This section of the blog will be dedicated to feature the achievements of Jews cooking un-Jewish food. We developed our cooking skills while sorrounded by peoples of all nationalities and ethnicities, during our diaspora years. As a result of that marriage between the food we knew and the food the neighbours ate a whole new world of possibilities developed, and at the same time, we imposed our Jewish footprint into everything we cooked.
Today I will introduce to you my dear friend and extraordinary cook Vivian Gutstadt. I had, in several opportunities, the enormous pleasure and honour to be her guest. In one of those opportunities she made Crêpes Suzette and I asked her to share with us the recipe, and also a bit of her life too. She graciously accepted. Here is her in her own voice:
"When I cook for my children and friends I feel love.
Friday evenings, when Shabbat comes, we gather together around a special table, arranged differently from other nights. For this opportunity, we put in order and clean our house with particular attention because we want to “lekabel bivracha et ha'orchim” (to welcome our guests with a blessing). We say: “Bruchim ha baim”, meaning “welcome, our dear guests!”.
Our food, our table, our moods are special that evening. There is a unique glow within our home; a peaceful flow invades every corner of our souls. We light the Shabbat candles placed into my grandparent’s antique silver candlesticks and we say the brachot (blessings).
This night is so different from the other days of the week!
Not only for me and my children Shabbat represents that moment of reflection, a pause in our quotidian demands and responsibilities, but also, as a Jewish mother, Shabbat has an aggregate value. Through this distinctive evening I am part of a millenary chain of traditions and beliefs transmitted from one generation to another. It is not about empty rituals just mechanically repeated. We feel the traditions as part of us, as part as our undeniable identity. We are proud of our Jewish identity; we embrace and cultivate it, no matter when or where we are. That is why in the international container with which I moved to Canada from Buenos Aires, Argentina, I included my baba’s (bubbe, or grandmother in Yiddish) pan. It is a special casserole where she only cooked her famous Gefilte Fish (notice I capitalized the words, and also I stand up when pronounce them; believe me, her Gefilte Fish recipe is sacred!)
So, now I am living in Canada, a wonderful country with severe winters. Outside is cold, bleak, snowing... it is freezing out there! I have invited my friends to come over for dinner.
What nice dessert could I prepare to fete my guests, to pamper my children and friends?
Crêpes Suzette
This recipe is a mix of different famous kitchen queens’ recipes, including Doña Petrona C. De Gandulfo, Julia Child, Blanca Cotta, Anna Olson, and my own creativity.
Ingredients (yields 8)
Crêpes
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups of milk (not less than 2%)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, extremely softened or melted
3 eggs
½ cup of carbonated/sparkling water
Pinch of salt
Butter, for pan greasing
Orange sauce
2 oranges, zested
1 cup of orange juice
½ lemon juice
¼ cup sugar
4 tablespoon Cointreau or Grand Marnier liqueur
Orange butter
1 cup of unsalted butter at room temperature or softened
4 tbsp orange rind
¼ cup orange juice
¼ cup sugar
Flambé
Cointreu or Grand Marnier liqueur, 50 cc.
Long kitchen match (or long matches)
Garnish
Orange zest
Orange segments, white pith removed
Directions:
Crêpes
This dessert has the advantage that most of the steps can be prepared in advance.
Mix in a bowl the crêpe ingredients: flour, eggs, milk, a pinch of salt, sugar, butter, and sparkling water. Blend with electrical whisker, cover the bowl and leave the preparation rest for 45 minutes.
Heat a non-stick crêpe pan and grease it with a slight amount of butter. Spoon half of a ladle of the crêpe preparation and pour on the pan while moving your hand in circles so as to cover evenly. Put the pan again on the heat and cook the crêpe for a couple of minutes; the borders will start to separate themselves from the bottom of the pan; so then with a spatula flip the crêpe. Cook on the other side half a minute. Repeat the same procedure until finishing the crêpe batter. Always remember the first crepe is not so perfect. Do not get frustrated because the second one will come out flawless!
Pile the crepes on a plate, cover them with plastic wrap, and place them on the kitchen counter (do not put them in the fridge). They can remain 24 hours until being utilized for the Crêpes Suzette.
Orange sauce
Add the cup of orange juice in a small pan and place it on medium heat. Stir the zest, sugar and lemon juice. Lower the heat to minimum (very low), mix and allow the sauce to reduce. Add the liqueur and continue reducing the sauce at very low heat.
Meanwhile, prepare the orange butter.
Orange butter
Mix with a hand food processor the softened butter together with the orange rind and the juice. The consistency should be smooth as a cream. Place the preparation on a piece of plastic wrap, chill first a little bit, and form a cylinder. Take the salami-shaped butter all wrapped in plastic and freeze it. Before using it, cut it into thick slices.
Crêpes Suzette
Prepare a table where to entertain your guests. Place on it a portable electric range or burner, a plate with the crepes folded in four as triangles, a non-stick sauté pan big enough to allow placing several crepes in it, the orange butter, the orange sauce, a bowl with orange zest and orange segments, Grand Marnier or Cointreau, a long kitchen match, different utensils to help you serve (spatulas, ladles, tongs, etc.), plates and cutlery for serving.
Turn the electric range to medium heat and place the sauté pan on it. Add two slices of orange butter and melt. Reduce the heat and place 4-6 crepes in it. Pour orange sauce and allow the crepes to get impregnated with the wonderful aroma and flavour. Flip them so they get soaked on both sides. Turn off the burner, very carefully add the liqueur and ignite with long kitchen match. Let the flames burn out completely. Serve a crepe or two in each plate, garnish with orange zest and orange segments, and pour fine drops of orange sauce.
.
I feel cooking represents loving, giving, and sharing."
Look at the final product! A real picture of a real beuty. Thank you very much, Vivian!
