Ham, Cheese and Fried Egg Crepes

This is definitely one of my favorite dinners I have made. My boyfriend does not agree, although he thought they were great. He still stands by the shrimp tacos. But I seriously loved these. They would also totally work for breakfast or brunch as well, but the first time I had savory crepes like these was in Paris. Two of my friends came to visit, Courtney being one of them, and after a full day of walking around the Marais, one of my favorite arrondissements of Paris, we ate a restaurant called Breitzh Cafe. It took us over an hour to find it (because I got us lost) and we also had to wait over an hour to be seated. But it was worth it. They were authentic Brittany-style crepes, and I couldn't leave Paris without trying them t least once. That day was one of my favorites from studying abroad, so making these crepes definitely brought back those memories. 

Crepes 

Ingredients 

1 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon white sugar

½ teaspoon salt

3 eggs

2 cups of milk

2 tablespoons of butter, melted

*Tablespoon of shopped chives for about 2/3 of the recipe, the other half of the recipe was used for dessert

good quality white american cheese
4 eggs

¼ lb thinly sliced ham 

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the eggs and milk with an electric mixer. In a separate, smaller bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and salt. Sift the flour mixer over the wet ingredients and mix to combine. Mix in the butter and chives.

Over medium heat, lift the pan off of the burner and pour the batter at an angle to cover the entire pan and to prevent creating a thick awkward center. - nonstick is also an absolute MUST

Preheat the oven to 350. Place 4 finished crepes on a cookie sheet. Using good quality white-american cheese, sprinkle a little bit in the center of each crepe. Gently crack the egg on top of the cheese and place two slices of ham on either side of the egg. Fold up the sides of the crepe. Bake for 15 minutes or just until the egg looks cooked (the whites have turned white). You don't want to over cook it because these crepes are best when the yolk is still runny. Season with salt, pepper and chives and serve immediately.

Chicken Fajitas and Mexican Corn (Esquites)

So this is kind of a late post. I made these chicken fajitas to celebrate Cinco de Mayo (and to also get rid of the frozen chicken thighs that I desperately needed to get rid of before I graduate). They were so delicious. I've either mastered Mexican or its just super easy and I over flatter myself. Either way, these are totally worth making and don't require a lot of attention. 

I also think graduation has finally hit me. I have 7 days left. Just 7 days until I'm no longer a college student. I don't want to think about it; it's so terrifying. I'm about to be a real person... Well not really a REAL person because i'll still be going to culinary school and will technically still be a student for at least the next 6-9 months.... I also need to start experimenting with more than just Mexican food, but I have plenty of time for that in school when I have a bunch of fancy ingredients at my disposal....

Also, I know these pictures kinda suck. It was too dark outside and by the time I pulled them up on my computer it was too late and we had already devoured all of our leftovers. Maybe I can updated them when I make them again soon....

Chicken Fajitas 

Ingredients 

3 tablespoons Olive Oil

Half an Onion, sliced 

2 Bell Peppers (I used red and yellow)

dash of chili powder (about a teaspoon) 

about 1 teaspoon onion powder 

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 

juice of half a lime 

other half, sliced 

salt and pepper 

In a rectangular baking pan, combine all of the ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap and let marinate for at least an hour or overnight in the refrigerator. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 and bake for about 30-40 minutes or until the onions are translucent.

Mexican Corn (Esquites) 

Ingredients 
4 ears of corn boiled corn (2 white and 2 yellow)
about a tablespoon of chopped cilantro or parsley 
Juice of half a lime 
2 tablespoons low fat mayo 
1 cup sour cream 
1/2 teaspoon onion powder 
Salt and pepper to taste 

Place all of the ingredients in a bowl and stir. Done and done. can be served warm or cold - both are dang good

The Best Chocolate Cake

I baked this cake this year and last year for my grandmothers birthday (which was actually a long time ago. Obviously it has taken me months to write about it) The first time I made it, it was for the group that goes to her house on Sunday. I can usually only go over the summer, so I use the family as an excuse to test out new recipes. She loved it so much, she requested I make another one for her birthday dinner that she has with her 6 sons a few days later. I made it again this year because, instead of a private dinner, she had a bowling party for everyone in the family, including the grandkids. I also made a batch of red velvet cupcakes to make sure we had enough for everyone. These two were easy to bake together because they both require buttermilk, which is great because who ever actually uses all of their buttermilk…

This cake is probably one of my favorite things that I have made. It's that good. It really is fool proof. For this cake I doubled the recipe and cut off the tops so it was tall and smooth. I probably ended up cutting off too much, so I had a mountain of cake tops left over. I saved those and made cake pops with the leftover pudding/cream cheese mixture instead of icing and they were delicious. If I was just making cake pops, I think the pudding-y filling would be a really nice, lighter change to the typical regular cream cheese or store bought icing many recipes call for. 

See how the side is not perfectly smooth? Make sure that the walls of your cake pans stick straight up. I leaded my lesson and will never use cake pans with even the slightest slant in them ever again...

The Cake 
For the cake, I use the famous Hershey's chocolate cake recipe. It's incredible and I will never use another one. There is no point. I've come across it on countless different blogs and they all say this is the one. It's incredible moist, light and tender. Everything a chocolate cake should be. Not to mention its super easy too.

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour


2 cups sugar


¾ cup cocoa powder


2 tsp. baking soda


1 tsp. baking powder


1 tsp. salt


2 large eggs


½ cup vegetable oil


1 cup black strong coffee (I don’t drink coffee so I get mine from a coffee shop, usually the bar at whole foods)

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients.
Some recipes say to sift the dry ingredients, others say don't. I've done both and I don't really have a preference. I think I usually do just because, but it works either way. 

2. In a separate bowl, whisk all of the wet ingredients together.

3. This can actually be done by hand or with a mixer, pour the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just incorporated. And that's it…

4. Pour into two 9-inch cake pans and bake at 350 for 28-30 minutes. I've also done them as cupcakes and they were amazing as well. I honestly can't remember how long I baked them for. Maybe 20 minutes? I'll have to do it again and get a more exact time…


The Filling
Ingredients 

1 package of room temperature cream cheese

1 package of vanilla pudding, prepared to the directions (aka with milk)

1 cup heavy whipping cream 

1 cup confectioners sugar 

1. First mix the heavy whipping cream on high until stiff peaks form. Set aside
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the prepared pudding and room temperature cream cheese.
3. Add the confectioners sugar to the cream cheese and pudding mixture.
4. Fold in scoops of the whipped cream until desired consistency is reached.
5. Refrigerate for about an hour before using. 

Ganache 

I actually don't really use a recipe for ganache. I just use heavy cream or heavy whipping cream and heat it over a double boiler. Then I take all of the chocolate I have and mix it in once the milk is hot. I've used chips, bakers chocolate and chocolate disks - sometimes all together. Most recipes say 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate to 1 cup of heavy cream, but it's not imperative that you have a perfect ratio, in my opinion. You can also boil the cream regularly without a double boiler and then pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate. Either way works in my opinion. So many times I've done it out of order and it always comes out great every time. I've even melted the chocolate first and then added the cream, which isn't a great way of doing it because it potentially not come out as smooth but sometimes I get side tracked in the kitchen and my instinct is to put chocolate over the double boiler and not the cream. As long as it doesn't burn (either the chocolate or the cream) it's probably going to work. I've also used sour cream when I didn't have heavy and it worked just as well. (In that case though, melt the chocolate first) 

***NOTE - made sure your cake pans are straight up on the sides. I used the pans at my dads house and they angle out of the sides. SO. ANNOYING. These sorts of pants shouldn't exist. This is why the sides of my cake aren't totally smooth. I could have carved it to be flush but I didn't want to risk really messing it up, and I thought I could put enough ganache so that it wouldn't be noticeable but it was regardless. 

uhhh THE BEST PART am I right?

I think the cake was a little too cold, but it allowed me to get a really thick layer of ganache, so no complaints!

Look how smooth that sucker is.

See how it is kind of rough on the side? After a certain point you have to stop fooling with it, otherwise the ganache sets and you lose that nice shine 

yeah that's right....

Happy (belated) Birthday, Mimi!