Chantilly Crepes With Vanilla Stewed Plums And Ricotta

Its been raining plums thanks to the KitchenAid Contest, IFBM 2014 and the season of course! The team is keeping all participants on their toes dishing out recipes for various contests with attractive prizes. And  before I knew it, I was home with more plums. How can I be immune to the lure and charms of that sleek, gorgeous chopper! The plums soon found their way into some quick and easy, Chantilly Crepes filled with vanilla stewed plums, fresh ricotta and honey.

Being born and brought up in the south of India, the concept of crepes is not entirely new . But the kind I came across later were nothing like we the ones we grew up eating. Versatile and delicious, these were a revelation! The batter being mostly just eggs, flour, milk, butter and sugar whizzed in the blender, you can rustle up crepes in a jiffy. Conveniently, the batter can be made ahead and refrigerated. The crepes can be refrigerated or even frozen. Barely sweet, these lend themselves beautifully to sweet and savory fillings.

Drizzle them with honey or simply sprinkle some sugar on them for a light snack. Fill them with fresh or poached fruit , or cheese and vegetables as you wish for a substantial brunch. Filled with lightly whipped cream or mascarpone, dessert is served! 

Chantilly crepes from The Cake Bible are what I would call as dessert crepes. Made with cornstarch, these are tender, light and delicate, the perfect vehicle for indulgent dessert fillings. 

Chantilly Crepes With Vanilla Stewed Plums And Ricotta 

The quantity of the components of this dessert varies with the amount of filling you would like in them. Use honey and plum puree to taste. It doesn't hurt to have more of each on hand, you can always use leftovers to make more dessert!

You will need: 

Crepes - Recipe below.

Vanilla roasted plum puree - 1/2  cup

Fresh Ricotta - 1 cup 

Honey - 1/4 cup or to taste

Vanilla plums : To make about 1/2 cup

Plums - 10-12 , pitted and chopped

1/2 vanilla bean

Sugar - 2 tablespoons (more to taste)

Butter, soft - 2 teaspoons 

Heat the butter in a saucepan. Add the rest of the ingredients. Stirring occasionally, cook on low heat till the plums are soft and mushy, about 5 minutes.  Fish out the bean, just mash with a fork or puree the pulp. Strain if needed. Refrigerate. You can make this a day or two ahead.

Chantilly Crepes - to make about 21 - 24  6'' crepes, please read note

Ingredients 

Eggs - 150 grams / 3 large

Milk, at room temperature - 240 ml ( I used 3% fat)

Vanilla - 1 teaspoon

Unsalted butter - 43 grams, melted and cooled 

Grand mariner - 15 ml (I have used 15 ml more milk)
Cornstarch - 90 grams / 3/4 cup

Salt - 1/8 teaspoon

Sugar - 1 tablespoon

Clarified butter / ghee - 1 tablespoon for brushing the pan

The recipe recommends using a 6'' crepe pan. I have used a larger non-stick frying pan.

Procedure : Place the ingredients in the given order in the medium or large sized jar of your blender. Blend at high speed for 10 seconds.

Heat the crepe pan on medium high heat until hot enough to sizzle a drop of water. Brush lightly with the clarified butter and pour a scant 2 tablespoons of batter into the center.  Ladle scant 2 tablespoons of batter in the center of the pan. Immediately tilt the pan to the left and then down and around to the right  so that the batter moves in a  counter-clockwise direction, covering the entire pan. 

Cook until the top starts to dull and the edges begin to brown. about 15- 20 seconds. Rose recommends using a sharp metal spatula to lift the edge to see the color. Flip carefully as the crepes are quite delicate. Cook for another 10 seconds or until lightly browned. Invert the pan over a plate. 
 
Turning out perfect lacy crepes am sure is an art in itself and I hope to get there some day. If these are good, I can imagine the perfect ones can only be even better!

Storing : Refrigerate the crepes for upto 2 days, freeze upto 3 months. If using the crepes on the same day, its fine to stack them. If refrigerating or freezing them, use parchment pieces to separate them. 

• Please note : If making crepes for the first time, try using a pan of the recommended size. I must get myself a smaller pan! 
• Take 2 tablespoons plus a little more of batter in a small cup so that you can pour the batter all at once. Hold back the extra batter and use only if needed to fill any gaps.
• The amount of batter and the size of the pan will make your crepes thinner or thicker. 
• Easy and right heat control should help make softer crepes. Cooking them longer will make them dry and kind of crisp, especially if the batter is less spread thin. 
• Cornstarch : You can use upto 120 grams / 1 cup cornstarch if you want the crepes thicker. If using, 1 cup cornflour you will get more crepes. 
• Crepe batter made with all purpose flour normally is refrigerated for a while after mixing. This batter can be used immediately.

      Assemble :

   Place the crepes on a large plate, attractive side down. Spoon some ricotta, then honey and some plum puree.    Roll it up. Serve with more honey and plum puree on the side.

 

Homemade Ricotta

Say cheese and we in India are most familiar with three kinds. Mozzarella on our omnipresent pizzas. Cottage cheese without which our restaurants would be out of business! The other of course is processed cheese in slices and cubes stacked in the fridge for our white sauce and for the kids' sandwiches. The past decade or so has seen more of cheese with the culinary revolution, increasing popularity and interest in food. We can now safely say we know Parmesan, mascarpone, ricotta, quark, feta, cream cheese and Gorgonzola to name a few, at least by name. They don't sound all that much alien as they pop out of the menus and television shows all the time, we can actually pretend we know them!

The availability of exotic varieties of cheese is truly heartening with these dotting the aisles of the newer specialty supermarkets and the virtual aisles of online food stores. But truth be said, the prices kill the joy of buying them! The wallet effect apart, it would not really hurt to run to the near by store and buy a tub of fat free cream cheese for your cheese cake on the way back from work. Thankfully there are at-least some of these which are best consumed fresh - and the making of which need not be a study in itself. Home made ricotta is one of them.

Ricotta means 'twice cooked'  and is traditionally made using left over whey which is a by-product of cheese making. Below is the recipe for homemade ricotta for folk like us who have no access to cheese making by- products. Again homemade ricotta can be made using lemon juice or vinegar or buttermilk to curdle the milk, with obvious subtle difference in taste.

It was a joy to discover that ricotta is oh-so-easy-to-make with just a handful of easily available ingredients. When really fresh, it has a very soft and creamy texture. Can be made quickly subject to the availability of whole milk and cream. You could use ricotta in cheesecakes, cakes, muffins, desserts, in your savory tarts or eat just as is with a drizzle of honey and nuts. Delightful soft cheese, ridiculously easy to make, supposedly super versatile in use and very cost effective - who in their right mind will now say no to this cheese!

Adapted from here, recipe by David Lebovitz.

You will need :

Whole milk - 960 ml / 4 cups ( I used 3.5%)

Plain whole milk yogurt - 120 ml/ 1/2 cup

Heavy cream ( I have used Amul, 25%) - 60 ml / 1/4 cup (optional )

White vinegar - 1 teaspoon

Salt - 1/2 teaspoon (1 teaspoon if using the cheese for savory recipes)

Position a strainer over a large deep bowl, line with a few layers of cheese cloth. In a medium sized heavy pot, lightly whisk together the milk and cream, tip in the yogurt, vinegar and salt. Bring this to a boil ( I boiled on medium heat). It took about 5 minutes for the milk to rise and the milk to start separating around the edges. Once it comes to a boil (when it rises), boil for another 2 minutes or till the milk curdles. You can now see whey and bits of curd over the surface too. Do not boil for longer as it may make your cheese rubbery.

Pour into the lined strainer and drain for 15 minutes. Gather the cheesecloth around the cheese and squeeze gently to drain excess liquid. Guess we have to remember that you if you drain it longer it makes for a drier cheese and you only need to squeeze it gently and not actually wring it dry!

Home made ricotta is best served warm, refrigerated for up to 3 days. Not sure if this freezes well.

Please note: David Lebovitz recommends whole milk, heavy cream and whole milk yogurt - the higher fat percentage in all these contributes to the creamy texture. You may use low fat milk, yogurt and cream but can't expect the same texture. I have used milk at room temperature as I thought it would take longer for cold milk to boil ( Did not want risk boiling long along with the acidic ingredients, fearing tough cheese)

I actually have some ricotta in my fridge, lets see what I can do with it!