Description
Thin, soft gluten-free vegan spinach crepes filled with smooth cashew cream and pesto mushrooms. This will impress anyone! Easy to make and serve as breakfast, brunch, lunch or even dinner.
Ingredients
Crepes:
- ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon / 110g white buckwheat flour
- ¼ cup / 23g chickpea flour (aka garbanzo or gram)
- 1/8 teaspoon bicarb soda
- 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast (optional)
- 1¼ cup / 300ml unsweetened plant milk (we used an almond and coconut blend)
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil (plus more for frying crepes)
- 1 cup / 45g baby spinach (tightly packed)
- Pinch salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper (optional)
Toppings:
- Cashew cream (full amount in the recipe or cream of choice)
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil
- 14.10 ounces / 400g brown portabello mushrooms, sliced (or mushroom of choice)
- Walnut pesto (half of the recipe)
- Chives, or other herbs
Instructions
- For the crepes: Place all the crepe ingredients into a high-speed blender and blend until smooth.
- Warm up the frying pan on medium heat before adding oil to it. This is so the first pancake is evenly fried as well. When hot, add about 1 teaspoon of oil and swirl it around the pan to cover the whole surface.
- Use ½ cup per crepe, depending on the pan you’re using, adjust after the first one if needed. The pan’s surface should be covered in batter with a thin layer with one movement. That way, the crepes stay thin and even. You should also hear a sizzle when the batter hits the pan. If it doesn’t, the pan is not yet hot enough.
- Cook on the first side for about 2-3 minutes, or until lightly golden. The easiest way to flip the crepes is with a spatula once they have slightly separated from the edge of the pan. Do it in one swift motion to ensure that the crepe doesn’t break. These crepes being gluten-free, can be a little more fragile.
- Cook on the second side for 30 seconds and then remove from the heat by sliding it off the pan onto a plate.
- Continue the process until you have used up all the batter. The batter should make 4 crepes.
- For the toppings: While the crepes cook, you can make the savoury cashew cream and pesto mushrooms. Start with the cashew cream and set it aside in the fridge while you make the rest.
- To a skillet on medium-high heat, add the oil and mushrooms. Saute for a few minutes until they turn golden brown on each side. I like to have mine in single file to prevent them from going soggy. You’ll probably need to cook the mushrooms in two batches to prevent them from overcrowding the pan.
- Once they’re cooked, toss through the pesto.
- If you don’t like to multitask, make the cashew cream before the crepes and the pesto mushrooms after you’ve cooked the crepes.
- To serve for each crepe, spread a generous amount of cashew cream followed by ¼ of the pesto mushrooms and fold in half. Top with chives and serve.
Notes
Save for later? You can freeze these crepes for later. Layer the crepes between sheets of parchment paper to prevent them from sticking together and store them for up to 1 month. To reheat, you can thaw them out first and then warm up on the stove or the microwave. The batter can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 24 hours. Just stir it before use. The crepes can also be stored for a few days in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Buckwheat flour: The buckwheat flour that we used is white buckwheat flour. We haven’t tried it with the dark unhulled (wholemeal) variety, so we’re not sure how it would perform as there’s more fibre in it, and it isn’t as fine as the white one. Let us know how it goes if you give it a try!
Important notes: This crepe recipe must use a good quality non-stick pan. A well-seasoned cast iron pan may also be okay to use. However, it’s harder to work with as it’s heavier to lift and maneuver around to get the even and thin crepe consistency.
The other important component to the perfect crepes is getting the correct heat in the pan before adding the crepe batter. Medium heat is ideal and can take a few minutes for the pan to warm up for the first crepe.
The first crepe may not turn out the best, so don’t be discouraged. It’s normal.
- Diet: Vegan
