Crepes Cholula

Having some leftovers in the fridge, I decided to make some crepes. While I’m not completely inventing the recipe —as this kind of preparation is done in similar recipes— the quantities and the ingredients (or lack thereof) are my invention because I didn’t follow a recipe, and I just added ingredients as I prepared and without measuring. And I also invented the name ;)

CREPES CHOLULA

^{For this recipe I used the following ingredients. Feel free to substitute. Check comments at the end.}

Serves 12

Ingredients:

For filling:

• 2 corn cobs with cuitlacoche (corn smut) -cleaned and diced
• 1 bouquet of zucchini flowers (about 30, maybe 40, about twice the volume as mushrooms)-rinsed and diced
• 6 portobellini mushrooms -cleaned and diced
• 1 poblano pepper -rinsed and diced
• 1/2 white onion -chopped
• 3 garlic cloves -chopped finely
• 6 leaves of epazote
• about 1/4-1/3 cup corn oil
• about 1 tbsp butter
• salt
• a little chicken broth or water

For crepes:

• 2 cup Aunt Jemima pancake flour
• water
• 2 eggs

For bechamel sauce:

• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• milk
• grated nutmeg

Topping:

• grated Monterey Jack cheese

Preparation
For the filling, in a large skillet on high flame, add oil and butter. Immediately after butter is melted, add the onion and garlic stirring for about a minute. Add the poblano and stir well. Add a little chicken broth or water here and there just to create steam to cook the poblano and onion. Stir for a couple minutes and lower the heat to medium. When the mix is about 3/4 done, add the mushrooms, the zucchini flowers, and the cuitlacoche stirring well. Add the epazote, and add salt to taste. Lower the flame to med-low, and let simmer for a few minutes until the mix is cooked. Take out the epazote leaves.

For the crepes, in a small bowl, mix well the pancake flour with water and the eggs. The quantity of water is a bit greater than that of the flour. The consistency is more fluid than for pancakes. On medium heat, grease a medium skillet with a little butter (applying the butter with a paper napkin gives a very even surface). Pour enough batter and tilt the skillet in a circular way to cover all its surface evenly and thinly with the batter. When the batter is cooked, flip and let cook. Put crepes aside.

For the bechamel sauce, in a medium pan or pot in med-low heat, melt the butter. Add the flour until both ingredients are completely mixed into a thick clump or clumps. Begin adding the milk little by little stirring constantly to dilute the clump until the consistency is of a thick sauce. Grind a little nutmeg on top and add salt to taste.

Presentation
Pour some filling on top of half a crepe. Fold in half and then again in half to obtain a quarter circle. Place in oven pan. Repeat with the rest of the crepes. Cover all with the bechamel sauce and sprinkle with the cheese. Broil in oven at 250ºC until cheese browns a little. Serve while still hot.

Cook’s comments
The next time I cook this recipe, I’d incorporate a glass of white wine to the filling (like in a risotto), and I’d add another poblano. If fresh cuitlacoche is not available, you can use the canned variety. Epazote brings out particularly well the taste of zucchini flowers and cuitlacoche, but if it’s not available, I would try thyme, even though it’s a very different taste.
The batter recipe might call for butter, but the flour box didn’t bring a crepe recipe, so I had to make up my own. I probably should’ve used milk instead of water. Better to follow the recipe that comes in your box if it does.

Enjoy!

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