Buckwheat Crepes with Goat Cheese and Wilted Greens

I've been doing these crepes a lot this winter. But we always ended up eating them when it was too dark for taking pictures... They are really good. Even the girls eat them despite the big amount of green veggies. For them though, I make also a special crepe filled only with some cheddar cheese.

Buckwheat Crepes with Goat Cheese and Wilted Greens, adapted from Everyday Greens (p.187&192)

Buckwheat Crepe Batter (makes 10 to 12 crepes)

3/4 cup milk, plus additional milk to thin the batter

3/4 cup water

2 large eggs

1/2 ts salt

1 cup all-purpose flour 

1/3 cup buckwheat flour

3 tbs unsalted butter, melted with 1 tbs vegetable oil

butter and vegetable oil for the pan

1. puree the milk + water + eggs + salt in a blender for 30 sec

2. + flour and blend until smooth, about 1 min

3. scrape down the sides of the blender with a rubber spatula and pour in the melted butter

4. blend for another 30 sec and pour through a fine-mesh strainer to remove any lumps

5. refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight

6. cook the crepes - p. 191  (I'm not writing down how to cook the crepes - too lazy)

7. layer the crepes like shingles on a parchment-lined baking sheet to keep them from sticking together

8. one cool, the crepes can be stacked, wrapped in a plastic wrap, and refrigerate or frozen until ready to use

Vegetable Filling

1 bunch of chard, about 1 1/2 pounds with stems 

2 tbs extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium leek, white part only, cut in half lenghtwise, sliced, and washed, about 1 cup

salt and pepper

1/2 ts minced garlic

1 to 2 bunches of spinach; stems removed, washed and dried, 12 cups packed leaves

2 ounces creamy goat cheese, crumbled, about 1/3 cup

1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated, about 1/3 cup

milk or heavy cream

1. Tear the chard leaves away from the stems, wash, and drain in a colander. Trim the stems, remove the strings, and slice on the diagonal, about 1/4 inch thick. You should have 6 to 8 cups of leaves and 1 heaping cup of stems

2. Heat i tbs of the oil in a large saute' pan and add the leeks, chard stems, 1/4 ts salt, and a pinch of pepper. Cook over medium heat until tender, about 3 min. Add the spinach and cook just enough to wilt, about 1 min more. Transfer to a colander. When cool enough to handle, use your hands to squeeze as much moisture as you can from the greens. Coarsely chop and add to the leek mixture. Add the cheeses and season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Preheat the oven to 375F.

4. Place the crepes on a flat work surface. Spread 1/4 cup filling over the bottom half of each crepes and fold the top over the filling. Fold in half again, to form a quarter circle. Place the filled crepes on a parchment-lined baking sheet, brush each on top with milk or cream and bake until hot, about 15 min.

5. To serve, place 2 crepes, slightly overlapping, on each plate and ladle about 1/4 cup of herb cream over them (I'm not writing down this part neither because I usually don't do it; I like these crepes as they are).

GREENS' TIP:  Be sure to squeeze the excess moisture from the greens before you combine them with the leeks and cheeses for the filling. Otherwise, the filling will be too wet and the crepes will be soggy.

VARIATION: Add 1 ts minced lemon zest to the filling. You can use fromage blanc or a good quality feta cheese instead of the goat cheese. Kale is also delicious here. Since it takes much longer to cook than chard or spinach, be sure to parboil it for 3 to 4 minutes, or until it's tender, before sauteing it with the other greens.