Bing Cherry Crepes

It was a GLORIOUS day! 

Partly sunny with highs in the upper seventies and relatively low humidity made this a very rare, wonderfully enjoyable July day.  On a day like this, nothing pleases me more than a trip to Historic Main Street in Saint Charles, MO for some serious shopping and dining al fresco at Magpie Cafe.I've mentioned Magpie here before because I love it so much, the patio dining, in particular. With a table nestled under the trees, and a view of Main Street with the occasional, passing horse-drawn carriage, it is always a delight, as are the desserts. 

It's truly difficult trying to decide which dessert to choose.  My dining companion opted for the Blackberry Cobbler. While I was tempted, I chose, instead, the Bing Cherry Crepes, huge fan of Bing cherries that I am. 

If you are the cherry fan that I am, then you will love these crepes. They are easy to assemble, particularly when using Melissa's Ready Made Crepes (something I always keep in the freezer just for such an occasion).  The filling recipe is Magpie’s, and can be made the day ahead and stored in the fridge; the Bing Cherry Sauce is my own creation and the recipe can be found here. When it is time to serve dessert, just fill and roll the crepe, and spoon the warmed jewel-toned sauce on top. An elegant, easy, crowd pleasing dessert. Add a sprinkling of blueberries and you have the perfect treat for the Fourth of July.

Crepe Filling

The Magpie Café Cookbook

3 packages (8-oz. each) cream cheese, softened

½ cup sugar

Juice of one lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract

With a mixer, cream the cheese until smooth, then add the rest of the ingredients and beat until well mixed.

To fill a crepe, place about 3 tablespoons of filling on one side and roll it up. This recipe will fill about 16-20 crepes depending upon how generous you are with the filling.  Top with Bing Cherry Sauce.

This post is linked to:

Linda’s at What To Do Weekend 
Shauna’s at The Weekend re-Treat

Mosaic Monday

Parmesan Artichoke Quiche

Last Saturday night I got it into my head that I was going to serve an impromptu brunch on Labor Day. If you ever get it into your head to do the same, here's a word of advice: don't!  A brunch is a lot of work and takes more time, I am convinced, than it does to prepare a dinner, particularly in my case where there was both little time and little planning.  But, I'm a softie, and as a number of people had no place to go and were so appreciative of the invitation, ultimately, I was glad that I did it. It was, however, no easy task. One person eats nothing raw, another is a vegetarian, still another eats only things of tepid temperature, but two others, bless them, will eat anything.

My menu was as follows:

Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice
Chilled Cucumber and Avocado Soup
Caesar Salad
Bacon
Creamed Chipped Beef on English Muffins
Parmesan Artichoke Quiche
Green Beans Amandine
Fruit Salad
Pecan Chocolate Espresso Coffee Cake

Coffee, Tea

Everybody loved it. The recipe for the quiche was a new one and is the creation of Magpie Café in Saint Charles, MO. I've talked about them before -- their potato soup is legendary -- so it stood to reason that the quiche would be tasty as well. 

Parmesan Artichoke Quiche
Magpie Café, Saint Charles, MO

Pastry for 9-inch deep-dish pie

1 1/4 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large clove garlic, finely minced
1 cup coarsely chopped canned (not marinated) artichoke hearts, drained
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 eggs
2 cups half-and-half
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper or to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate with pastry; flute edges. Sprinkle Monterey Jack cheese in an even layer over bottom of pie shell.

Melt butter with oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add garlic; cook, stirring for 30 seconds. Add artichokes; sauté until all liquid from artichokes has evaporated, about 5 minutes.

Scatter sautéed artichokes over Monterey Jack cheese in pie shell; sprinkle evenly with Parmesan.

In a medium bowl, beat eggs with half-and-half; stir in salt and pepper. Slowly pour egg mixture into pie shell. Bake on bottom shelf of oven until top puffs and turns golden brown, about 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool 30 minutes before slicing.

This post is linked to:

Full Plate Thursday

Be Inspired Friday

Foodie Friday

Magpie's Asparagus Soup

Four miles from my house is a charming eatery called Magpie Restaurant. It is located on the equally charming Historic Main Street in what was once the Spanish governor's home (In more recent history it became infamously known as “the witches house.”), in the lively city of Saint Charles, Missouri on the banks of the Missouri River, a city that was the gathering place for Lewis and Clark in1804.

Magpie oozes quaint ambiance indoors and out. I love to dine al fresco at a table on the lovely cobblestone patio with a view of the street where horse-drawn carriages are not unusual. They are known for their soups, salads, quiches, and mouthwatering desserts. I've previously shared their recipe for Baked Potato Soup here. Today, with asparagus season upon us, I am sharing their recipe for Asparagus Soup. I consider myself in the know when it comes to soups, so you can trust me when I tell you that this is, by leaps and bounds, the best asparagus soup I have ever eaten.

Magpie's Asparagus Soup

Yield: 4 1-1/2 cup servings

1 pound fresh Melissa’s organic asparagus

4 cups chicken stock

1 1/3 cups heavy cream

2 teaspoons dried tarragon

¼ cup cornstarch

1/3 cup cold water

4 teaspoons butter

Slice off asparagus tips and reserve. Slice off woody stems and discard. Cut remaining spears into 2-inch pieces.

In a large pot, bring chicken stock and asparagus pieces to a boil, once boiling, reduce heat and let simmer about 10 minutes.

Transfer mixture to a blender and puree. (Caution: To avoid spewing hot liquid, always puree hot liquids in batches, filling blender no more than half full at a time.)

Return mixture to pot, add reserved asparagus tips, cream and tarragon and bring just to a boil but do not allow to boil.

To thicken the soup, stir together cornstarch and water until smooth. Stir into soup and cook, stirring often, until soup thickens, then for 5 more minutes.

Stir in butter a teaspoon at a time, stirring until butter melts.

To serve Magpie’s-style, serve the hot soup with a slice of home-baked French bread on the side.  

The chive garnish was my idea.

This post is linked to:

Wow Us Wednesdays

Foodie Friday

Baked Potato Soup from the Magpie Cafe

A trip to St. Charles would not be complete without shopping on Historic Main Street, and dining at Magpie Cafe. Fortunately when I can't get there, or when the weather is too inclement to be able to sit outside on their multi-level patio and watch shoppers stroll the cobbled streets, I can at least fix one of my favorites, the Baked Potato Soup, at home.  It is but one of their many delicious specialties.

As luck would have it, this recipe is one of the many gems in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's cookbook called Special Requests, that I mentioned earlier here.

I made this soup for dinner tonight to accompany a salad, and while the atmosphere might not have been quite as festive as dining at the restaurant (though I'm sure my husband would disagree), the soup was just as good.

Let me encourage you to try it!  Here's the recipe.

Cup - Konitz Cappuccino from Amazon