This post was written by my foodie sister Robin, who is now sharing all of her favorite recipes and kitchen tips regularly on the new “Make It and Love It – in the KITCHEN” portion of this blog. Try a few of her recipes…your belly will thank you! -Ashley
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Hey everyone, it’s Robin! Are you feeling hungry?
Today’s recipe is perfect if you are in need of something new. And a little more creative. It involves something that everyone loves — CREPES! I think we normally see crepes that are stuffed with fruits and sweet creams and chocolate (at least here in the U.S.)……..but when was the last time you had a savory crepe? Yum. Most of the work of this recipe will be going into making the crepes, so if you are able to get a hold of savory pre-made crepe, that would make things quicker. But if not, go grab a rotisserie chicken to speed up the process for the filling and then spend a little time flipping your crepes in the pan because, this is SO worth it!
This recipe has a fun combination of flavors that compliment each other so well, you will feel like you had a personal chef come in and whip something up for you. The tender chicken and smoky bacon, the melted swiss, the mushrooms in a delicious cream sauce, the delicate flavor of spinach…….it’s an incredible marriage of flavors! (Mmmmm, I’m so hungry just thinking about them!)
Skip the casserole tonight……and prepare something that will make you and your family’s taste buds extremely happy!
Time to gather your ingredients…
Shopping List:
Here is what you need to make Gluten Free Crepes:
(makes 6-7 crepes)*
**You may want to double this recipe so that you have the same amount as the crepes mentioned above, and then either save the extra or just use less filling in each one.
Directions for both crepe recipes are the same—
Add all the dry ingredients together so that they are evenly dispersed then add the eggs and milk and whisk them together. Or, if you would like, you can blend it all together in the blender which keeps the batter in a easy pour-able container.
I used a whisk below, to show it can be done. (Or the blender was dirty from this morning’s smoothie and didn’t want have time to wash it….ha ha!)
Use a 10″ non-stick pan and for the first crepe only, melt the butter to lightly grease it at medium to medium-high heat. Then spread a thin layer (about 1/4 cup) of the batter in the pan. (Gluten free crepes are a little different than regular crepes, so if you’re not watching, they can get really hole-y. If you start getting a lot of holes too quickly and throughout the entire crepe, that means the pan is too hot. You can see on the edges some holes but if it were like this on the entire crepe the heat will need to be turned down.) When the edges begin to curl or you can start pull it of the edges, it is time to flip it and cook the other side until it been kissed with brown. Repeat again, only this time put the butter/oil away, the crepes should be able to peel off each side without greasing the pan from here on out. Cook all the crepes until the batter is completely gone. Set your crepes aside.
To make the filling, chop your chicken into cubes or shred it. Like I mentioned above, using a rotisserie chicken for this is a time saver and it’s tender and a good flavor. You can certainly use boiled chicken, canned chicken, or even leftovers from last night’s grilled/fried chicken. Whatever you have on hand will work.
Combine the 3 cups of cubed or shredded chicken with 3 stalks of the sliced green onions, 4 slices of cooked bacon (chopped), 1 cup of the shredded Swiss cheese, 3 cups of chopped fresh spinach, and 1 cup of chopped mushroom. Combine together in a bowl and then set aside.
Now, we need to make a quick sauce to drizzle over the crepes.
To make the sauce, first start with a light saute of the 1 stalk of sliced green onion and 1 1/2 cup of chopped mushroom. You can use a little oil to saute them, but I used the water saute method that I have shown previously here. Whichever you choose, saute them until they are slightly softened and you can see some browning on the pan. This is the carmelization that is occurring. It is the good tasting stuff and you want to de-glaze it by adding the white grape juice to the pan to help remove it from the pan and add it back to the mushrooms and onions and then eventually the sauce.
Add the cream and water to the pan and stir until it gently simmers for about 5 minutes. Once you see it slightly thicken or reduce, then it is done.
Have you noticed that I did not add any salt to the filling or the sauce? This is because it will have plenty, especially if the chicken was a rotisserie, canned, or carried over from a previous meal. Plus the Swiss cheese has a good amount of salt to it and adding additional salt tends to over salt the dish. You may need to add salt after it has completely cooked, but hold off until then. It would be better to have to add salt to taste in the end than have it too salty.
Now, put a thin layer of the sauce on the bottom of the pan. Overall this dish is not drowning in sauce. We only made about 2 cups or less of sauce in the end. So it is pretty light and almost delicate.
Add some filling to a crepe and roll it up and place it on top of the sauce in the pan. Here I stuffed them quite a bit so they were quite large. You can add less filling and make them skinnier. You will just have more crepes rolled up in your pan.
Here I used 6 crepes to fill the pan, but I have also squeezed up to 12 crepes in a pan. Pour the remaining sauce on top of the crepes.
Sprinkle the rest of the shredded Swiss cheese (which is about 1 1/2 – 2 cups) on top. Again, the Swiss cheese on top adds a bit more salt so it is good not to salt the sauce or the filling.
Bake it it in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes and then it is done. So if your crepes are already made, it is about 10-15 minutes for the filling, 10-15 minutes for the sauce, 5-10 minutes to assemble, and 20 minutes to bake. That’s it!!
You now have a pretty square meal by itself, but you can always add even more vegetables to accompany it…..and serve!
It is a great combination of the chicken, with the spinach, the smoked flavor of the bacon, the nutty flavor of the Swiss cheese and mushrooms from the sauce. It is quite delectable!
You now have this wonderful gourmet meal that is ready from start to finish (including baking time) in approximately 45 minutes. So very worth it! :)
Enjoy!
-Robin
**You may want to double this recipe so that you have the same amount as the crepes mentioned above, and then either save the extra or just use less filling in each one.
Hi, I’m Ashley—the DIY-enthusiast behind this crazy blog!
