Sunday, October 25, 2009

End-of-the-Week Recap: A Glitch in the Culinary Matrix, Virtual-Saturday Crepes, Oatmeal Clafouti, and Two Kreativ Blogger Awards(!!!!)


The rest of my compulsory vegetarian week was a disaster. Broccoli rabe is really, really freaking bitter if you don't treat it right. So bitter that I'm afraid I might have given my husband and myself irreversible tannic poisoning.

And check out this spoon! My New Orlasian Red Beans and Rice came out so thick that I pulled a Neo.

The only as-yet-unmentioned meal I cooked last week that I'm proud of was the Nutella Crepes With Honey and Sliced Nanners pictured below, and it wasn't my recipe. I followed Jane Brody's for Basic Crepes near-verbatim. You can find it on page 502 of Jane Brody's Good Food Book. Or not, since I've taken the liberty of reprinting it for you here.


Basic Crepes
from Jane Brody's Good Food Book

Ingredients

1 egg
Pinch salt (she says to omit it if you're making sweet crepes; of course I was like, "Whatevs!")
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
5/8 c. milk
1 tsp. sugar (omit for savory crepes)
1/4 tsp. vanilla (ditto)
2 Tbsp. melted butter, divided

Directions

Beat everything except 1 Tbsp. of butter together in a mixing bowl. Heat a small pan with sloping sides over medium-low to medium heat (not quite high enough to burn your butter). Dab some of the reserved butter on the pan and spread it around. Pour enough crepe batter in to barely cover the bottom of the pan and tilt the pan around to even it out. When you start to see bubbles in the batter, lift the edge with a spatula every ten seconds or so to see if the bottom is sufficiently browned. When it is, flip the crepe and cook about 15 seconds on the other side. Remove it from the pan and plate it (or set it on wax paper if storing). Lather, rinse, repeat. Makes 8-9 small crepes. I spread Nutella on mine, folded them in quarters, and served with sliced nanners and a drizzle of holly honey.

Do you have a favorite crepe filling or topping? Feel free to share!

Thursday was Virtual Saturday for my husband, since he took a four-day weekend. You may have noticed that I skipped Chickenless Cook yet again this week due to some out-of-townage. We were at my mom's place eating this:


Oatmeal clafouti. I am not a huge clafouti fan; most traditional recipes are too bland for my taste. These however were excellent topped with plain yogurt, applesauce, and maple syrup. My mom and I will tweak this recipe and probably share it with you later. Thanks for hosting, Chickenless Chick's Mom!

Last and certainly not least, Janis at Bite Me New England and Robin at Vegetable Matter have each bestowed upon me the unspeakable honor of a Kreativ Blogger Award! These are The Chickenless Kitchen's first awards ever. I am mega-excited and flattered to no end. Thanks, Janis and Robin!


Now, lest the Award Police come in the night and take them away from me, I have to tell you seven interesting things about myself and nominate seven other blogs for the award. Here goes.

Seven Interesting Things About The Chickenless Chick

1) The cookbook that originally hooked me was Almost Vegetarian by Diana Shaw... even though I eat red meat.

2) My favorite restaurant growing up was Chili's.

3) My favorite restaurants now are locally owned and operated. Both happen to be Mexican, though El Coqui also serves Puerto Rican food and Da Kine Diego's can more accurately be described as Cal-Mex.

4) When I was three or so, all I ate without complaint were Kraft Singles and tomatoes. If I had to pick only two foods to eat for the rest of my life, they would still be cheese and tomatoes... though I think a Kraft Single would turn me green at this point.

5) My favorite drink is gin and club soda with lime and Angostura bitters... yes, I know, I am a ninety-year-old man.

6) You know how most people either have rhythm or don't? I have it sometimes.

7) I hardly ever open my mouth in group social settings. One through five are probably all news to my closest friends.

My Nominees (in Alphabetical Order)








I am a writer, so chickenless writing was my foremost consideration in choosing my nominees. Anyone can post a recipe, but these ladies (the fact that they are all ladies is sheer coincidence btw) make us feel like we're right there in the kitchen with them. Each is honest and bold, but each has her own special voice. I am delighted to follow all their blogs. Thanks to them for brightening my days!


Beat the eggs. Whip the cream. Show no mercy.


14 comments:

sweet water said...

Hooray! Thanks so much for the nomination!!
When your cooking goes awry do you ever throw a full on tantrum? No? Oh, well then just forget I asked.

theUngourmet said...

The Oatmeal Clafouti looks quite interesting. I'd love to try it!

Congrats on you award. Your number 5 fact makes me laugh. Good thing I wasn't drinking milk when I read it! :D

Thank so much for passing this to me. You said some very kind things and made my day! :0)

Mae said...

I make oatmeal clafoutis for my boyfriend all the time because they freeze so well and he can have them for breakfast! I rarely see it otherwise (before this I'd only seen them on Chocolate & Zucchini). Congrats on the award, too!

Tasty Trix said...

Thank you very much! *blush* Cheers!

kathy gori said...

Congrats!!!!
try your broccoli rabe with a tomato sauce that has sultana raisins, pine nuts, and a bit of mashed anchovy in it. i serve this over penne pasta, with grated romano cheese...the raisins and pine nuts cut the btter

Gourmet Goddess said...

Thanks so much CC - I'm delighted with my nomination and the fact that you enjoy my blog so much. Delicious regards, Gourmet Goddess

Tasty Eats At Home said...

Wow, what a spoon! Thank you so much for the award! I too have an "old man" taste for drinks...I love a good single malt scotch on the rocks. So I guess I'm a rich old man...too bad scotch is an expensive luxury, so I don't get it often! I love your blog - you always have a way of making me smile.

Kelly @ EvilShenanigans said...

Your creps look lovely! I love crepes and bananas. When I was in Ireland, of all places, they had some banana, nutella, whipped cream, and caramel crepes. I wept they were so good!

Mardi Michels said...

Hey - not just TOP 9 but NUMBER 1!!!! YAY!!!!

Simply Life said...

The meals look great -can you give the recipe for that oatmeal treat? It looks delicious and I've never heard of it before!

Deborah Dowd said...

Your recap is great and the fudge is such a great idea! I will be delving more into your blog and your nominees'!

Rachel J said...

when I saw the oatmeal clafouti pic on foodbuzz, I just had to check out this dish. Its a perfect fall indulgence. :)

The Chickenless Chick said...

LOL... probably made top 9 cuz of the picture... sorry to everyone who came here expecting a recipe for oatmeal clafouti! I'll have it up soon, I promise :) Thanks for your votes, and for your kind get-well wishes.

Anyone who doesn't know what this top 9 business is all about, visit Foodbuzz: http://www.foodbuzz.com

Cynthia said...

Chickenless!
Thank you so much for the Kreativ blogger award! On another note, how brave of you for going vegetarian for a week. You can keep that spoon as a badge of honor!