Tex-Mex Cilantro Crepe Pinwheels

These pretty appetizers are lighter and fresher tasting than tortilla pinwheels. 

Crepes

2 eggs

Pinch salt

½ c flour

½ c milk

¼ c chopped cilantro

1 T butter, melted

Filling

8 oz / 250 g cream cheese at room temperature

½ t chili powder

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 green onions, finely sliced

¼ c red pepper, finely chopped

¼ c pickled jalapenos (or less, depending on taste), well drained and finely chopped

¼ c black olives, well drained and finely chopped

Put eggs and salt in a medium bowl and whisk well.  Add flour all at once, and whisk until smooth.  Gradually add the milk, whisking after each addition, until you have a smooth, thin batter.  Add cilantro, and stir through to combine.

Melt butter in small dish, and put aside.

Put a 17 cm non-stick frying pan over medium heat until hot.  Brush some melted butter onto the surface of the hot pan using a pastry brush.  Lifting the pan off the heat and tilting it away from you, add 2 oz / ¼ c batter to the pan, tilting the pan in a counter-clockwise motion until the surface has been covered.  Return to the heat just until the sides start to pull away from the pan.  Flip the crepe over, and cook on the second side for ten seconds or so.  Turn out onto clean kitchen towel and continue with next crepe.  You should have enough for six crepes.

In a medium bowl, add cream cheese, chili powder and black pepper.  Using a fork, mix until well combined.  Add green onion, red pepper, jalapenos and olives.  Mix.

Arrange the crepes so that the ‘pretty side’ is facing down.  Divide the cheese mixture between the six crepes.  Spread out evenly on each, leaving a 1 cm space around the circumference.   Roll each into a tight cigar shape.  Lay each rolled crepe onto the centre of a piece of plastic wrap which is at least two inches longer that the crepe.  Roll the plastic wrap around the crepe, hold both ends, and spin the crepe so that both ends twist like a candy wrapper.

Place on flat surface in fridge, and chill for at least one hour.  Unwrap each, and using a thin, sharp knife, cut 1 cm or so off both ends (cook’s treat).  Cut the remainder into 2 cm thick portions.  Place on platter, with a bowl of salsa in the middle.  Makes three dozen.

The 'pretty side'

White(ish) Chili

This is a white chili in the sense that there is no beef or tomatoes in it; the colour comes from the ancho chili.  True, it’s not very white, but who wants to eat white chili anyway?    

1 large ancho chili, split and deseeded*

2 t vegetable oil

650 g ground turkey

1 onion, diced

1 green pepper, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

227 g mushrooms, sliced

1 t salt

1 T chili powder

1 t cumin

1 t oregano

¼ t cayenne pepper

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 c chicken stock

2 - 540 ml cans white kidney beans, drained and rinsed.

1 T lime juice

Sour cream and chopped cilantro to serve (optional)

Lightly toast the ancho chili halves in a dry skillet over medium-low heat until heated through, and colour changes slightly.  Put the chili into a bowl and pour over recently-boiled water just to cover.  Cover with plate and put aside for twenty minutes. 

Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat; add turkey, breaking up with spoon.  Continue cooking until liquid has evaporated, and cooking sound has changed from bubbling to sizzling.

Add onion, green pepper, celery, garlic, mushrooms and salt.  When mushrooms begin to release their liquid, add the chili powder, cumin, oregano, cayenne and black pepper.  Cook, stirring regularly, until cooking sound once again changes to a sizzle.

Remove chili from water and discard water.  Put chili into a blender, along with the chicken stock and half of the beans.  Blend until smooth.  Pour mixture into Dutch oven and stir well.  Add lime juice.

Bring to a boil; reduce to medium low.  Cook, uncovered, until mixture reduces and thickens (about an hour), stirring regularly.  Check seasoning.

Serve topped with sour cream and cilantro if desired.

Serves four.

* If you can’t find ancho chili, substitute a canned chipotle, very finely chopped, and exclude the cayenne.