Chicken and Mushroom Crepes

Last week my husband asked me for a meal that I hadn’t made in a quite a while. This dish was originally made with canned cream of mushroom soup – which I try to avoid due to the sodium content – but with the uncertainty of what is going to be available at the grocery store, I just went with what I had around. I added the onions and fresh mushrooms to make the dish a little more substantial.

I like to think of this dish as the French/Swiss version of a chicken enchilada. Crepes are very easy to make, but even easier to buy (usually in the produce section) of your local grocery store. I will put the directions for those at the end of the post if you want to make them yourself. I didn’t really plan to blog this one, but some sweet ladies I know were also looking for some new stuff to make, so here it goes. These are pretty basic ingredients so they should be easy to find. Makes about 6 crepes.

• Cooked chicken – about 2 cups shredded (roast your own or hit the rotisserie cart for some already made for you.
• 1 lb. container of your favorite fresh mushrooms
• 1/2 cup chopped onion (white or yellow – whatever you have on hand)
• 3 tbs. unsalted butter
• 2 tbs. olive oil
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 can of cream of chicken or cream of mushroom condensed soup
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup each of fontina cheese and swiss cheese (you can use swiss if you don’t grove on fontina or can’t find it right now)
• Salt/pepper to taste
• 6 standard 8″ crepes

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Start by heating the butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and a pinch of salt and cook until the onions start to get translucent, then add the mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms start to brown a little and have released some their liquid. Add the garlic, thyme and about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a few grinds of fresh black pepper (to taste). Stir in the stock along with the cream-of-whatever-you-have soup. Let that hang out and start to thicken up a little bit. Stir in the cream and the chicken. Taste for salt/pepper and season accordingly. That’s the whole filling. Once you get the process down, you can change up the veggies and the protein to make a bunch of different versions of this same dish.

Grease a baking dish with butter or that handy spray stuff. I like to put a layer of just the sauce part of the filing, enough just to cover the bottom a bit, to keep them from drying out. Now you are ready to fill and roll. Place a crepe down, and start at one end with the fillings. Add a layer of each kind of cheese, add enough filling to cover from side to side, about 1/3 a cup. Start wrapping from the filled end, leaving the sides open. Place them in the baking dish. Wrap the rest of the crepes, then cover the top with the remaining sauce and cheese.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. I like to serve the crepes over some oven roasted asparagus. Directions for that below too.

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Crepes:

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 large egg plus one egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon of melted butter, plus more for cooking the crepes

Combine the flour and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk the milk, egg plus egg yolk and the butter together in a measuring cup. Gradually add the milk to the flour mixture, whisking until completely smooth.

To cook the crepes, heat an 8″ non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Brush the skillet with a little bit of butter. Spoon 3 tablespoons of the batter into the skillet, and swirl it to cover the bottom of the pan. Allow it to cook for about one minute. Loosen the crepe with a spatula and flip the crepe over. Cook for about another minute. Transfer to a plate to cool. Repeat with the remaining batter. Once you practice a few you will be a crepe making machine. 🙂 Use the leftovers with peanut butter or Nutella for a great snack.

Oven roasted asparagus. Clean and dry the asparagus and chop the dry and woody ends off the stems. Place them on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. You can roast these at 400 degrees for about 20-30 minutes, depending on the thickness of your asparagus and how done you like to have your veggies. You can adjust the time and add them to the same oven with your baking dish full of crepes too.