Crêpes and Chilaquiles

So what does this picture have to do with apples or a tortilla casserole? Well, nothing. But I promised my friend who took this in Sicily that I would put it up on my blog. Now, can you guess what it is? I will spill the beans in the next few days.

Now, on to the apples!

I wanted to include at least one savory recipe on my show the other day that did not include roast pork or pork chops. Yes, I know it's a classic pairing but I wanted to get away from anything that was too pat. Additionally, I gave a recipe for (and made here myself) stuffed and baked crêpes a week or so before during my series on zucchini. I love stuffed and baked savory crêpes and seldom have them so when I came across this recipe I perked up knowing that anything with components that included chicken, blue cheese, apples and béchamel had to be good as well as included in a series on apples. All this being said, I confess that I have not yet tried this but plan in the very near future as I have a quart of milk in the fridge that is a day past the expiration and I hate to throw anything out. So I can promise that in the next few days, there will be a review of the recipe on my blog complete with picture. Now for the recipe.

Chicken and Apple Crêpes

12 crêpes
3 cups diced cooked chicken
2 medium apples, peeled, quartered, cored and cut into thin slices
2 cups béchamel (using 4 tablespoons butter, 4 tablespoons flour, 2 cups milk, salt, pepper and grated nutmeg)
3 ounces (85gr)Roquefort or other good quality blue cheese

Preheat oven to 400°F/204°C. Butter a 13x9-inch (33x23-cm) baking dish.
Put a few tablespoons of the sauce in the center of each crêpe on the pale side. Place some chicken on the lower third followed by cheese and apples.
Roll up and place seem side down in the baking dish. Cover with remaining sauce and cheese and bake until bubbly and lightly brown, about 20 minute.

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/3 cups milk

3 eggs

Salt

2 or 3 tablespoons butter

Put flour in bowl and pour milk in a thin slow stream all the while beating with a fork to avoid making any lumps.

Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition and adding a pinch of salt in the end.

Place 1/2 teaspoon of butter in an 8-inch pan a put on medium low heat.

Stir batter and pour 1/3 of a cup into the pan moving it so it spreads over the entire bottom.

As soon as it is firm, turn with a spatula and cook other side until it, too is firm.

Repeat with remaining batter stirring before adding to the skillet.

The chilaquiles recipe that follows may not be authentic--in fact, I have had chilaquiles in Mexico and they were nothing like the ones in the recipe--but these were the first ones I ever made having gotten the recipe from a cookbook featuring "Mexican" recipes. But then again, one never knows. There are so many different recipes for the same thing that this could very well have come from some region (or maybe just some home) in Mexico. Hope you will give this a try.

Chilaquiles

10 corn tortillas
cooking oil
6 beaten eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups red chili sauce (available in Latin American markets or the Latin American section of some grocery stores. Las Palmas makes a very good one.)
1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup chopped scallions

Cut tortillas in half then stack the half moon slices on each other and cut them into four even wedges.
Heat 1/2-inch oil in a skillet and fry tortilla wedges in batches until crisp and golden. Remove to paper towels to drain.
Remove all but 2 tablespoons of oil from pan. Return tortillas to pan along with eggs and salt and stir over moderate heat until tortillas are coated and eggs are set. Stir in the red chili sauce, 1 cup of the cheese, the water and half the scallions. Turn heat to low, cover and cook for another 10 minutes. Turn into serving dish and top with remaining cheese and scallions.