csa week 1: strawberry rhubarb crepes

truth be told, before last week, i had never actually had rhubarb before. i know some of you out there are probably in disbelief and i'm really not sure why this was. we were a cookie, brownie and cake family. not a lot of pies. maybe that explains it?! i thought there was a good chance of getting some with the first week's csa pickup and was excited to take it on. cooking it down with sugar seemed like the obvious solution but i didn't want to completely stew out the flavor of the rhubarb. however, it did seem like a dessertish recipe would be a good first introduction to it. after tasting the rhubarb raw, my thoughts were confirmed. someone please tell me, sour and bitter, what? i don't get it. couldn't do it.

although i went the classic cooked with strawberries route, i tried to make my version a bit more on the savory side. not too much sugar and i added some orange, ginger and apple cider vinegar. i also didn't cook the strawberries but just folded them into the cooked rhubarb mixture at the last minute. no need to cook or sweeten a perfectly good strawberry, i say!

strawberry rhubarb crepes

the filling:

• 2 rhubarb stalks, trimmed and chopped
  
• 1/2 pint strawberries
• large piece of ginger, quartered (so you can remove it at the end)
  
• zest of an orange
• juice of 1/2 orange
• 1/4-1/3 cup of sugar (depending on your desired sweetness): part brown, part white
• 2-3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

• throw everything except the strawberries into a pot with a little bit of water. stir.
  
• bring to a simmer, let the rhubarb soften and the liquid reduce.
• remove from heat, fold in strawberries.
  

the crepes (from the food network and alton brown):

• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup milk (or soy milk)
  
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup flour (i of course used spelt)
• 3 tablespoons melted butter

• whisk ingredients together (yes, i put all of them into the bowl together and mixed. no separation here).
• alton says to refrigerate the batter but i didn't do this...
• grease a pan of desired size.
• pour enough batter into the pan to thinly coat it. swirl the pan around to cover the surface.
• cook 30 seconds and flip. cook another 10 seconds and remove.