy and the good kind of crabby.

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I love a midweek fancy meal. But I will say I don’t always want the calories and carbs that come with it. One of my favorite meals of all time are Crab Cakes. Since I do a pretty low carb life at the moment this recipe is perfect for just that.

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I used a circle mold to form the patties. This is one of my favorite kitchen tools. You can make fancy salads, a sushi tower, or just use it when you need a perfect circle.

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Make sure you’re setting aside the time to enjoy your lunch and take a minute for yourself. I hope you enjoyed this recipe!

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Brunch In French

Happy Wednesday Friends!

This week has been a rough one. I threw out my back at the start of the week so I have been pretty much useless. One thing that will always cheer me up? Brunch! And not just brunch…brunch in french!

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First, let’s talk about a french cooking staple: Crème fraîche

Not only is it easy to make, it adds a lot of luxury to a dish. It’s similar to a sour cream. Here’s how you make it!

This absolutely fabulous recipe is from the cookbook “Dinner in French” but makes the most perfect brunch addition. It looks hard but its just as easy as it is fancy. The recipe in the book calls for a Tarragon cream but I was unable to find it so I substituted with basil. I also cut down the recipe from four to two.

“French Baked Eggs with Smoked Salmon and Basil Cream”

what you need:

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what you do:

  1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees and brush two ramekins with butter and place them on a baking sheet.

  2. Melt butter in skillet over medium heat. Stir in leeks and 1/4 tsp salt and cook until very soft, around 15 minutes, reduce the heat if need be. Don’t let them brown just become golden.

  3. Stir in three tbsp of cream, the crème fraîche, basil, and lemon zest, and remove from heat. Then, divide mixture among the ramekins.

  4. Crack two eggs into each ramekin and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Float one tbsp of remaining cream on top of each one and bake until yolks are still runny, about 17 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. Top each ramekin with salmon and if you’d like capers but I left those out. Serve with bread or toast.

I was so excited to make this dish when I saw it that I only made it to page 16 in this fabulous cookbook. Brunch isn’t brunch without smoked salmon, right?

I hope all of you are having a fantastic first full week of January!

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