Chocolate Crepes (yield: 32)

• 4 eggs
• 100 g sugar
• 480 g milk
• 145 g flour
• 2 T cocoa
• ¼ t salt
• 30 g butter, melted
• 2 T vanilla essence

METHOD:

1. Whisk eggs ,sugar and milk
2. Sift the flour , cocoa and salt
3. Add the dry to the liquid mix
4. Then slowly add the melted butter and vanilla essence
5. Chill at least one hour or overnight.
6. Strain before using.
7. Cook over med heat, 2 min on first side and 30 sec on second side.
8. These can be layered and frozen or stored in the refrigerator.
9. Wrap well in plastic.
10. Or serve hot with a nice strawberry mint sauce.

Strawberry Mint Sauce

• Cut ¼ of a flat of strawberries into quarters; mix with 2-3 cups of sugar; let sit overnight in fridge.
• Strain the juice; leave the strawberries for jam.
• Put the juice into a shallow saucepan; add some sugar and 1-2 vanilla beans. Boil.
• Add a handful of mint leaves and let steep until strong mint flavour :15 – 20 min; strain; cool.

Mirepoix
Arbitrariness is good. So here’s to that…

Do you know what mirepoix is??

No I am not talking about the city of Mirepoix in France…

Its simple as the word itself…its onions celery and carrots diced small in equal and uniform size. Call it the foreign land ka “tadka”

Trust French to come up with such terms. Nevertheless, this “divine trinity” is an indispensable ingredient in dozens, if not hundreds, of traditional French dishes, they use this assortment in every form, from raw, sauté to roast and then it becomes the base for soups, and sauces. Name it and its there in French cuisine.

You know like our Indian tadka- onions, tomato, ginger, garlic and chillies, French use these as aromatic. I think every cuisine has its own version of it. I know in Cajun cooking the carrots are replaced by bell peppers.

Amounts: Onions: carrots: celery
Ratio: 2 : 1 : 1

And your notion was that French cooking was hard….