Bleu Cheese and Sausage Crêpes

By Gail Foley

This recipe is from my first computer file of recipes, dating to the early ‘90s. I have the original magazine clipping that I adapted, but don’t remember the magazine. I dated the year to 1973/74 from the Fisher-Price Family Play Farm advertised on the back. The original recipe, Sausage-Filled Crepes, can be found all over the internet and contained no brand names.

This recipe is made so savory and elegant by substituting shredded process cheese with crumbled bleu cheese. It is also a bit lower in fat by using low-fat milk in the batter, Neufchâtel instead of cream cheese in the filling and non-fat sour cream in place of sour cream and butter for the sauce.

This makes an elegant brunch served with Mimosas and fresh fruit.

Serves 8

Crêpes

3 eggs

1 cup low-fat milk

1 Tbsp. canola oil

1 cup sifted flour

Filling

1/4 cup (1 small) onion, finely diced

1 lb. bulk ground sausage (Good quality country sage)

3 oz. Neufchâtel

4 oz. crumbled bleu cheese

1 cup non-fat sour cream

Combine eggs, milk and oil. Add flour and beat until smooth. At this point the batter can be refrigerated for 3 to 6 hours. At least let it sit for half an hour.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly coat a 12x8-inch baking dish with canola oil spray.

Sauté sausage with onion until done. Drain well, then turn out on paper towels to drain some more. Rinse skillet with hot water to degrease. Place meat back in skillet and stir in Neufchâtel and bleu cheese.

Heat a 6-inch skillet until hot and dry. Remove from heat and lightly coat with canola oil spray. Return to medium heat and pour 2 tablespoons of batter into skillet and rotate to evenly distribute. Cook until set. Invert on toweling and stack to the side. Repeat, to make 16 crêpes. Remember to remove skillet from heat and give a quick spray of oil between each crêpe.

Place 2 tablespoons of meat mixture across center of each crêpe and roll up. Place seam side down in prepared baking dish.

Bake, covered, 30 minutes. Spoon sour cream over top. Bake, uncovered, five more minutes.

Serve immediately with some attractively arranged fresh fruit - a few strawberries, a small clump of grapes, apple slices or wedges of melon. Citrus slices are also elegant.

Julia Child’s Napoleon’s Chicken

I just watched “The French Chef” on the Cooking Channel. This show is a hoot! Julia came out with a “Napoleonic sword” that looked more like a machete and started to cut up a frying chicken with it. She related the legend of the origin of the recipe for Chicken Marengo as created by Napoleon’s chef at the battle of Marengo from ingredients on hand. When she flamed the Cognac, it looked like the Fire Dept. should have been called. Whoosh!

Since this is the Italian countryside where Napoleon was trying to regain control of Italy from the Austrians, the foodstuffs available were: chicken, crayfish, olive oil, olives, bread, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic, onions, wine, local herbs, and Napoleon’s own flask of Cognac. Food fit for an Emperor!

I looked all over for the recipe, but couldn’t find it. There are many versions of this recipe available, but none of them were true to what Julia made. I wrote this from notes and memory immediately after my search after watching the show.

Julia Child’s Napoleon’s Chicken

1 chicken cut into pieces for frying

4 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup of dry white wine

1 tablespoon of Napoleon's cognac (or Brandy)

2 medium onions, diced

2 lbs peeled, cored, seeded and diced tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic, crushed (Julia used a garlic press.)

1 tsp Italian Seasoning, c/s (This is exactly what she used from a jar!)

8 large white mushroom caps with stems

1 Tbsp. EVOO

½ cup dry white wine

More EVOO

8 rounds of ¼” thick sliced Italian bread

(Julia used a loaf of square sliced white bread, removed the crusts, and cut it in half into triangles.)

12 large shrimp, shelled and deveined

(If you can find large crawdad tails, use them!)

More EVOO

4 eggs

1 teaspoon chopped, fresh parsley

salt and freshly ground black pepper

black olives

Process:

Rinse and pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large seasoned skillet (a chicken fryer with 3” to 4” high sides) over medium high heat until hot. Add chicken and brown well on all sides.

Add white wine, cover and simmer 10 minutes. Add cognac and flame. Add onions, cover and simmer another 10 minutes. Remove chicken to platter.

Remove stems from mushroom caps and dice. Reserve caps. Spoon some grease from pan. Sauté garlic and mushroom stems. Add tomatoes, white wine, and Italian seasoning stirring up all the chicken bits. Salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a high simmer. Return the chicken pieces to the skillet, folding into the tomato sauce. Reduce heat, cover and simmer gently for 15 – 20 minutes until chicken is no longer pink.

While the chicken is cooking, heat a saucepan over high heat with EVOO and white wine. Add the mushrooms. Toss lightly a few times until they are tender, but not soggy or overcooked. The caps should be white and retain their shape. Set aside and keep warm.

Heat a frying pan with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil (may need more) until hot, but not smoking. Lightly fry the rounds of bread until slightly browned. Set them aside on paper towels. Keep warm in oven.

Add the shrimp to the hot oil and fry until they just curl up, about 1-2 minutes. Set them aside on paper towels. Keep warm in oven.

Heat another saucepan over high heat with EVOO at least an inch deep. Poach the eggs one at a time in the hot oil for a minute or so, lightly stirring with large spoon to keep egg together. Remove with a slotted spoon and set on paper towel to drain.

Putting it all together:

Set chicken pieces on serving platter. Spoon the tomato sauce over the chicken pieces and garnish with black olives.

Place the eight croutons around the chicken. Place an egg on every other crouton and garnish with parsley. Place 3 shrimp on each of the other 4 croutons.

Julia Child’s Spinach Turnover

I watched “The French Chef” again, and again her recipes are NOT to be found written on the web, but you can watch the videos. A great visual was watching her squeeze the spinach by hand. She went to Provence for the assembly segment with her great friend, Simone Beck (Simcha). So, from my notes and memory, I wrote this out immediately after watching the show. This would make a great hors d’oeuvres.

Julia Child’s Spinach Turnover

The French Chef - “The Spinach Twins”

Pastry for 2 - 9” crusts, (unbleached pastry flour)

9 oz. fresh spinach, washed (Yield 2 cups blanched, drained- squeezed dry, chopped)

4 oz. fresh white small mushrooms, quartered

½ cup diced (3/8”) ham

1 Tbsp. butter

Sauce Bouillée:

1 medium onion, diced (1 cup)

¼ cup butter

½ cup flour

1 2/3 cup hot milk

1 egg

Salt & pepper to taste

Pinch of nutmeg

2 eggs, 1 separated

1 tsp. water

For Cream Sauce:

Remaining Sauce Bouillée

½ cup or more cream or milk

Salt & pepper to taste

1/3 cup shredded Gruyère cheese

Wash spinach well and plunge into a large kettle of boiling water for about 2 minutes, then immediately shock it in cold water. Drain well, squeeze dry and chop. Reserve 2 cups in the kettle.

Wipe mushrooms with clean damp rag. Quarter mushrooms and sauté with diced ham in 1 Tbsp. butter, set aside. 

In a heavy bottomed 2 qt. sauce pan, ("We don't like soggy bottoms in pastry or scorched bottoms in sauces." ), sauté onion over low heat in 1/4 cup butter until translucent. Put half the onion in the kettle with the spinach.

For Sauce Bouillée:

Add the flour to the remaining onion and cook the roux over medium heat, stirring constantly with a whisk. Whisk in the hot milk a little at a time. This sauce is going to be THICK, like paste. Take the pan off the heat and beat in an egg.  Salt and pepper to taste and add a pinch of nutmeg. ("You don't ever want someone to taste something and say, 'Oh: nutmeg.'") Put about a ½ cup of the sauce in with the spinach.

For Cream Sauce:

Stir ½ cup or more of milk or cream into remaining Sauce Bouillée until it is thinned to a sauce consistency. ("I'm using cream but I suppose you can use milk if you're on one of those hideous diets.") Simmer slowly, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to finish cooking the flour. Remove from heat. Salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with cheese, to let it melt and keep a skin from forming. Set aside. When ready to serve, warm it over low heat and stir in the cheese.

To assemble the pastry:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Roll the dough into a 10” by 15” rectangle, ¼” thick. Trim the edges so that it is even and square, saving cut scraps. Lay the dough 2/3 over parchment or wax paper, to simplify rolling over the top. Paint the pastry with egg yolk beaten with 1 tsp. of water.

Spread half the spinach mixture on the lower 1/3 of the pastry that is NOT on the paper, keeping a 1/2” edge bare for sealing. Place mushrooms and ham on top. Spread remaining spinach over ham and mushrooms.

Grabbing the paper, fold the pastry up and over. Seal the edges with fingers, then press with tines of fork.

Place on greased baking sheet. Cut pastry scraps into strips. Paint turnover with an egg glaze of 1 egg beaten with 1 tsp. water. Decorate with strips, laying them on a diagonal. Trim edges that hang over. Glaze again. Press cross hatch designs all over with a fork.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until nicely browned and crisp.

Slide it onto a board to cut diagonally and serve with the warmed Cream Sauce.

This can be made ahead of time, without glazing, and refrigerated. Glaze just before baking. If baking cold, it will need a little more baking time.

Creamed Zucchini and Cilantro

This French inspired recipe is adapted from Zucchini with Cilantro and Cream, by Hélène Wagner-Popoff, Corsica, France; Bon Appetit; May 2002.

“Hélène Wagner-Popoff writes, "My husband, Ivan, and I moved to Corsica from Madagascar eleven years ago on a whim. We restored an abandoned convent and saved the thousand-year-old olive grove surrounding it. Today we produce an olive oil called 'de pays de Corse Ivan Popoff.'

Although I was born in Lyons, the subtle flavors typical of Corsican cooking have definitely influenced my style. My dishes are extremely varied and well thought-out, but most of all simple. I like to surprise my family and guests with unexpected flavor combinations that don't take a lot of effort."

While this is delicious on its own as a side dish, Hélène also recommends it as a sauce spooned over roasted fish.”

I served this with Cajun Grilled Catfish. Yumm! I substituted olive oil for butter, chopped garlic for cloves and milk with cornstarch for cream - lower fat and ingredients on hand. Of course I really liked this recipe to use up the fresh cilantro growing abundantly now.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 Tbsp. chopped garlic
1 3/4 pounds (2 medium) zucchini, trimmed, cut into 1/3-inch-thick rounds
4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 cup milk

Heat iron skillet, until hot and dry. Remove from heat and lightly coat with vegetable oil spray. Return to very low heat while slicing zucchini and chopping cilantro.

Sauté zucchini, garlic and cilantro in olive oil over medium heat for five minutes until zucchini is crisp tender.

Put cornstarch in cup and stir in the milk.

Turn heat to low and pour milk over zucchini, stirring constantly until thickened, about one minute.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve immediately.

Serves 4 to 6.

Adapted from: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Zucchini-with-Cilantro-and-Cream-106491

Get Real Chicken Divan

Here is another great classic chicken and broccoli dish. This one is French and is perfect for a ladies luncheon or dinner. I just love it when I find some history or first person accounts of the origin of a dish. I had made various versions on my own for years, but have altered my recipe to be more true to the flavor of the original. Following is the original version I found at the Recipe Link. After that I listed my Get Real recipe.

BTW, you may wonder at all the recipes I post using boneless, skinless chicken breasts? They are a great value – low in fat, quick to cook, versatile and tasty. I just stocked up on them at $1.58 per pound. Be sure to buy the store or butcher package. IQF is a waste. They are soaked in water and poorly cut. Many years ago, some friends of mine actually did a market study at home comparing whole chicken breasts, boneless, skinless breasts and whole chickens. For the amount of waste from skin and bones, boneless and skinless is the real value. Of course, I always need some skin and bones to make soups and broths.

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"Levesia, here is the original recipe from Divan Parisien, where I loved to dine in the late 1940s. A great restaurant, and you actually ate at tables drawn up to small sofas (or divans!)"

CHICKEN DIVAN

1 five-pound fowl (stewing chicken)** see note

Water

2 tsp. salt

2 cups medium white sauce

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 cup hollandaise sauce

1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped

3 Tbsp. sherry

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 large bunch broccoli

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (preferably fresh-grated)

(1) Place whole fowl on a rack in a kettle. Add about five cups boiling water and salt; bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer until tender (about three hours). Cool in broth, then remove from broth, remove skin and slice the meat.

(2) While fowl is cooking, make white sauce and stir in nutmeg. Make hollandaise. Combine hollandaise, white sauce, Worcestershire sauce and sherry, then combine thoroughly with the whipped cream.

(3) Cook broccoli, drain and arrange on deep serving platter, sprinkle lightly with some of the cheese. Arrange sliced chicken on top, pour the sauce over all and sprinkle generously with the remaining cheese.

(4) Broil about 5 inches below hot broiler flame until lightly browned and bubbly.

***Note: this recipe came from a French restaurant kitchen, which assumed you know how to make white sauce AND hollandaise. These recipes can be found in any basic cookbook (like Joy of Cooking) or if you need recipes from these, ISO to me or TKL Cooking Club. This recipe was my claim to fame as a hostess for more than 30 years and I still make it occasionally. I use any larger chicken parts available in the supermarket, as fowl is very seldom found, nowadays, and simmer it much less time -- keep testing to see when it is tender--beginning at 30 minutes.

SERVES FOUR. NOT for dieters!!! Bon appetit!

Cooking Club at Recipelink.com

http://www.recipelink.com/msgid/0032143

From: Beege 11-12-1998

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Get Real Chicken Divan

Serves: 8

1 large bunch broccoli (2 to 4 heads) (20 oz.)

1 to 1 ¼ lb boneless, skinless chicken breast (2 to 3)

2 cans (10.5 oz.) condensed Cream of Chicken soup

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tsp. lemon juice

3 Tbsp. sherry

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9” x 13” glass baking dish with canola oil spray.

Wash and trim broccoli into spears and steam. (See recipe for Steamed Broccoli.)

Arrange broccoli spears in prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with ¼ cup of grated Parmesan.

Heat iron skillet, until hot and dry. Remove from heat and lightly coat with vegetable oil spray. Return to very low heat while slicing chicken.

Slice chicken breasts in half lengthwise, butterfly style. Separate pieces. Sauté chicken over medium high heat until lightly browned. Layer sautéed chicken over broccoli.

In 1 ½ quart mixing bowl, whisk together soup, mayonnaise, lemon juice, sherry, Worcestershire sauce and nutmeg. Pour sauce over all and sprinkle with remaining grated Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly.

Serve with a crusty French bread, a tossed salad and a nice white wine.