Omnomicon

Over the next couple months I have a short list of amazing events (read: San Francisco and a music festival) and extra hours to cram in at work to make them possible. As such I’ll be shifting the focus of the site for the next little while so I can get the most out of my summer. It’s like a free vacation from the job that doesn’t pay me. Thanks, boss! (that’s me)

While the photograph/recipe/thousand words/twice-a-week formula has been working quite well for me, I think this is a good opportunity to focus on some ideas that are a little less labour-intensive and maybe even refreshing, as there are a lot of food blogs who do the same thing I’ve been doing anyway. And don’t worry, I’m planning to return to the more familiar schedule in the last couple weeks of July.

So stay with me people, here’s what you have to look forward to over the next several weeks:

• The yummy results from June’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Round-Robin (with plenty of commentary, photos and the recipe as per usual). If you’re following along, you know that the taste-testing is just getting ready to begin!
• The announcement of July’s Recipe Round-Robin, a savoury dish as yet to be determined (still taking suggestions!).
• Daily noms, daily.

I’ll also be chronicling my first CSA summer. Depending on how much free time I can squeeze out of my schedule, I hope to photograph each week’s share, get in touch with my local agricultural roots, and perform a cost-benefit analysis on the experience. And likely some salad “recipes” if you can call them that.

So that’s my big announcement! Not a big deal, but a little different for a little while and then I’ll be back with a veritable onslaught of delicious originals.

Now get away from the internet and take some time to enjoy your summer too! And here’s a daily nom. We made sammiches on whole-grain Tuscan pane bread with Swiss, avocado and roasted reds on the left and muenster, capicola and red delicious apples on the right.

You guys, you guys. Have you ever been to a music festival? In addition to beats, good company, crappy camping and hippies, they also feature food vendors. And this is how I discovered The Skinny Pancake, a Burlington VT original. I haven’t yet made a pilgrimage to their restaurant (Vermont is kind of a hike from Massachusetts), but they have some incredible crepes that you can recreate at home without tie-dye bedecked strangers eyeing your breakfast.

First, we have The Heartbreaker.

I think you can see where we’re going with this. My crepes are not like those served by the Skinny Pancake, but they still benefit from nutella, strawberries and bananas. And apples too . . .

. . . but we’re getting to that. Now mix up your favourite crepe batter.

And let it stand, covered with plastic wrap, for 30 mins before go time. On a side note, I fucking hate whisks, but crepes are the one food item they serve well instead of becoming a clumpy hard-to-clean nuisance. When the time is right, heat up 1/2 tsp of butter in your largest skillet, and pour enough batter to cover the bottom without the batter on top being runny.

Do a little swishy swishy with your pan, and pour back to the bowl whatever isn’t stuck to the pan. When your crepe starts to bubble and the bottom of it is browned, give it a flip. This will happen a minute or two after liftoff.

Now immediately, I reiterate, immediately get about half a tablespoon of Nutella on there. You want this to get melty, and the longer it’s on your crepe, the meltier it’ll get.

And then toss on your strawberries and banana. You don’t want a lot of these, and you’ll see why, looks like I used about 2 strawberries and one third of a banana.

Now give that side a minute or two to cook, then begin the folding process.

You want a tri-cornered hat looking thing reminiscent of colonial America. And this is the reason you want to go light on your fruits, it won’t fold up right if you aren’t conservative. Now flip that monster over for about thirty seconds to let the oozy coat the other side of the crepe.

Serve to your favourite breakfast guests.

We’re almost done! The Green Mountain crepe was a big hit festivalwise as well, so I did that one too.

Your story starts out the same, and, as with the Nutella, you wanna get your sharp cheddar slices on there immediately after flipping and for the same melty reasons.

Now the apples.

Do your foldy bit.

And you know the rest.

Do you put anything cool in your crepes? Do you have an excellent crepe recipe to share? Please do! I have a feeling these are going to be a Saturday morning tradition for some time to come, and will try anything that sounds reasonably delicious.