I love going out to dinner… except on Valentine’s Day, especially when it falls on a weeknight. Restaurants tend to be crowded and rushed. Often food and service suffer.
On night’s like that I prefer to celebrate at home and keep it simple but special. Here’s my solution this year: a three-course crepe dinner. Sounds hard you say. My reply–it’s not!
Besides instant flour, I’ll bet you’ve got all the ingredients to make crepe batter right now–milk, eggs, salt, oil. So you don’t end up with extra batter, I’ve made the yield small. There’s enough for a three- course dinner for two with a little extra for practicing. Crepes refrigerate and freeze well, so double the batter, if you like. Using instant flour means the batter won’t lump, and there’s no need to let it rest as suggested in some recipes. As soon as the batter’s made, feel free to head to the stove.
While your Valentine pops the cork, make the first two crepes, spread them with a little flavored cream cheese, lay on thin-sliced smoked salmon, roll them up and slice. These salmon rollups are a perfect appetizer for two, great for large groups too.
Depending on your cooking style you can make all the crepes at once, taking the chill off in the microwave just before serving, but they’re so simple and quick, I prefer to make them as I go.
After enjoying Sexy Salmon Rollups, it’s time to make the main course: Crab & Spinach Crepes. Simply stir crabmeat (or ham, if you prefer–sauteing it first) into the hot creamed spinach. Heighten flavor with sliced scallion and grated parmesan.
For dessert it’s Crepes with Drunken Strawberries and Ice Cream. Make (or reheat) two more crepes, spreading them with butter and sprinkling with sugar. Fold into quarters and then top with vanilla ice cream and sugared strawberries. Serve them on dessert plates, if you like, but I like arranging on one big plate and sharing.
It’s a beautiful, simple three-course meal. I think you’ll be satisfied but not stuffed at evening’s end–a great way to end Valentine’s Day–or any day!
They all look eyepopping and yummy
You too are so adorable. And those crepes look delicious. I will definitely be trying them.
xo,
Rodney
I have made crepes before and yours look wonderful 🙂 I’m sorry tho, I’m aware of many, many flours, but not instant 🙁 What makes it instant??? thx!
Hey Dana,
According to Answers.com:
“Instant flour is a granular flour that dissolves quickly to thicken gravies, sauces, custards and other dishes. Wondra is a brand of instant flour.
Instant flour is low protein, finely ground flour that has been treated so that it will dissolve instantly in water and not require the same long cooking process as non-instant flour to dissolve in a liquid and thicken it. The process is called pregelatinization, and it involve heat a starch (flour) with very hot water and/or steam, then drying it out, so that it has essentially been cooked already. Because of this, instant flour also very unlikely to form lumps when mixed with a water or other solution. Wondra is a brand of instant flour and has some malted barley flour mixed into it, which acts as a dough conditioner in many breads.”
Hope this helps!