Thursday, April 16

Ratatouille Buckwheat Crepes

Total price: NY $20.33 (with lots of leftover buckwheat flour)
Price per crepe: NY $1.35


Ratatouille Buckwheat Crepes
I'm finding this post hard to write as, in addition to the LBUH still being out of work, my own job just announced an across the board pay cut. We'll be tightening our belts even more around here. (Hmm, at what point does the tightened belt actually become more of a "corset" than a "belt"?) While the news about the economy may still be bad, the smell of this ratatouille in the oven is just amazing.

Yeah, I know, but sometimes, it's the little things.

Ratatouille Buckwheat Crepes
Served in buckwheat crepes, which are both traditional in French cooking as well as made from healthy buckwheat flour, this yummy vegetable dish is economical, good for you and chic.

Ratatouille Buckwheat Crepes
Ingredients
For the Crepes:
  • ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon buckwheat flour ($4.99 for 2 lb. bag)
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (staple)
  • 1 2/3 cup milk (NY $0.50)
  • 3 eggs (NY $0.55)
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted (staple)
  • ¼ teaspoon salt (staple)

Ratatouille Buckwheat Crepes
For the Ratatouille:
  • 1 eggplant (NY $3.56)
  • 1 zucchini (NY $1.06)
  • 1 onion (NY $0.73)
  • 1 red pepper (NY $1.97)
  • 1 yellow pepper (NY $2.80)
  • 4 tomatoes (NY $2.39)
  • 8 cloves garlic (NY $0.59 for head)
  • 3 tbsps parsley (staple or NY $0.89 for bunch)
  • 3 tbsps olive oil (staple)
  • Salt (staple)
  • Pepper (staple)
  • 1 tsp. dried thyme (staple)
  • 1 tsp. dried rosemary (staple)
Directions
For the Crepes
Whisk all ingredients together, until the batter is smooth. Place in the refrigerator to rest for at least 2 hours before making crepes. Then move on to making the ratatouille.

Remove batter from fridge, and stir thoroughly.

Heat a small non-stick skillet (or crepe pan, if you have one) on the stove.

Use a small ladle or ¼ cup measuring cup to pour about 3-4 tablespoons batter into the pan. Pour the batter in a small circle, while swirling the pan to rapidly distribute the batter thinly. Its OK if you don't get this right the first time! Concern yourself more with making sure that the batter disperses in a thin, even layer on the pan than with making sure you get a perfectly round crepe. If it looks a little funky, that's just proof that its homemade. Crepes are far tastier when thin than when thick or, worse yet, of uneven thickness. You should get the hang of this after a few trial runs, I promise. You can also just shake the pan back and forth vigorously to even out the batter.

Buckwheat Crepes
After about a minute, start running a non-stick spatula around the rim of the crepe, sliding it under the center of the crepe once the edges are loosened. Flip the crepe over with the spatula, and continue cooking for a little less than another minute.

Stack cooked crepes on a plate, and repeat with the remaining batter, giving it a quick stir with your ladle or measuring cup as you dip out each new crepe.

Ratatouille Buckwheat Crepes
If you won't be eating all the crepes at once (and this recipe makes a lot!!), put cooked crepes in foil in the fridge. Rewarm in foil packet in 250-degree oven until warmed through.

Serve crepes at the table with the ratoutille, allow each diner to make their own crepe. Place ratatouille in the center of each crepe, and either roll up like a burrito, or fold one lengthwise and then in half again horizontally. Or allow each diner to just wing it, which is always amusing!

For the Ratatouille:
Prepare and refrigerate crepe batter first.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice the onion, zucchini, and tomatoes into 1/3 inch slices. Halve the eggplant lengthwise, then cut into 1/3 inch slices. Seed and core the peppers, then cut into ½ in wide strips. Dice the garlic and chop the parsley, and place in small bowl. Add salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary. Add approx. 3 tbsps olive oil, and stir to combine.

Ratatouille Buckwheat Crepes
Lay down eggplant in a single layer at bottom or burner-proof casserole. Using fingertips, pick up a small clump of herb mixture. Use herbs to spread olive oil across surface of vegetables, scattering herbs evenly across as you go. Repeat with layers of remaining vegetables, topping each with herb mixture. Arrange top of vegetables in decorative pattern.

Ratatouille Buckwheat Crepes
Cover casserole with lid, and bake in oven for approximately one hour. Depending on how much water your vegetables give off, your ratatouille may be overly liquidy at this point, or may be done. Vegetables should be tender and cooked through.

Ratatouille Buckwheat Crepes
If the fluid at the bottom of the dish covers more than about a third of the bottom of the dish, transfer to stove and continue cooking uncovered, for approx. half an hour, or until liquid reduces to be slightly thickened and covers only about the bottom third of the vegetable layers.

Transfer dish to table and allow diners to serve themselves.

Nutrition Facts
Approximate values per serving
Calories 94.2Vitamin A 18.3 %Iron 5.2 %
Fat 2.9 gVitamin B-12 3.4 %Magnesium 6.2 %
Cholesterol 47.1 mgVitamin B-6 8.4 %Manganese 19.8 %
Sodium 119.0 mgVitamin C 79.1 %Niacin 4.7 %
Potassium 265.8 mgVitamin D 1.6 %Phosphorus 9.4 %
Total Carbohydrate 13.7 gVitamin E 1.8 %Riboflavin 7.8 %
Fiber 2.5 gCalcium 5.6 %Selenium 13.4 %
Sugars 0.1 gCopper 5.4 %Thiamin 6.2 %
Protein 4.4 gFolate 7.0 %Zinc 3.8 %

Crepes on Foodista Ratatouille on Foodista

29 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about the bad news...but the crepes look lovely...this is my first time visiting your blog and I'm enjoying my visit! I love that you're posting recession busting recipes! Keep up the good work!

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  2. These look great. You have a great blog theme going, I like it!

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  3. AH WORK CUTBACK AND PAY FREEZES...THEY ARE ALL OVER THE PLACE.

    Recipe looks yummy...will have to give it a go

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  4. Delicious! Ratatouille is so versatile. The buckwheat crepe idea is fantastic.

    So sorry to hear about the bad news. DH just got a job after being laid off this year (and starts on Monday) -- will hope everything turns around for you as well. In the meantime, try to enjoy.

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  5. Yum. Ratatouille is a family recipe for me, my Grandmother was French. How great to combine it with a crepe.

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  6. We are sending encouragement and hope for a new opportunity that will be better than before. Love your crepes...just a good idea for today's lunch. best from santa barbara, s

    http://jeffersonstable.typepad.com/

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  7. Just wanted to show my support by saying "hang in there!" At least you've got a great start on cutting back on your grocery budget. (And corsets are hot, you know, at least so my hubby says! :-))

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  8. Great blog you have here. This is how we all should try to cook everyday. Delicious without breaking the bank.

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  9. Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant. Horace.

    I like your blog, and your attitude. The recipe looks really yummy and healthy.

    I am hiring!

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  10. Corsets? Maybe there is an upside to this recession thing. Crepes look amazing!

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  11. Thank you for sending this recipe! Looks really good! Recently I just started posting recipes from my cooking group's members and instructors on a Japanese recipe site both in English and Japanese. I'm originally from Japan and have family there including my parents. The site below is similar to Allrecipes but it's Japan's No.1 recipe site with more than 500,000 recipes submitted by members.

    http://cookpad.com/kitchen/1082293

    Interestingly enough, I just posted a ratatouille recipe from my member who's originally from Hungary, and being Hungarian she throws tasty Hungarian paprika into almost everything including ratatouille. She brought the dish to my potluck party and it was very good so I got the recipe and posted on the site.

    I was wondering if you would let me translate this recipe into Japanese and post it on my site..both your original English text and my Japanese translation? Of course I will introduce it as your recipe, and give the link to your site here... If you're OK with it, please let me know...The Japanese love crepes, and they also like buckwheat (buckwheat noodle is a traditional staple there) and they also like ratatouille (they even use Japanese vegetables and add soy sauce and other condiments to make it a la Japanaise! haha), so this recipe could be a hit!

    Sally

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  12. Those crepes look amazing. I will definitely give this recipe a try.

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  13. So sorry to hear about the work woes. Hope things improve soon. These crepes sound delicious! I can imagine the great smells. And buckwheat flour really is preferred for making savory crepes; it gives them a heartier flavor. I used it when I made crepes with chicken and mushrooms.

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  14. The crepes look great! I think I will try them with Pisto Manchego, a Spanish dish similar to Ratatouille. I wonder if I can find buckwheat here in Spain...

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  15. I'm sorry to hear about your job, I work for myself and outsourcing cutbacks are bad too, but it sure does help to cook something wonderful doesn't it? I love crepes and your dish sure makes me think happy thoughts!!

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  16. Your Ratatouille looks wonderful, will be trying this. I am so sorry to hear about your job situation and hope that you are able to find work vry soon.

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  17. That looks great. Two french recipes combined into one. yum!

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  18. Aaaaaaah! i love it, especially since i just finished watching the movie "Ratatouille", this is going in my recipe book!

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  19. The ratatouille sounds great... I love vegetables and I am alway looking for ways to try something different with them. Will try it some time.

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  20. That looks so good. Tx for posting it.

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  21. haven't tried using buckwheat flour yet.. very interesting.. very healthy.

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  22. Good morning from LA!

    Thank you very much for the permission to post it on my Japanese site, and voila! I just did it.

    http://cookpad.com/recipe/786721

    When translating the instructions, I was really impressed with your personal style of writing recipes.. easy to read and thorough, and it coveys very warm feeling that you'd like to encourage people who might have never made crepes before. "Failure breeds success” is the universal truth! I tried my best to give the same nuance in Japanese translation.

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  23. I introduced the recipe as yours and gave the link to your site.

    Because of this Japanese recipe site's limitations on the number of characters in each instruction step (only 60 letters!) and with both your original English texts and my translation, the recipe got very lengthy and I needed to post in two separate recipes (one for making buckwheat crepe and the other for making ratatouille.)

    The site lets me know how many access I get to each recipe everyday and how many print-out made by readers as well as emails sent. Readers can also post their own cooking report on my page with their pictures when they try the recipe on their own.

    Hope you like it and I'll let you know if there's any feedback from Japanese readers!:-)

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  24. Such a great recipe! I'm so happy you've posted a straightforward crepe recipe and the ratatouille sounds delicious. We've stopped eating out but I swear that we're eating better (and I don't just mean 'more healthy') since I've started cooking at home. This is when you realize what restaurant mark-ups are really like!

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  25. I am so sorry to hear about the work situation. That is super stressful and I admire that you are able to keep cooking and being creative in the midst of that! I love ratatouille but always want a starchy thing to go with it, so am excited to try this.

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  26. These look amazing! My husband and I have a can of ratatouille in the cupboard right now-- so we might just make the buckwheat crepes! I love your site----hope the job situation settles down a bit for you though and it's more of a loose corset!

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  27. Wow they look really really good! Love the crepe that looks like it has a cheeky smily face on it while in the pan!

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