mushroom and spinach crepes

Despite appearances I have not disappeared down a rabbit hole. I've been a bit under the weather with a coldy thing and pink eye (eyes?) which has been maddening. Spring seems to have finally arrived and the house seems almost warm at times which is such a nice feeling. I've made it outside into my excuse for a garden and cleared away some of the debris from winter and planted some things - sweet peas, spinach, chard and am cheered to see shoots where I planted garlic in the fall. There are some tiny tulips blooming under the Korean lilac bush and more bulbs are growing in pots - although not blooming yet.

But the real reason that I haven't been here much lately is my new obsession as my husband calls it. What is it you ask? Online scrapbooking. I got an offer a few weeks ago for a free book so I decided to give it a go. And created a monster. Since I started a mere 3 weeks ago, I've done 7 complete albums, ordered and on their way and the first one arrived the other day. I calculated that it is about the same price as printing pictures and scrapbooking myself with all the supplies I buy. And the albums should take up less space. I'm up to date with scrapbooking finally and because I'm doing it online, there is less scrapbook debris while I'm working and I won't need all the stuff anymore (stickers, paper, brads, punches, etc). So last week I culled my supplies (I'm keeping some for making cards) and did a big donation to the club where our son goes before and after school and the workers there are thrilled as well. And my skinny man is beyond thrilled to have my "scrapbooking" corner cleared out. So happiness all around. But I will admit that I was spending a lot of time at the computer after the boy had gone to bed. Not all my time mind you, because I also just finished reading "As Always, Julia" which was fascinating although it did lead to strange dreams about recipes!

Anyway, I'm meant to be posting about crepes so I will move on. Crepes. I went through a brief spell a few weeks back where we ate a lot of crepes. Mainly because of an article I read in the Guardian. And as I have sourdough starter now, this recipe caught my eye. I make it without the eggs and the resulting crepe doesn't taste overly sour or tangy but does have a lovely texture. I usually double the recipe, or at least make 1 1/2 times as much as the recipe to render enough crepes (as I leave out the eggs).

Crepes (adapted from here)
170 mL milk (I use 1%)
120 mL sourdough starter
2 pinches of salt
100 g flour
A big knob of melted butter (I use ~ 1 tbsp for a knob)

Mix all the ingredients together. Melt some more butter into a crepe pan over medium heat until bubbly and then pour in enough batter to thinly coat the bottom of the pan. Cook until the edges get a tiny bit crisp and turn over. Cook until slightly brown around the edges and shake onto a plate. Repeat until all the batter is used.

Mushroom and Spinach filling
2 tbsp butter
8-10 medium mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 c vegetable stock
1 tsp dijon mustard
dash of worchestershire sauce
1 bag of spinach
1 c grated gruyere or sharp cheddar cheese
crepes

Melt the butter in a pan over medium high heat and add the mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms are a bit brown. Add the flour and the stock and stir, cooking until the mixture thickens slightly. Add the mustard, worchestershire sauce and the spinach. letting the spinach wilt into the mixture. Once the spinach is wilted, add about half of the cheese and stir into the sauce. Let cook over a low heat for about 5 minutes. Take off the heat and let cool a few minutes.

Add a couple of tablespoons of filling to each crepe across the diameter of the crepe near the bottom and roll up the crepe to enclose the filling (try and get more mushrooms and spinach and not so much sauce when you are doing this).

Place the crepes into a greased 9x13 baking dish. Fill all the crepes, or as many fit in a single layer in your dish.

Spoon the remaining sauce over the crepes and sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top. Bake at 350 deg F for about 30 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden and the filling is bubbly.

Any leftover crepes can be frozen - layer the crepes with a piece of waxed or parchment paper between each one, wrap all of them well in plastic wrap, and put into a freezer bag. You can fill them frozen or defrost in a microwave for about 10 seconds each.