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Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Clătite cu piure de castane (Crêpes with chestnut cream) (Moldavian and Romanian)


The chestnut cream is one of Eastern Europe's finest delicacies. Using this ingredient as a filling for sweet crêpes is something done in the northeastern pat of my country, Bucovina and Northern Moldavia (the Romanian part of Moldavia, at least). Starting from the city of Iaşi and continuing to go up, you can find these on the menu in most local cafeterias and confectioneries
You can find chestnut cream in jars in most supermarkets, as it was popularized by the French in the Western World as well. Grab a jar, return home, heat up the skillet and get flipping. They will be slightly less sweet than the crêpes or pancakes you might be accustomed to (especially if you usually fill them with Nutella or sweet jams), but much more flavorful. Enjoy.

Last year: nothing.
Two years ago: nothing.
Three years ago: nothing.

Five years ago: Kastaniencremesuppe (Chestnut cream soup) (German).

Six years ago: Autumn chestnut and beetroot salad. (Yup, even more chestnuts).

Seven years ago: Fig, rosemary and mascarpone tartlets.

Eight years ago: Spicy Guinness mustard (Irish).




Ingredients (serves 3-4-5 people):
  • 1 liter milk
  • 250 g flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • pinch of salt
  • 4 eggs
  • grape-seed oil for frying
  • 300 ml sweetened chestnut puree (a big jar) and some whipped cream to serve
  • 2 tablespoons rum (dark or white)


Beat the eggs with the sugar and salt. Add 200 ml milk and 3-4 tablespoons of flour. Mix them in, then continue to add milk and flour gradually, until you've incorporated all the flour and all but 50-100 ml milk in a smooth, lump-less batter. Keep the little remaining milk for thinning the batter later. 
Heat oil in a medium pan and pour a little pancake batter in it, moving the pan so the batter covers its bottom evenly. Fry it for 1 minute until you see bubbles appearing on the surface, then carefully flip it around and fry it for 30 seconds on the other side as well.

I previously gave more detailed instruction on how to make Romanian pancakes (crêpes) here.
Keep making the pancakes and stacking them on a plate until you finish all the batter. You should have about 16-18 thin pancakes at the end). Towards the end, you will notice that your batter will thicken. You can thin it by adding a bit of the reserved milk. 

When all the pancakes are fried, make the filling. Open the jar of chestnut cream and mix in the rum. Put a generous 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of filling at the center of each pancake, then spread it in a thick line. 

Roll the pancake over and around that line into a tube. Place it on a serving platter. Repeat for the remaining pancakes. Spoon the remaining chestnut cream over the pancakes in a nice pattern. Complete the decoration with whipped cream, if you want. 
It's done, dig in! (while they're warm or at least freshly made, as they tend to go stale quicker than other desserts).

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