Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Le choix de la crepe....


Have you ever made a spontaneous decision that would drastically affect your life, at the drop of a hat?

Did you notice a trigger to that decision? Some sort of revelation? Wedding proposal?
School acceptance? Job transfer? Gluten-free crepes at Jean Talon market?

Sometimes things in life just click into place. Three weeks ago, I was visiting Montréal and playing tour guide with friends from a French program in Sherbrooke, Québec. We were frolicking around the city, hitting all my favourite sites – parc lafontaine, fair trade coffee at café rico, hot cocoa at juliette et chocolat, and before we hit the infamous Tam Tam jams, a stop at Jean Talon market to grab some grub for a picnic.

This market in particular is a utopia – the middle of the market is comprised of dozens of fruit and vegetable stands, most of the produce grown locally and organically right here in the province of Québec. Surrounding the market are shops and stands, for n’importe quoi – there are poissonaries (fresh fish), fromagaries (cheese stores and stands), la viande organique (organic meat places), boulangeries (bakeries), and much more.

After a lovely latté with the ladies at Premièr Moisson (the best bakery in Montréal), we waited in line to grab some baguettes for them to take with us on out picnic adventure. I’d just finished explaining to my friends that it was fine they got bread – I don’t want to be one of those "because I can’t, you can’t" types of people. Truthfully, I have outgrown my cravings for baked goods… but of course, I have to admit I’d still be eating it if I could. Baguettes, avocados, pineapple, tomatoes, gluten-free saucisse (sausage) and Québec goat cheese were the continents of our backpacks. We were almost ready to head back to our bikes when my friend Nathalie noticed rather darkish looking crepes being tossed on the griddles right in front of our faces.

Darkish looking crepes = buckwheat flour

Buckwheat flour = gluten free

I rushed up to the girl working at the stand, and asked what the crepes were made of.
With a smile she said,

"On les a fait avec la farine sarrasin seulement. Vous avez une allergie au gluten? Pas de problème"

Translation – These crepes are made with buckwheat flour only. If you have a gluten
allergy, you can eat these ones..

It hit me all at once – I wanted to be in the city, with all its gluten free goodness waiting to be discovered. And this, my friends, is how I came to my decision of moving back to Montréal, pretty much instantaneously.

Gluten free crepes are amazing to eat out, but if you can master them at home, they are
much cheaper! I plan on doing so as soon as I find an apartment, and a job that pays for good cheese. You can make them with a variety of different flours, including rice flour, quinoa flour and buckwheat flour. Here is a great starter recipe, with lots of wonderful ideas to put inside…..

BUCKWHEAT CREPES

1 cup of pure buckwheat flour
1 2/3 cups milk
3 eggs
teaspoon of raw sugar, or maple syrup
2 tablespoons of melted butter
pinch of salt

Blend the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. I find it is easiest to simply use a fork, and work out all the lumps. When making any kind of crepe, it is important to get the right consistency, and depending on the recipe (or how many times you double or triple it), the consistency can change. Have extra milk and buckwheat flour ready. Your final product should be much thinner than a pancake mixture, and should spread nice and evenly in the pan.

Heat up a frying pan or crepe pan with a little bit of butter (the temperature really
depends on your oven – it could be number 4, 6, or 8 depending on how hot your
elements are!). Use a ladle to pour crepe batter into your pan. Again, the size of your pan determines the amount of batter you will use. You want those babies to be thin!!!! They should be a complement to the crepe fillings, which we’ll talk about in a bit.

When cooking the crepes, use a silicone spatula. You will find it is much easier to work your way around the crepe, and flip it over gently. Once you have flipped the crepe over, you can add your fillings, and then close the crepe by carefully turning it on its side.

Let your delicious and unique fillings sit inside the crepe while the pan is still on the element for about 45 seconds to 1 minute. Finally, gently slide the crepe, with the aid of the silicone spatula, onto the pan!

IDEAS FOR SWEET CREPES…..

Fillings:
any type of berry that is in season!
Bananas
Peaches, plums, pears
Goat Cheese

Toppings:
Maple syrup or maple butter
Chocolate
Honey


IDEAS FOR SAVORY CREPES:

cheese – swiss, strong cheddar, mozzarella, goat
legumes – asparagus, spinach, arugula, mushrooms,
meats – honey maple ham, bacon, pepperoni

Toppings:
- PURE maple syrup! It is a Quebec tradition to put pure maple syrup on savory crepes,
and what a tradition it is. Give ‘er a go.