I first learned about these Tuscan-style crepes while living in Florence, studying food and wine (both formally and inevitably informally) at Apicius. I rediscovered them when a pleasant little article popped up in the NY Times recently about them.

I made a pilgimage to Rainbow to get chestnut flour and good quality pine nuts (often rancid in my corner store). i went to work. I followed the recipe quite closely, save for the filling which I used a bit less boursoin and more sheep’s milk cheese. The rest was delightful. I wilted some spinich, squeezed half a lemon over it and we had a wonderful dinner. I’d recommend it and it’s a great one for a dinner party as you can assemble, and then pop in the oven for 10 minutes just before serving.

Well, it’s not the first time I’ve taken a hint from something I enjoyed at The Sentinel in San Francisco. It’s probably not the last.

This serves 3-4 people.

1/2 lb ahi tuna, fresh
1/4 lb green beans, chopped evenly and blanched in salted water
1 gypsy pepper, sliced very, very thinly (this is a green mini bell pepper type thing)
1 T tomato paste (I use san marzano)
2 T Lemonaise (mayonaise with seasoning and lemon flavor)
1 T dijon mustard
1 tsp tumeric powder
1-2 T cajun seasoning (I made my own–chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, black pepper, salt, thyme, nutmeg/mace, etc)
juice of 1/2 lemon
handful cilantro, minced
3 T homemade bread n butter pickles, small dice (use your imagination to sub)

Cook the tuna in olive oil after seasoning with salt and pepper. Flake apart and chop. Mix the sauce using the lemonaise, dijon, lemon juice, tumeric, cajun powder (use more as necessary, feel free to add chili powder), tomato paste. Mix the tuna into it, then start adding green beans, gypsy pepper, cilantro, pickles. Adjust as needed. Enjoy.

I really enjoyed this, especially since these damn pickles have been sitting in my fridge almost as long as the homemade preserved lemons I made last year.

Orange Scallops for two:
6 dayboat (nitrate free) scallops
1-2 tsp thyme
1 orange
4 cloves garlic (don’t go overboard)
4-6 T butter
Cointreau or brandy

Melt the butter at medium low heat, zest the orange. When butter melted and water evaporated, add the garlic, minced. Reduce heat to not color the garlic, cook until softening. Add half the orange zest, the thyme (rub between fingers on the way into the pan, or use fresh thyme minced–triple the amount) and the juice of the orange. Turn up heat to medium high. Cook down until thickened, add the booze (use judgement), cook off the fun part and then set the sauce aside into a small bowl.

Put the pan back on the burner and add another T or two of butter. Add the orange zest with it, let it melt and get hot on medium high heat. Turn the heat up once it’s stopped bubbling, and add the scallops almost immediately. Let them brown quickly on each side, flipping only once. Plate the scallops when cooked (DO NOT overcook. Get the dayboat scallops so they are OK to eat raw and eat them rare).

Put the sauce back in the pan and cook more, heat it up, soak up the scallop leftovers. Serve on top the scallops.

For golden chard side:
small bunch golden chard
olive oil
salt & pepper

Simply clean the chard, seperate the stems from the leaves. Chiffonade the leaves, chop the stems in even pieces. Heat a pan to medium, add some olive oil. Cook the stems until nearly tender. Add salt and pepper. Add the leaves and reduce heat to low, cook until bright and tender.

Scalloped Potatoes (serves 4)
8 small yellow creamer potatoes, washed
3 oz cheddar, or other cheese that doesn’t become stringy
1 small/medium spring onion
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cream
salt & pepper
2-5 T butter

Preheat oven to 350. Slice the potatoes using the side of a cheese grater or a mandolin, ideally. Grate coarsely the cheese. Slice very thin the onions in half circles. In a 8×8 baking pan or something similar, put a few pats of butter on the bottom, very thin, or grease the pan. Add alternating single layers of potatoes and the onion broken into single pieces, add salt every other layer, a little cheese on the alternate. Add pats of butter again on top. End in onions.

Heat the milk and cream until just hot. Pour over the layered poatoes. Cook for 40-50 minutes, covered for the first 35 minutes, uncovered for the rest. I turned the heat up for the last part, to 400.

I recreated a recent (and new) favorite (proud to say 100% original too) recipe with Chilean sea bass instead of halibut.. I do prefer the halibut, but it worked quite well, and I subbed the microgreens out for wilted spinich.

It’s nice to get up on Sunday and walk a few blocks in the morning sun, meander around and buy some scallops, some beautiful flowers for $10.