Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Rosie Makes Lunch For Herself. Shrimp And Crepe Moreovers.

Left to her own devices for the day, Rosie needed to rustle up some lunch for herself. Faced with a refrigerator full of the "l" word (and that would be leftovers), Rosie decided on shrimp crepes with a creamy orange, Dijon mustard, and cheese sauce ...
... and a sprinkling of chives and scallions and orange zest.
My ingredients: The crepes were frozen leftovers from Thanksgiving when I made Julia Child's Gateau de Crepes and the shrimp were leftover from dinner the other night. Leftover 1/2 an onion. Zest and juice of 1 orange. Cream. Butter. Dijon mustard. Swiss cheese.
I zested and juiced my orange, grated the Swiss cheese, and chopped the onion and shrimp.
I melted about 2 tablespoons of butter in my pan and added the onions.
Cook for about a minute, just to sweat the onions.
Next I added in a tablespoon of flour and cooked it for about a minute to get the raw taste out.
Add freshly ground salt and pepper ...
... and a tablespoon of Dijon mustard.
Next, I poured in my orange juice - about 1/4 cup -
... and stirred in about 1/4 cup of cream.
Stir until smooth and thickened and remove from heat.
Add the cooked chopped shrimp to the sauce.
Add in half the orange zest ...
... and half the Swiss.
Pile a little of the mixture on the crepe.
I had enough mixture for three crepes.
Roll up the crepes ...
... and top with remaining orange zest and Swiss. Heat at 350 until cheese is melted and bubbly.
Add a sprinkling of chives and scallions. And by the way, you should grow your own scallions. There's a surprisingly big taste difference between store-bought and just picked fresh. Plus you have a virtually unending supply. I just snip off the tips and let them keep growing. I have two window boxes on my deck - one with scallions and one with chives. And I'm getting ready to plant three more boxes - basil, cilantro, and dill. We have a long growing season here and these will be producing for several months. It's always so nice to be able to walk out and snip fresh herbs for cooking. Basil will root very easily too. You can cut a stem of basil, pull off the bottom leaves, stick it in water, and in a few days it will root. Plant it and keep it in a sunny window and you'll have fresh basil year round.
I loved the orange flavor kick and the hint of mustard. Tender crepe. Succulent shrimp. What's not to love? I tell you what I'd love more. More shrimp. I used up what I had leftover. More would have been even better. Oh, and some sherry! And mushrooms!
I have two leftover moreovers of leftovers for lunch the next day. ETA (That's Edited To Add!) Think about moreover moreovers. That was M squared. Here's M cubed: Saute some sliced water chestnuts and sliced almonds in some buttah. Lightly brown the butter. Pour over top the shrimp crepes. A sprinkling of parsley would be lovely. Bon appetit!

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