Potato & Leek Crepes with Creamy Tomato Sauce

I always forget how much I LOVE crepes! They have to be the most versatile food out there.. I mean you can stuff just about anything in them and they always turn out impressive. I think I first discovered my true love for crepes when I was in Brighton Beach, England.. and on the pier they had a crepes stand and they served it made to order with a lemon sauce... It was so simple and delicious!
Later I came to discover its versatility on making several trips to Marche and Margot in East Nashville. I always struggle to order something other than the crepes! I think my favorite was at Margot on one sunday morning... where they had crepes with smoked salmon, asparagus, cream cheese, and fried capers. Oh my god. I never knew how amazing fried capers could be! By the way, Margot is the best restaurant in Nashville and they serve an amazing Sunday Brunch!
Alright so on to the food. I was trying to come up with an idea for dinner.. and I wanted something "seasonal"... and it hit me - I wanted crepes. So when I mentioned to Brandon (without telling him I'd actually kinda decided i wanted potato and leek crepes) that I wanted crepes... he was like "yeah! maybe something with potatoes and leeks?" Alright. Now - I think that explains why he's my boyfriend right there.

Potato, Leek, & Goat Cheese Crepes with Creamy Tomato Basil Sauce
serves 4

For the Crepes:

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 c all purpose flour
• 1 1/4c milk (do not use lowfat or nonfat)
• melted butter
  

Directions:

1. Whisk together eggs and salt in large bowl
2. Gradually whisk in flour and milk.
3. Strain into medium bowl, let stand for at least 1 hour. (but if you're in a hurry, let stand for at least 30 minutes.)
4. If necessary, add more milk by the tablespoon to have the mixture resemble the consistency of heavy whipping cream. (after you've let it set, of course)
5. Heat an 8" nonstick skillet over medium - medium high heat. Brush with melted butter. (if butter begins to brown too quickly, turn down the heat)
6. Pour about 1/4c of batter into center of skillet and swirl to coat entire bottom of skillet. Cook until top appears to be dry, loosening sides of crepe with rubber spatula, about 45 seconds.
7. Turn and cook until brown spots appear on second side, about 30 seconds (but again, may be longer depending on temperature of skillet).
8. Turn crepe out onto plate. Repeat with remaining batter, brushing skillet with melted butter between each crepe.
9. Stack crepes on plate.

For the Tomato Sauce:

Ingredients:

• 1 15oz can crushed or diced tomatoes
• 1/4c chopped sweet onions (i just used leeks, since that was what i had on hand)
• 1 clove chopped garlic
• 1/2c-1c heavy cream
• fresh basil

Directions:

1. Sautee onion and garlic in about a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat in a medium saucepan, until onion is softend - about 5 minutes (but careful not to burn the garlic!)
   
2. Add can of crushed tomatoes and simmer for about 10 minutes.
3. Slowly stir in the heavy cream and let simmer another 10 minutes (so sauce thickens a little).
4. Toward the end, add in freshly chopped basil.
5. Taste - maybe you'll want to add more cream or salt or pepper at this point.

For the Potato & Leek Filling:

Ingredients:

• about 1 1/2lbs of new potatoes/red potatoes
• 2-3 leeks, chopped
• 2 gloves of garlic, chopped
  
• 4oz log of goat cheese
• olive oil/butter
• salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Wash the red potatoes and place in a large saucepan. Fill sauce pan to cover potatoes with cold water. Bring to a boil and salt the water.
2. Boil potatoes for about 25 minutes - depending on the size. Potatoes should be tender when poked with a knife, but not falling apart.
3. When cooked, strain and let cool slightly.
4. Peel Potatoes and then slice into 1/4" slices (or whatever you feel like is bite size for you. wing it) Set aside.
   
5. Wash Leeks by slicing in half lengthwise and running under cold water. Most of the leeks will unfortunately be wasted as you can't really use much of the green part. About 4" of the base is whats usable. Once they are washed, chop off the roots and the tough green leaves of the top. Then roughly chop (ya know, about 1/4" slices).
6. Heat olive oil and/or butter in a large nonstick skillet, about 2 tablespoons or so. Sautee leeks and garlic over medium heat until leeks have softened (again don't allow garlic to burn). Add sliced or chopped potatoes and continue to stir and cook over medium heat...(adding more oil if necessary) letting the potatoes get slightly golden and absorb the leek/garlic flavor. This is best to do while the potatoes are still slightly warm from being boiled earlier... they absorb more flavor this way. Set aside.
7. Once Crepes have been cooked, begin to assemble.
8. Sprinkle some crumbled goat cheese on the crepe, add a little potato leek mixture, fold in half and then fold over to create sort of a triangle shape. Repeat with remaining crepes/potato mixture.
9. Top with the creamy tomato basil sauce. Serve hot! (crepes cool down reaaallly fast, so make sure the filling and the sauce are hot so that the dish isn't completely cool!)

And there you have it. Three components combined together to create one delicious dish. I saved the remaining crepes that we didn't eat to use at a later time.. Maybe I'll throw in some chopped bananas and warm nutella for a delicious breakfast some morning. Crepes are really versatile so I encourage you to come up with any flavor combination you so desire.. and then throw it in a crepe for a meal! I think Martha Stewart recently had an entire section of her magazine dedicated to the crepe a few months back... let me find it so I can post a link here.
Yeah - that is where you can learn the basics of crepes.. and from there you can find a whole list of recipes for crepes.

Enjoy!
Posted by Lauren