Here is a vegan and gluten-free ‘Nutella’ and banana crepe recipe that you can make in the comfort of your own home.

If I remember anything about my first time in Paris when I was a teenager, it is most certainly the abundance of crepe stands, where street vendors served freshly-made crepes with a generous drizzle of Nutella and sliced fresh bananas. Pure heaven in my book, but it takes more than a stroll around Paris’s side streets to burn that baby off.

It can do no wrong with its taste, but as far as nutrition goes, a Nutella and banana crepe is essentially a fresh banana swimming in simple sugars, white flour, processed ingredients, hydrogenated fats and dairy. In fact, in 2012, Nutella was hit with a class action lawsuit for advertising its hazelnut chocolate spread as a healthy and nutritious food, when it is, in fact, not. Sure, it’s not everyday you’re in Paris or anywhere serving this particular crepe, but wouldn’t you like to recreate the experience, only with more honorable ingredients at your fingertips? The following crepe recipe is vegan, gluten-free and light. But most important: it utilizes ingredients that your body recognizes, not rejects. Enjoy!

Nutella and Banana Crepe Recipe

Makes 5-6 crepes

Ingredients

For the crepes:

• 3/4 cup brown rice flour
• 1/4 cup potato starch
• 2 Tbsp tapioca flour
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons almond milk
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil + extra for frying, melted

For the Nutella:

• 1/2 cup hazelnut butter (blend about 1 cup whole hazelnuts for 5-10 minutes or until creamy like butter)
• 2 heaping tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 2 generous tablespoons of coconut oil

For assembly:

• Bananas

Directions

Sift together the brown rice flour, potato starch and tapioca flour. Add the almond milk and stir until smooth. Stir in the coconut oil and then place in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to cool.

In a flat frying pan, brush the bottom and edges with coconut oil so that it is completely coated. Remove the pan from the head and pour about 1/2 cup of the crepe batter into the pan. Swirl the pan so that the batter coats the bottom. Place the pan back on the heat and shake it back and forth constantly. Flip it when it begins to move around freely and bubbles begin to form on the upright side. Cook the same amount of time on the opposite side. Slip onto a plate and repeat with the rest of the batter.

For the Nutella, blend all ingredients together until smooth.

While the crepes are still hot, coat with Nutella and banana slices. Roll up and enjoy!

Aylin Erman is founder of GlowKitchen. There she shares step-by-step picture recipes of her plant-based creations. Aylin lives and works in Istanbul as a writer and editor at the country’s first-ever green-living and sustainability platform, Yesilist. Like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter to keep up with food news and recipes.

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Herbed Egg Crepes Recipe with Ricotta and Spring Salad

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The post Vegan ‘Nutella’ and Banana Crepe Recipe appeared first on EcoSalon.

You can play around with different fillings in this irresistible egg crepes recipe: Prosciutto or smoked salmon are good additions to the ricotta, or replace the ricotta with sautéed mushrooms or greens, or shredded Gruyère.

I discovered packages of mixed baby kale at the grocery store the last time I made this recipe, and it is worth searching out for the salad. Baby greens are very good too.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 cup (8 oz/250 g) whole-milk ricotta cheese
3 green onions, minced
3 tablespoons finely grated Pecorino romano cheese
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
1⁄4 cup (2 fl oz/60 ml) olive oil, plus more as needed
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon gluten-free Dijon mustard
Herbed Egg Crepes (recipe found here)
3 cups (3 oz/90 g) baby kale or mixed greens
6 radishes, sliced
1⁄4 cup (1 oz/30 g) coarsely chopped toasted and salted pistachios or toasted almonds or pine nuts

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325°F (165° C). In a medium bowl, mix the ricotta, two-thirds of the green onions, the Pecorino cheese, 2 teaspoons thyme,and 1 tablespoon of the oil. Season the filling to taste with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, mix the lemon juice and mustard. Gradually whisk in 3 tablespoons of the oil and the remaining green onions to make a dressing. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Spread one-fourth of the ricotta-herb mixture over half of each egg crepe. Fold each crepe in half over the filling, and then fold in half again, forming fan shapes. Place the crepes in the oven and cook until the filling is warm, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the kale and radishes in a salad bowl. Add the dressing and toss to coat. Add the nuts and toss. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Arrange 2 filled crepes on each plate. Mound the dressed salad alongside and serve right away.

Recipe from “Weeknight Gluten Free” by Kristine Kidd (April 2013, Weldon Owen)

The post Herbed Egg Crepes Recipe with Ricotta and Spring Salad appeared first on EcoSalon.

As soon as I saw the photo for thin omelets in Yotam Ottolenghi’s book, “Plenty”, I was certain they would make a great replacement for crepes.

The ones I came up with here are so thin, they resemble crepes, but use no flour, and are wonderfully delicate. You can fill them with almost anything you like. To fill the crepes, spread or layer the fillings over half of each crepe. Fold the other half of the crepe over the filling, and then fold them in half again, forming fan shapes. Heat in a 325°F (165°C) oven for about 5 minutes to warm the filling, or serve at room temperature.

 Makes 4 crepes or 2 servings

Ingredients

6 large eggs
1⁄4 cup (2 fl oz/60 ml) milk
4 green onions, minced
1⁄2 cup (3⁄4 oz/20 g) minced mixed fresh herbs, such as flat-leaf parsley, thyme, and tarragon
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon Olive oil, plus more as needed

Directions

In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, milk, green onions, mixed herbs, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Beat with a fork to blend.

Brush a baking sheet with oil. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a 10-inch (25-cm) nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium. Add one-fourth of the egg mixture, tipping the pan to cover. Cook until the top of the crepe is set, tipping the pan and spreading the uncooked egg to the edges, 11⁄2 to 2 minutes. Slide the crepe onto the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining egg mixture, adding more oil to the pan as needed and forming 4 crepes total.

Crepes can be filled with a variety of ingredients:

Sautéed sausage, shrimp, or scallops

Sliced prosciutto

Shredded Cheddar, fontina, Gruyère, or Manchego cheese

Crumbled feta or soft fresh goat cheese

Sautéed mushrooms with shredded Gruyère cheese

Sautéed halved cherry tomatoes with crumbled feta or goat cheese

Sautéed dark greens with crumbled feta or goat cheese

Sautéed red bell peppers with shredded Manchego cheese

Image: sciboston

Recipe from “Weeknight Gluten Free” by Kristine Kidd (April 2013, Weldon Owen)

The post Gluten-Free Herbed Egg Crepe Recipe appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnBreakfast is in.

Any foodie-wise restaurant knows to wrap hors d’oeuvres, entrees and even the table rolls in bacon, but lately, eggs have been showing up to the dinner table at every opportunity. On pizzas, astride mashed potatoes, in ramen: This is much more than the classic Caesar salad preparation of soft-boiled egg beside dressed hearts of romaine. But it’s not just eggs and bacon. For better or for worse, breakfast is in.

In a stagnant economy and dismal state of global affairs, we’re in dire need of comfort food.

A waffle sandwich for lunch? Yes. A food truck that only serves up buttermilk creations? Certainly. Breakfast food isn’t the sexiest, but it’s cozy and warm, reminding us of a lazy Sunday brunch spent with friends or alone with the Times and the French press.

Are we really having a brinner love affair? If it’s an officially defined word on Urban Dictionary, the answer is “yes.”

(brin-ner) adj. breakfast eaten at the time in which you eat dinner.

But why? When it comes to food, most of us are obsessed with instant gratification, and fried eggs solve that problem far more quickly than a plate of artisanal cheese with fruit compote, let alone a a fennel emulsion. As Shawn LaPean, executive director of Cal Dining at the University of California- Berkeley says, “eating weird is the new normal.” Which means breakfast for dinner is just as marketable even in the upscale food world as foie gras bread pudding. (Some days, I think being a foodie is no more than a glorified version of our meat-and-potatoes humanity – fancified with pancetta and foccacia, or pork belly and polenta.)

Feel the need to get on the breakfast train? Here are five ways to bring home the bacon.

Waffles

Make them with sweet potatoes. Then make a sandwich. Or add chicken friend steak. Whatever you do, don’t serve them with maple syrup.

French Toast

Completely acceptable for dinner these days, as long as you use fancy bread. (But god forbid, no matter how tempting, please don’t prep it in a slow cooker.)

Pizza

Just put an egg on it. Or two.

Crepes

They’re French! And classy! As long as they’re made with buckwheat and not smeared in Nutella.

Pancakes

Like crepes, but not. If they’re fluffy and include a fancy dairy product (think: Ricotta) you can feel fine about eating them for dinner.

No matter how much you love breakfast – and if the restaurants of Brooklyn, San Francisco and Portland that are jam packed at 10 a.m. on a weekday morning are any indicator, most of us really do – proceed with caution. Replacing real meals with mashups of whatever-we-feel-like foods might have us running towards the brink of self-destruction. Breakfast for dinner (or lunch) is almost as bad as gourmet junk food, and if those trendy food carts and waffle windows don’t watch it, their culinary prowess just might risk the reputation of a Maple Bacon Sundae.

At least there’s always gourmet granola, with hemp milk, of course. Can someone just get me some real dinner, like a taco?

Oh, you want to serve them on a waffle? Even that is too underground for this columnist.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: Anna Brones, manray3, jamieanne, rick, avlxyz, d.loop

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Everyone’s dishing about how the concept of food trucks has been overhauled. They’re not just parked at job sites to feed hungry laborers anymore, but are taking the high road and giving restaurants a run for their money.

I got a taste of the trend at the posh 50th birthday party of a friend in San Francisco where a taco mobile was stationed at the entrance to the upscale house, titillating guests who lined up to order bean burritos and cheese quesadillas while nursing lemon drop martinis.

“Is the meat organic?” I asked my hostess, surveying the two men cooking frenetically behind the sliding window. “Of course it is,” she said. “We keep kosher!”

Guess it’s getting way kosher to peddle all kinds of culinary delights from a truck as the recession drags on. A surge in the mobile restaurant biz is being sighted across the country, fueled by inflated commercial leases and hungry epicureans watching their diets and budgets.

From Korean BBQ to gourmet cupcakes and Vietnamese-style sandwiches, the cafes on wheels are gearing up for success in an age of time crunches, lay-offs and convenience. Sure, most are cookin’ with gas and motoring with it, but a growing number are eco wise in terms of fuel alternatives, kitchen appliances and healthy ingredients.

Green Truck on the Go caters to an organic food crowd, working from a solar-powered commissary and delivering in two trucks powered by vegetable oil and bio-diesel.

“At Green Truck, serving healthy, gourmet organic food in a fast and efficient way is not enough,” says the company. “We believe that a healthy environment is tantamount to living a healthy life.” This business furthers its commitment by using locally-grown ingredients whenever possible and opting for biodegradable containers and utensils.

Even the classic hot dog from a stand is getting in the act. Let’s Be Frank offers weenies made from grass-fed organic beef from its trailers in hip L.A. hoods, including one right outside Silver Lake Wine where diners gather to taste the grape and down a dog; and the Franken Stand sells to L.A. vegans who gobble up its 100% plant-based vegan franks. No mystery meat Dodger dogs for these discerning customers.

L.A. blazed the trail in the roadside food trend, as described in a round-up in the L.A. Times. Yet, the convoys are making their way to a city near you.   USA Today highlighted the greatest places to flag down a feast in a recent food watch spread.

O the map: The upscale Chef Shark trailer found Saturday mornings at Minneapolis’ Mill City Farmers Market; Flip Happy Crepes in Austin, Texas (below), which serves hand-made savory crepes and fresh French-pressed coffee from its parking space on Josephine Street; and Moxie RX in Portland, Oregon, known for great brunch fare on wheels such as buckwheat waffles, grapefruit juice with basil and soda and healthy smoothies blended with bananas, dates and almond butter.

The good news is this is no sideshow where anything goes, like carny refreshment booths. Food trucks must meet health inspection restaurant standards.

One blogger fan of the trailer grub, who works in the Public Health environmental health division, commented that it’s even easier for the informed public to judge a mobile cafe than to know what truly goes on in the kitchen of a restaurant. “You can see for yourself if somebody is handling your ready-to-eat food with bare hands or committing other cruddy violations,” he says.

I wondered about that at my friend’s birthday party when I was handed the plate of steaming tacos. The operation looked pretty clean to me. Was it really organic? Guess I’ll have to take their word for it. At least it beat the ubiquitous party buffet in terms of the temptation towards gluttony. Nobody wanted to wait in the long truck line again for seconds.

Images: Jason Lam, L.A. Times, Let’s Be Frank, Flip Happy Crepes

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