Sauteed Mushroom and Leek Crepes

I made these crepes for dinner a few weeks ago, and wasn't totally thrilled with the seasonings, so I made them again and tweaked the recipe this past weekend, subbing other herbs for the terragon.  I liked them a lot better this way, but Lawson says he liked the original way better, so I am including both variations... I guess it depends if you are a terragon person or not.  These are from a crepe cookbook that a friend gave me a few years ago, and looking through these recipes made me want to make crepes more often!  I am looking forward to experimenting with different fillings and different ways of wrapping/putting together the crepes.  We served the crepes for brunch with an old favorite french lentil salad, green salad and mimosas.  We're starting the new year off right around here!

I made the crepes with King Arthur Flour's white whole wheat, and I found that they had a full, nutty flavor but weren't as heavy as regular whole wheat (and I didn't use any regular all purpose mixed in, they were 100% white whole wheat).  King Arthur says it is a different variety of wheat than regular whole wheat, but is still a whole grain, so that is good news for those of us trying to incorporate more whole grains into our diets.  This is the second time I have had this flour, the first time was actually an accident - I had asked Lawson to get unbleached white flour at the store and this is what came home - so I used it a bit and decided I liked it.  I am looking forward to doing some more experimenting with this flour.

Sauteed Mushroom and Leek Crepes
Adapted from Crepes, Sweet and Savory Recipes for the Home Cook

For the crepes:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 cup flour - I used white whole wheat, if you don't have that, you could use 1/2 regular whole wheat and 1/2 white flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons melted butter, plus some additional butter for coating the pan

Blend all the ingredients together in a blender or food processor for a few seconds, stopping and scraping down the sides if needed to make sure that everything gets well mixed together.  Cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours or longer (overnight is fine).  Stir the batter to mix it back up, then heat a crepe pan over medium heat until hot (if you don't have a crepe pan, you should be able to use a regular skillet, particularly if it is non-stick), coat the pan lightly with butter.  With the pan off the heat, pour 2-3 tablespoons of batter on one side and then rotate the pan to get the batter to spread over the whole surface.  Cook on the heat until the crepe is nearly dry on top and the edges start to brown - 1-2 minutes.  Use a metal spatula to lift the edge and flip the crepe, then cook the other side for 15-30 seconds, until lightly browned in spots.  Stack the crepes on a plate when they are done and repeat until you have used all the batter.  You can make the crepes in advance - they should keep in the fridge for a few days if covered with plastic wrap, or you can freeze them in zip-top bags.

For the filling:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 5-6 leeks, washed and chopped (white and light green parts only)
• 6-8 ounces cremini mushrooms or wild mushrooms (if available), chopped
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup - 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded gruyere cheese
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves and 1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram 
• OR 1/2 teaspoon dried terragon instead of herbs above (depending on your preference)
• salt

To make the filling, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a medium to large skillet, then saute the leeks over medium heat for about 15 minutes, until they are soft and starting to brown.  Add the mushrooms and the herbs and saute until the mushrooms release their juices, 4-5 minutes.  In a large bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients together with the mushrooms and leeks.

Preheat oven to 350 F and and grease a 9'x13' baking dish.  To assemble the crepes, put 1/3-1/2 cup of filling in the center of each crepe and fold the sides in, and then fold the top and bottom over as shown above.  Place the folded crepes with the open side down in the baking pan and then either brush the tops with more olive oil, or spray with olive oil spray (this is what I did and it worked fine) - or you could probably skip the brushing/spraying and it would be fine.  Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until fully heated through.  Enjoy - they taste best warm but would also be fine at room temp, I think.