Crêpes w/ Nutella Cannoli Filling

We recently got a crêpe place in the mall. I've loved crêpes ever since college. Of course, I was excited but it soon wore off. One long weekend the International Club planned a trip up to Quebec and I think I had a crêpe at every place that would sell it to me. I've eaten more crepes in Quebec in three days than I have in the United States over the course of a few decades.

There's just something about that sweet, buttery combination that makes me reminisce about good times and the love I have for Quebec. My little one also likes crepes. While I can't wait to take him to Quebec so he can have that experience for himself, I will be his official crêpier.

I first decided I was going to make this recipe when I saw Chef Anne Burrell make them on the show The Kitchen. It looked so easy I wasn't sure why I haven't been making them at home. Then I remembered the last time I tried. It turned out a hot mess, but I was much more confident this time around. So confident I decided to create my own special filling.

Cannoli filling is something else I've been meaning to make. Our friends brought a cannoli dip to the house once and I've been in love ever since. Actually many of our friends were in love that day especially since you can't get it everywhere. I made this filling with cream cheese and Mascarpone not ricotta because that's what we had in our house. Hey, a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. I hope you like it.

Crêpes with Nutella Cannoli Filling
Makes 18 crêpes

Crêpe Ingredients

1 cup of flour
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup of club soda
1/2 cup  of milk
3 tablespoons of butter
Additional butter for cooking crêpes

Nutella & "Cannoli Filling"
8 ounces of mascarpone
4 ounces of cream cheese
1 to 1 1/2 cup of powered sugar
1 cup of chocolate chips.
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

Tools: mixing bowl, ladle, cast iron pan, whisk & hand mixer

Filling Directions
Place mascarpone and cream cheese in a bowl. Use an electric mixer to beat items together until combined.

Add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

Add powdered sugar 1/2 a cup at a time using electric mixer to blend ingredients together.

Lastly, fold chocolate chips in with a spatula.

Crêpe Directions
Place flour and salt in a mixing bowl.

Make a well in the center of the bowl.

Place eggs, milk, club soda and butter in the well in the center.

Whisk all ingredients together until combined.

If mixture seems thick (more like pancake batter than cake batter) whisk in a little more milk.

Allow the mixture to set for 30 minutes.

Place cast iron pan on medium heat.

Melt a small amount of butter in the pan (I actually just take a stick of butter and gently glide it over the bottom of the pan making sure all parts of the pan a coated).

Fill a ladle with crêpe mixture, and starting from the center pour the mixture in the center of the pan.

Gently tip the pan from side to side to roll the crêpe mixture around the pan.

When the edges of the crêpe begin to pull away and the bottom starts to brown (1 1/2   to 2 minutes) it's time to flip the crêpe.

Cook on the other side for an additional minute.

Place crêpe on a plate and make the next.

Separate crêpes with parchment paper. You can also keep them warm by heating the oven to 200 degrees and placing the plate of crêpes in the oven covered by a damp towel.

The best part of this whole process is eating it. Take a small spoonful of Nutella and spread across the crêpe. Then take a tablespoon of the cannoli filling and spread it across.

You can fill this crêpe with flambéed bananas or chocolate. You might even want to put a scope of ice cream on top. The world is your with this one.

Beef Empanadas

I asked my husband the other day whether he packed our mini me the empanadas I made him for a snack. He turns to me and says, No. Empanadas are not a snack. I'm sure his response was partially fueled by the fact that I used the larger empanada disc when I made them. Of course, for some reason his retort just seemed ridiculous to me. Not a snack? I only eat these as appetizers or snacks. So, I had to consult some of my friends. The responses were half and half.

Then I started thinking about it.  I guess technically you can make an empanada a complete meal. Add some vegetables to your meat mixture. Serve it with a salad or on a bed of lettuce. Or some maduros? Sweet plantains are a great addition to any cuban dish.

It doesn't take much for me to want empanadas. Who doesn't like a hand held meat pocket? Luckily, I made picadillo earlier this week, so I decided to use the picadillo mixture to stuff the empanadas. If you know you are planning on using picadillo to fill the empanada dough, you should use olives stuffed with pimentos. I would also suggest slicing the olives. That is if you even decide to put olives in your empanadas.

Despite our disagreement, when I set up the labels for this post I put it under both appetizer and dinner. See compromise... isn't it grand.

Beef Empanadas
Makes 10

Ingredients
1 package La Fey dough for pastries (thawed)
2 1/2 cups of picadillo
1/4 quart of vegetable oil
1egg (if baking)

Empanada Directions

Place un-opened empanada dough and picadillo on counter.

Once you've opened the empanada dough, place a wet paper towel over the dough you are not using.

Remove one disc of dough and in the center place 1/4 cup of picadillo.

Lightly wet the edges of the dough.

Fold the dough in half and gently press the edge of the dough together with a fork.

Repeat the above for all 10 discs of dough.

Frying Directions
In a cast iron frying pan, heat of oil to 375 degrees.

Fry empanadas two at a time (over crowding the pan will decrease the heat of your oil).

Fry until each side is golden brown. Approximately 2 to 3 minutes on each side.

Place fried empanadas on a baking sheet covered with paper towels to allow excess oil to drain.

Baking Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Spray baking sheet with oil.

Gently brush completed empanadas with beaten egg and bake for 12 to 14 minutes.

Flip empanada over after 8 to 10 minutes.

Continue baking until empanadas have gently browned.

Remove from oven
.

I love hot sauce on my empanadas, but that's probably because I eat it like an appetizer. Depending on whether you considering this dish an appetizer or dinner will dictate how you eat your empanadas.  This dish is also a great way to make use of leftovers. Whether that be picadillo or rotisserie chicken. Add some tomatoes or potatoes and put it in a pocket. Whatever way you make it, I hope you enjoy.

Picadillo

I've been dying to make this dish for some time. I'm not sure why it has taken so long. It feels like it's been over a month since I asked my colleague to help me translate some traditional Cuban recipes. Growing up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, I was always lucky enough to have access to great Puerto Rican and Cuban food. I've always been able to go to a friend's house or find a restaurant that made what I like just right. But now that we are in the suburbs, it's just not the same.

Years ago, I would buy the seasoning mix or the pre-made yellow rice, but within the last couple of years it's really been my mission to cut out a lot of the pre-made artificial stuff and really figure out how to make the dishes I love. I've been lucky enough to have friends and family that are more than willing to help me refine the flavors of my favorites dishes. I left out raisins which are traditional in both the Cuban and Puerto Rican versions of this dish.


Initially, I was going to try to make this in the slow cooker but my friends convinced me to make it stove top. It makes sense especially since most of the ingredients need to be started stove top. So here's the dish I've been waiting for. Thank goodness it came out the way I wanted or I don't know what I would have done.

Picadillo
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds of ground beef
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large onion diced
6 cloves of garlic minced
1 red pepper diced
4 small potatoes diced
2 tablespoons of cumin
1 sazon packet
3/4 cup of alcaparrado (olive & caper mixture)
16 ounces of crushed tomatoes
3/4 cup of dry white wine
1 ounce of cilantro (or culantro)
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of oregano
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/4 cup of alcaparrado juice

*Note: If you get the olives stuffed with pimentos you don't have to worry about pits.

Directions:
In a casserole pot/dutch oven heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and diced onion over medium heat.

Once the onion is translucent approximately 3 to 5 minutes, add red peppers then garlic.

Remove vegetables from heat.

Take half of the cooked vegetables and cilantro and place in a food processor. Blend for 30 seconds. If you do not have a food processor, mince well.

Season ground beef with 1 tablespoon of cumin, salt, pepper, oregano, garlic powder and mixture from food processor. Combine all ingredients well.

Add ground beef to pot and cook 8 to 10 minutes.

Remove beef from heat and drain excess oil.

Add olive oil to pot then add diced potatoes.

Cook potatoes for 5 to 10 minutes until tender. (You should easily be able to stick a fork through the potato)

 Add cooked vegetables, ground beef and white wine. Stir gently.

 Cook for 5 more minutes then add alcaparrado.

Continue cooking over medium heat and stir occasionally.

Add crushed tomatoes, alcaparrado juice, cumin and sazon.

Allow mixture to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Add any additional salt, pepper, cumin and/or alcaparrado.

Allow meat to simmer for an additional 15 to 20  minutes. This will allow the sauce to thicken.

Serve with rice and an avocado salad.

Spicy Chicken Sandwich

Like most people, I love fast food but the price of fast food these days just doesn't fit my budget. Luckily, a couple of years ago I came across a recipe for one of my favorite spicy chicken sandwiches. Of course, over the years I've come across many recipes and have weaved what I like from each into my own.

What makes this dish even better is that it serves 8 to 10 people. Not sure what type of birdzilla they sell at our supermarket, but one boneless chicken cutlet is a whopping 14 ounces. I had to cut that baby in thirds to get about three 4-1/2 oz. patties. I actually only used 4 chicken breasts to make these sandwiches. I got a whole lot of bird and bang for my buck.

Spicy Chicken Sandwich

Makes 8 to 10 Sandwiches

Ingredients
4 boneless chicken breasts
5 tablespoons of hot pepper sauce
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of oregano
2 large eggs beaten
1/4 cup of water

Coating
Tortilla chips
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
4 teaspoons of cayenne

8 to 10 Sandwich rolls

Vegetable Oil - if frying

Directions
Depending on the size of your chicken you may want to cut it in half to make 6 oz patties.

Once you have 4 to 6 oz patties use a mallet or a rolling pin to flatten the chicken breast.

Gently season chicken with salt.

In a bowl combine hot pepper sauce, oregano, egg and water.

Combine chicken and hot pepper mixture in a bowl or bag.

Allow chicken to  marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

After an hour or so remove chicken from refrigerator and preheat oven to 350 degrees if baking.

Season ground tortilla chips with paprika, onion powder, garlic powder and cayenne pepper.
(I removed the cayenne pepper because I didn't want it to be too spicy for my mini me.)

Taking one piece at a time, dredge chicken in tortilla mix. Shake of the excess coating.

If frying, pour oil into a large frying pan/skillet. Fry chicken until it is golden brown about 3 to 5 minutes per side.

Note* Grease should be approximately 1/2" deep and 350 degrees.

If baking set a rack on top of a baking sheet. Then place chicken on the rack and bake for 25 to 35 minutes.

For the last 8 to 10 minutes turn oven temperature up to 375 degreed to get an additional brown on the chicken.

Serve on bun with lettuce, tomato & mayo. Maybe jazz it up and serve it with coleslaw.

I actually feel like I've out done myself here because it's actually a bit healthier than the Wendy's version also. Especially, if you bake it. All the glory but not as much of the fat. Woo hoo!!