Fresh Peach Crepes with Peach Ice Cream
Fresh Peach Crepes with Fresh Peach Ice Cream
1 – Crepe Batter
2 – Crepe Making Supplies
3 – Melt Butter and bring to heat
4 – Add batter
5 – Swirl batter
6 – Full crepe on first side
7 – Fill Crepe and watch
8 – Remove crepe to cool
9 – Filling ingredients
10 – Crush peaches
11 – Add fresh peach to Marscapone
12 – Begin with crepe on plate
13 – Add filling
14 – Add peach slices
15 – first fold
16 – Second fold and seal with ice cream
17 – Your Finished Product
When peaches are in season the world is right. I love peaches. Used to pick them off the tree when I was a kid and peel the skin back and eat them like apples. Nowadays I buy them fresh from Aspinwall’s road side produce stand on Highway 22, and peel them with the alligator peeler (a new fangled serrated blade peeler that is designed especially for soft fruits such as peaches, and my oh my does it work well – certainly worth the $7 on Amazon.com).
Two new creations this year with regard to the wonderful fresh peach. Peach ice cream and peach crepes. Put together – with peach ice cream on top of the peach crepe – presents the most marvelous seasonal dessert you can imagine.
First the peach ice cream. No big deal here. Make vanilla ice cream (we have the clean kind where you freeze the bowl then place in the machine – Janet’s preference – and then we have the old style – my preference – where you lug in the wooden slated bucket and strap on an electric motor and fill with ice and rock salt and plug it in) Either way, once the vanilla ice cream is nearly done, have your fresh peaches diced and ready and then place them in the churn. About 2 cups per half gallon of vanilla works well. I then add about a teaspoon of yellow food coloring to give the ice cream a nice peachy look to it. Continue churning for a few minutes to incorporate the fruit and to ensure the coloration process is complete. Then remove from the churn and allow the ice cream to cure in the freezer. You will end up with a wonderful peach flavored ice cream that is delicious to eat and marvelous to look at.
Next is the peach crepe. This is a little more complicated and intimidating to begin with, but after you have gotten into the rhythm of it, the process is fun and the result exciting. Start by making the crepe itself. This is nothing but a fancy thin French style pancake, so don’t be intimidated. If I can do it, so can you. That is my Old Guy’s motto anyway. The recipe that I like to use is pretty simple. Combine the following ingredients in a blender and mix thoroughly. Then place the mixture in the refer for an hour or so to allow it to set up.
1 cup milk
4 eggs
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons of melted butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla
Remove the blender from the refer and pour about ¼ cup of the batter into a medium sized sauce pan that is coated with melted butter and is on medium heat and up to temperature when you add the batter. Once you have added the batter lift the pan from the stove and rock and roll it around so that the entire base of the pan is coated with batter, then return to the heat. Monitor the batter carefully, shaking the pan occasionally to ensure the crepe that is forming is not sticking. It takes about 2minutes or so for the crepe to be done. When done it appears to be dry on the side you are looking at. Shake the pan and slip your spatula under the crepe and with a combination of upwards movements between the pan in one hand and the spatula in the other, flip the crepe over. Since it will be dry and almost done, if you turn under a corner, just use your spatula and perhaps your fingers to flip it around so that the crepe is full and flat again. The second side goes quick, so don’t go off to the bathroom or anything. About 15 – 20 seconds is all you need on the second side. When that short time has passed, again shaking your pan, bring the crepe off the stove and place it on a cooling rack. Have staged a series of wax paper sheets and a small pizza stone, or round flat platter. Allow one crepe to cool as you cook the next one. When you have two crepes on the cooling rack then begin rotating from the rack to the wax paper. Each stored crepe should be cool and be stored with wax paper on the top and bottom. Repeat the process until the batter is gone. This recipe makes about 12 crepes that are about 9′ round. Once you have your crepes stacked and waxed up, then refrigerate until use. Crepes should last several days if properly waxed up, but remember the quality of the crepe decreases with time, so eat them soon! That is what you made them for after all!
While the crepes are cooling and curing in the refer, make your filling. The recipe I created, and find delightful with the peach ice cream is:
1/2 cup of sugar
8 oz of Marscapone
2 tablespoons of peach juice
½ cup of crushed peaches
1 teaspoon almond extract
Add all of the ingredients to a bowl (preferably one that has a lid) and combine completely. Place the filling in the refer covered (hence the use of the lid!!) until ready to use. If you want a little stiffer filling add 1 teaspoon of cornstarch. But, remember that the batter will stiffen by itself in the refer, and you will need to spread it on the delicate crepe, so you don’t want it to be like peanut butter, more like honey.
OK, now the fun part. Some assembly required!!! Lay the crepe out on the serving plate. I prefer a square plate as it makes the best final presentation. Have fresh thin sliced peaches ready to go. Place the filling in the middle of the crepe in a rectangular shape. Use as much or as little filling as you want. Tailor it to your tastes, or the tastes of those you are serving. Be sure to leave lots of room all around the crepe for folding. Place a row of the thin sliced fresh peaches on top of the filling. Next comes the folding. The traditional French crepe is folded from each corner to the middle making a square shape of the final crepe, then the ice cream is placed in the center of the crepe. This is nice, but not the way I do it. Mine? Rectangular! The reason? Two scoops of ice cream instead of one of course! To go rectangular, fold each side over to the middle, then fold each end over the top (only allow a couple of inches on the ends). Place one scoop of ice cream at each end to cover the fold. Sprinkle with just a little dusting of powdered sugar and serve.
liencuisine 