You know Cream Puff loves you!

Just to be sure, I’m saying it with sweet crepes covered in Nutella.

And a few candied hearts, too!

Happy Love Day!

Ciao!

Crepes with Nutella
Inspired by Valvona & Crolla: A Year at an Italian Table.

This is a very easy recipe. For the crepes, I use like to use a crepe recipe from Julia Child, which never fails. But really you can use any crepe recipe you like. Once your crepes are made, drizzle with Nutella and serve.

In my family’s cooking mythology, there is no question that my mother’s crespelle rank high in the pecking order.

What are these crespelle I speak of, you ask?

Gather round, and I shall tell you a story.

Like most of the young women in her family, my mother was raised on the simple yet robust food of Southern Italy (Calabria to be exact). Call it rustic or simple if you like, she grew up eating and cooking with lots of tomatoes, lots of garlic, lots of pasta, lots of beans, lots of meatballs and lots of soup. Was it fancy? No. Was it good? Si!

When my mother married my father in 1972, she brought with her the repertoire that she had inherited. But as the years went by, she expanded that repertoire with an impressive array of foods from a region far removed from Calabria: Le Marche.

And of all the dishes that my mother learned from my father’s side of the family, there are few as dear to me as crespelle.

Crespelle is the Italian word for crepes, which in a very broad way defines what this dish is. I caution you, though, that as with so many other Italian dishes, crespelle can refer to a dish prepared in numerous different ways, depending on what region, province, city or town in Italy that you happen to be consulting.

But in my father’s family, which hails from Ascoli Piceno in Le Marche, crespelle are thick crepes stacked high and then soaked in chicken broth. The layers of crepes are lined with the incredibly savoury Pecorino commonly made in the hills around Ascoli Piceno.

Allow me to deconstruct.

This dish begins with crespelle, or crepes, which are slightly thicker than the more typical crepes associated with French desserts like Crêpes Suzette. The crespelle batter is made with flour, water and a large quantity of eggs (more eggs than you would use in a recipe for French-style crepes). The result is a slightly thicker crepe that has more of an eggy bite to it.

The thicker crepe is a perfect vessel for the layer of sharp cheese and black pepper sandwiched in between the crespelle. Ideally, my mother would use the sheep’s milk cheese made in the hills where my father’s town is. We’re sometimes lucky enough to be in possesion of some of this cheese thanks to a trip to Italy and a loving relative who has procured some for us. But if we don’t have any, then my mother uses Parmigiano Reggiano.

I often ask myself what the key ingredient of this dish is; is it the crespelle or the broth? Tough call. What I do know is that once you’ve gone to the trouble of making the crespelle and grating the cheese, you must finish the dish with the best homemade chicken broth you can create.

And it must be homemade.

You can try using store-bought chicken stock but trust me, it won’t be the same.

Once you have all your elements in place, you carefully stack your crespelle, christening each layer with a few spoonfuls of cheese with a bit of black pepper (the ideal is stacks of 15 crespelle) and then you christen your creation with ladles of soul-sustaining broth. And then, you cover.

You cover your creation to allow the crespelle and the broth and the cheese to marry and steep and join in a relationship that results in one of the most elegant and delicious first courses you can imagine.

For me, crespelle are a special occasion dish, which is funny in that looked at separately, there’s nothing really special about the elements. Crepes are just flour, water and egg. The cheese is just that, the cheese. And the broth, well, how many times have we had homemade broth?!

But together, they form a dish that is the trigger for so many happy memories of special meals. But more than that, to me, there is no dish that represents more the legacy that my mother has created in her kitchen.

Ciao!

My Mother’s Crespelle
Treasured Family Recipe.

For the crespelle (yields 30 crepes that are roughly 6 inches in diameter):

2 cups all-purpose flour
1-3/4 cup water, at room temperature
8 eggs, at room temperature

In a large bowl, mix the flour and water until you have a thick paste. Add the eggs, a few at a time, until they are all incorporated. This requires some elbow grease as you must ensure that there are no lumps in the batter. Once combined, allow the batter to rest for 30 minutes.

Once the batter has rested, heat your pan on high heat. We use two or three small frying pans to help the process go quickly. Our pans yield 6-inch crepes.

Place a tablecloth on your table and then place a few layers of parchment paper on top of the tablecloth. The cooked crepes will rest on the parchment while they cool.

Once the pans are heated, wipe them quickly with a paper towel that has been dipped in some vegetable oil.

Lower the heat to medium-high and pour approximately a 1/4 cup of batter into the pan (this is for a 6-inch crepe).

Cook the crepes for about 2 minutes on each side. The crepes are cooked when they are golden in colour and flip easily. Flip them once only. If you flip them too many times they will dry out too much.

Place the cooked crepes on the parchment paper and let cool completely.

Assembling the crespelle:

2 cups Parmigiano Romano (if you can get a hold of some good quality Pecorino cheese, you can also use that)
2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
6 to 8 cups of hot chicken broth (preferably homemade)
You will need a round container with a lid (we like to use a 2 Litre Corning Ware pot)

Combine the cheese and black pepper.

Place a crepe at the bottom of your container. Sprinkle a heaping tablespoon of the cheese mixture over the crepe.

Top with a second crepe and another spoonful of cheese. Continue layering the crepes and cheese until you have a stack of 15 crespelle (do not put cheese on the top layer). While you can create stacks of more more than 15 crespelle, the ideal height is 15.

With a sharp knife, cut the crepe stack into four segments.

About 15 to 20 minutes before you’re ready to serve the crespelle, finish the dish by pouring the hot broth over the crespelle. The broth should cover the top layer so depending on the size of your container you may need anywhere from 6 to 8 cups of broth.

When pouring the broth over the crespelle, do so carefully to ensure that you maintain the layered wedge.

Sprinkle any remaining cheese on top of the crespelle and immediately cover the crespelle and let sit for 10 minutes.

Serve the crespelle in a soup plate by scooping up a wedge per person. Add some broth to the bottom of the plate for an elegant finish.

Enjoy!

It’s been a very long time since I last talked about my mother’s cooking. A very long time!

Truth be told, I could talk about Mama Cream Puff’s cooking everyday. So today, allow me to tell you about my mother’s cannelloni.

What are cannelloni you ask? In our family, cannelloni are plump bundles of meat and ricotta-stuffed crepes. Traditionally, cannelloni are made by filling a pasta sheet and then rolling it into a tube that’s then baked (usually with sauce). In our family, however, we prefer the lighter crepe version.

As with all treasured family food, the emotions evoked by this dish run deep. In fact, I most closely associate cannelloni with my maternal grandmother whose cannelloni were things of beauty. They were somehow both light and substantial and they were perfect every time. In fact, she knew that her cannelloni were my very favourite dish and would often make them just for me. The joys of being the first grandchild!

In the years since my grandmother’s passing, my mother’s cannelloni have taken on a new significance and are as dear to me as my grandmother’s. I’ve always said that my mother is a crepe master. I don’t know anybody that makes a crepe as perfectly as she does.

Her filling is my very favourite one: veal and ricotta. You can fill cannelloni with a multitude of different fillings but that combination is my favourite. Annointed with beatifully red sauce the cannelloni go into the oven to be baked through and come out perfect every time.

And when I eat them, I have the same reaction every time. There is pure satisfaction over the food. More importantly, there is pure comfort because of the memories.

Ciao!

Cannelloni

Note: Once you’re ready to make the filling, it’s good to have a pot of tomato sauce ready to go as you will need it for the filling. You can use your favourite tomato sauce or you can use a family favourite of ours. You can make your cannelloni the day before and refrigerate them or you can make them and freeze them (unbaked) for as long as a month.

For the crepes:

3 large eggs
1 cup milk
¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

In a bowl whisk eggs. Add milk and mix. Gradually add flour and blend until the batter is smooth.

Heat a non-stick frying pan (about 6 inches in diameter) on medium heat. Lightly grease the pan with butter and pour in about ¼ cup batter. Tilt the plan in a circular motion so that batter spreads evenly across the surface of the pan.

Cook for one minute and then flip the crepe over to cook on the other side. Cook for about half a minute longer. Remove the crepe to kitchen towel spread on the counter or a piece of waxed paper spread on the counter.

Once cooled, cooked crepes can be stacked one on top of the other. Crepes can be made the day before and kept well-wrapped.

For the filling:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 heaping tablespoon minced onion
1 pound ground veal
1/3 cup tomato sauce
1 ½ to 2 teaspoons salt
Pinch of freshly cracked black pepper
1 cup ricotta
¾ cup shredded mozzarella
¾ cup Parmiggiano Reggiano cheese
¼ cup Pecorino Romano cheese
¼ cup bread crumbs
1 large egg, lightly beaten

In a large pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and ground veal and brown for about 5 minutes, turning occasionally.

Add the tomato sauce, black pepper and 1 ½ teaspoons salt. Cook for another five minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely.

Once meat mixture is cool, add ricotta, mozzarella, Parmiggiano Reggiano, Pecorino Romano and bread crumbs, mixing lightly after each addition. Add egg and mix well.

The filling should have a soft consistency so that it can spread easily. Add more bread crumbs if it’s too soft or a little water if it’s too dry. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Place one heaping tablespoon of filling on a crepe. On half the crepe, spread the filling to within an inch of the border. On the other half of the crepe, spread the filling to the edge. The part of the crepe that has the filling spread to the edge will end up as the centre of your crepe.

In other words, when you roll the crepe, begin by rolling the half of the crepe that has filling spread all the way to the edge. As you roll, that part of the crepe will form the centre.

Once all your cannelloni have been rolled, prepare your pan and preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large roasting pan or baking pan (approximately 12 inches x 14 inches), add about 2 cups of tomato sauce. The tomato sauce should not be too thick. Place cannelloni side by side in the pan leaving a tiny space between each cannelloni. Cover with additional tomato sauce (about 1 ½ cups to 2 cups).

Bake the cannelloni for about 1 ½ hours.

Let the cannelloni stand for about 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

You may recall that a few months ago, the fearless Daring Bakers scaled Martha Stewart’s Crepe Cake Mountain.

We tamed the beast.

But having tamed it, a number of us decided that perhaps the beast wasn’t that scary after all. The general consensus at the time being that Martha’s cake was a tad disappointing. For myself, it turned out to be an awful lot of effort for so-so results.

There was, however, one positive thing to come of the whole excercise. On Martha Stewart’s site, there was a video link to a demonstration of the making of the crepe cake. During the demonstration, Martha explains that her version of the crepe cake is based on a very famous crepe cake from New York’s Lady M Cake Boutique.

After the letdown of the chocolate crepe cake, I went back to the video and watched it again. Intrigued by Lady M Cake Boutique, I googled the bakery and discovered that it’s quite famous, if a little mysterious.

As Web sites go, Lady M’s doesn’t tell you very much. It does, however, offer a most enticing view of the crepe cake for which it is famous.

So that’s what the real crepe cake looks like!

Hot on the trail of this cake, I did some more searching and came across an article by Amanda Hesser in the New York Times. An excellent article, it paints a most intriguing picture of Lady M Cake Boutique. And Cream Puff loves a mystery!

But bakery aside, what the article also does is provide a recipe for the Lady M Milles Crêpes™. (Yes. It’s trademarked.)

I’ll admit that I was skeptical. And a bit wary. Did I really want to use all those eggs not to mention time in pursuit of a crepe cake that could very well be just as disappointing as the first crepe cake I tried?

Hell yes!

I began by making the vanilla pastry cream filling so that it could chill overnight along with the crepe batter. I must say the filling was very straightforward. If you’ve ever made pastry cream before you should have no trouble with this one. It consisted of milk, vanilla, egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and butter. So far, so good!

On to the crepe batter! Now I must tell you that I did have some assistance from Mama Cream Puff (she’s in Italy right now and we miss her so) with the crepe batter. Mama Cream Puff prepared the batter during the afternoon (while Cream Puff was work) so that it could sit in the refrigerator overnight, as required by the recipe. The crepe batter consists of butter, milk, eggs, flour, sugar and a bit of salt.

A bit nervous at how smoothly things were going, I got up the following morning to make the crepes and I was immediately suspicious. The batter looked a bit on the thin side.

Hmmmm.

But Mama Cream Puff assured me that she followed the directions exactly so I shrugged and carried on.

While a few crepes (at the beginning) suffered tragically short lives and had to be put out of their misery in the food recycling bin, I quickly got the hang of it and discovered that while the batter was thin, it created lovely crepes. I had to be careful because they were a bit on the delicate side, but in no time at all I had about 30 beautiful crepes (you need 20 to make the crepes cake).

Somewhat amazed at how quickly things were proceeding, I decided to carpe diem and put that baby together! I added whipped cream and kirsch to the pastry cream, took out my nicest cake stand and began building.

You know what. It was pretty easy!

The crepes were delicate and very flat, which made spreading the pastry cream simple. The pastry cream was most spreadable and most delicious as I found it quite difficult not to suck up as much as I was spreading onto the crepes.

And before I knew it, I had a crepe cake!

I refrigerated it as directed and was very patient, which is not like me but I didn’t want all this effort to go to waste. Finally, later that day, I unveiled the crepe cake, which I’d garnished with some red currants that I had in the freezer from last year’s crop. I’d also bruleed the top crepe as the recipe suggests. Hey, any chance I have to use my kitchen blowtorch, I’m there!

The moment of truth was when I cut into the cake and served it.

It was incredible! It was easy to slice and serve and the taste was unbelievable. Everyone loved it and I knew right then and there that I would be making this dessert for Christmas Day!

Flushed with success, I thought of my Daring Bakers and all the struggles over Martha’s cake (which … pardon my ineloquence … truly sucks by comparison) and I shed a tear.

Okay, that’s not really true. I didn’t shed a tear but I did smile because I’d found the real crepe cake. The one that kicks Martha’s crepe cake’s ass!

Ciao!

The Real Crepe Cake
(Same recipe as the one from the New York Times but with a few minor liberties.)

For the crêpes batter:

6 tablespoons butter
3 cups milk
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
7 tbsp. sugar
Pinch salt
vegetable oil

The day before serving the cake, make the crepe batter and the pastry cream. For the batter, cook the butter in a small pan until brown like hazelnuts. Set aside. In another small pan, heat the milk until steaming; allow to cool for 10 minutes. In a mixer on medium-low speed, beat together the eggs, flour, sugar and salt. Slowly add the hot milk and browned butter. Pour into a container with a spout, cover and refrigerate overnight.

To make the crepes, bring the batter to room temperature. Place a nonstick or seasoned 9-inch crepe pan over medium heat. Swab the surface with the oil, then add about 3 tablespoons batter and swirl to cover the surface. Cook until the bottom just begins to brown, about 1 minute, then carefully lift an edge and flip the crepe with your fingers. Cook on the other side for no longer than 5 seconds. Flip the crepe onto a baking sheet lined with parchment. Repeat until you have 20 perfect crepes.

For the vanilla pastry cream:

2 cups milk
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted
3 1/2 tbsp. butter

Bring the milk to a boil. Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla extract then set aside for 10 minutes. Fill a large bowl with ice and set aside a small bowl that can hold the finished pastry cream and be placed in this ice bath.

In a medium heavy-bottomed pan, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch. Gradually whisk in the hot milk, then place pan over high heat and bring to a boil, whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes. Press the pastry cream through a fine-meshed sieve into the small bowl. Set the bowl in the ice bath and stir until the temperature reaches 140 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. Stir in the butter. When completely cool, cover and refrigerate.

To assemble the cake:

2 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons Kirsch
icing sugar (optional)

Whip the heavy cream with the tablespoon sugar and the Kirsch. It won’t hold stiff peaks but that’s okay. Fold it into the pastry cream.

Lay 1 crepe on a cake plate. Using an icing spatula, completely cover with a thin layer of pastry cream (about 1/4 cup). Cover with a crepe and repeat to make a stack of 20, with the best-looking crepe on top. Chill for at least 2 hours. Set out for 30 minutes before serving. If you have a blowtorch for creme brulee, sprinkle the top crepe with 2 tablespoons sugar and caramelize with the torch; otherwise, dust with confectioners’ sugar. Slice like a cake.

Batter adapted from ”Joy of Cooking.” Pastry cream adapted from ”Desserts,” by Pierre Herme and Dorie Greenspan. Serves 10.

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