mushroom crepe cake

In my mind, it's awfully hard to go wrong with crepes. Maybe it's my French side sneaking out (I have the same issue with baguettes). Mushrooms are one of those foods I didn't try until I was an adult. My mother told me they were gross, and my father was rather ambivalent to them. We never had mushrooms of any type in the house, and I steered away from them on menus because I never saw my parents eat them. As it turns out, I quite like mushrooms, much more so when crepes are involved.

Ingredients:

1 cup diced yellow onions

3 tablespoons butter (plus a bit to butter the sheet pan)

2/3 pound shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced thinly

1/3 pound cremini mushrooms (dice half finely, slice half thinly)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

4 ounces milk

1/2 cup mild white cheese (mozzarella or provolone is best), shredded

savoury crepes*

2 tablespoons chives, thinly sliced

1/4 cup parmesan, shredded

Hardware:

large saute pan

knives

wooden spoon

ladle or scooping spoon

sheet pan

cutting board (or other surface)

oven with broiler

Directions:

Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in the saute pan and add the onion to sweat. Add all the mushrooms and the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. While stirring with the wooden spoon, season the mixture with salt and pepper. Cook on medium heat until the mushrooms are soft.

Add the milk and allow to simmer until the liquid is reduced by half. Add the white cheese and melt into the milk. You should have a creamy consistency (think of the middle of a pot-pie).

Butter the sheet pan and layer two crepes to form the bottom layer. The original recipe called for only one crepe, but I've found that the bottom one sometimes sticks. If you over-butter, it doesn't stick, but it stays soggy. Having an extra crepe is a much better choice.

Spread a thin layer of the mushroom mix onto the crepes with the ladle. Sprinkle a few chives. Lay another crepe on top, spread more filling, and top with a few more chives. Repeat the process until you have run out of mushroom filling. Place one more crepe on top and sprinkle with parmesan.

Place under the broiler of your oven until the parmesan is melted and golden. Remove from pan and place onto cutting surface. Slice cake into wedges and serve immediately.