Savory crepes

Crepes with zucchini and crispy ham.

I had a restless night. I don't know why. If you are one of those people that finds a comfortable position and never moves all night - you will more than likely not understand.

But I woke up this morning with pillow case removed from my pillow, the dogs off the bed (they only do this if I toss and turn too much) and the duvet cover inexplicably removed from the comforter.

Yeah, I can't figure out how that happened either...

So, the only thing to do this morning was to make crepes.

First the filling:

Thin sliced ham crisped up in a skillet and grated zucchini.

The zucchini seemed a bit too wet so I squeezed out the extra liquid with a paper towel.

 
I put the zucchini with a little olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. I added two splashes of white wine, cracked black pepper, onion powder, dried parsley and the crispy ham.

I let it simmer until the alcohol had cooked off and the mixture was fragrant.

Then I adapted a crepe recipe I found here.

I used 1/2 cup of soymilk and 3/4 cup of water.

This is my first time cooking crepes so be kind.

A smear of cream cheese.

A little bit of the filling.

Neatly folded.

These were savory, creamy, a bit salty and incredibly delicious. And they were a lot easier to make than I thought.


I highly recommend. 


The dogs enjoyed 1/2 a crepe each that was filled with peanut butter.

 I hope everyone is having a great Labor Day!
 

Bibimbap

At a company I used for work years ago, there was a tiny deli across the street that was family run.

They always had Bibimbap on the menu. It became one of my favorite lunches.


What I like most about Bibimbap? Everyone seems to have a slightly different recipe.


Today, I decided to create my version of Bibimbap.

I stopped by the local Japanese grocery store Nijiya and picked up some thinly sliced beef.

I mixed up a marinade of soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, green onion, rice wine, sugar and finely chopped ginger.

Marinate the meat for 2 -3 hours.

I put 1/2 cup of brown rice on to simmer with 1 1/4 cups of water and cooked until tender.

Next, I started chopping up the rest of the ingredients.

Red leaf lettuce, zucchini, green cabbage and carrot.

I stir fried the carrot and zucchini in a tiny bit of oil in a hot pan. This only took about 3 minutes as I wanted them as crunchy as possible.

I quickly stir fried the meat in a hot pan. This step is also very quick. Be careful to keep turning the meat and take it off immediately when it finishes cooking.

Then the assembly begins:

A layer of rice -

Then the vegetables are placed around the perimeter. Then pile the meat in the middle.

A generous drizzle of Sriracha sauce on top.

But, of course, I can't leave the dish looking so pretty and pristine.

All mixed up!

I am going to spend the afternoon apartment hunting online - See y'all later!

Early summer

Can you believe it is over 80 degrees and sunny here today?

It feels like summer has arrived in March. Very Odd.


I went with something light for lunch:

Quinoa with zucchini and carrot over a bed of lettuce and cabbage.

I started with the veggies:

Carrot and zucchini chopped small.

I put 1/4 cup on quinoa in a pot with 1 cup of chicken broth - I added in more liquid than was needed to cook the quinoa since I would be cooking the veggies at the same time.

When the quinoa started to simmer, I added in the chopped veggies.

I turned the heat to low and covered the pot and let it cook for 15 minutes.

Chopped lettuce and cabbage went into the bowl as a bed for the quinoa.

I also had some of the crispy cod left over so that went on top of the quinoa.

Quinoa with vegetables over a bed of chopped cabbage with crispy cod and drizzled with blue cheese dressing.

A garnish of cherry tomatoes.

Crispy cod with a spicy lemon yogurt sauce

At noon time I wanted fish and I also wanted some steamed veggies.

Crispy cod over a bed of steamed carrot and zucchini with a spicy lemon yogurt sauce.

I pan fried the fish over medium high heat. I kept the preparation simple. I just cut up the fish in chunks and rolled them in a mixture of half flour and half Matzo Meal.


Keep a close eye on the fish while it is in the pan. Turn each piece as soon as you see the underside starting to turn golden brown.

Drain the fish on paper towels. 

Then I chopped one carrot and two small zucchini and tossed them in the steamer. I cut them small so they were done in about 7 minutes.


Next, I made the sauce.

Spicy lemon yogurt sauce.

I have no real amounts for this one I just kept adding a little of this and that until it tasted great. But I can tell you I did start with 2 Tbsp. of greek yogurt and mixed in some chicken broth, ground cumin, lemon juice and taco seasoning.

This dish was pretty even before the sauce :-)

The Matzo Meal made the fish extra crispy.

I drizzled the sauce over the top.

This turned out much better than I thought. The slightly spicy, lemony sauce was a great creamy accent to the crispy fish.


The sauce made its way down to the vegetables and OMG! I could have just kept adding more and more sauce and eaten it like a soup :-)