Manitoba chef and podcaster preserves crepes recipe for the ages

The Food History Project in Manitoba is taking a special food truck to different communities to gather people's favourite food memories and to capture the province's tasty traditions. 

Inside the truck at a recent stop in Steinbach, as measuring cups, butter and milk are passed around, chef Anna Sigrithur explains how she foraged the lambs quarters — a weedy green plant — at her partner's farm in the heart of the Red River Valley near St. Adolphe. She talks about how food connects people to their past, the land and to each other.

"I've been spending a lot of time learning about wild plants, learning about ecology, and how we interact with the species around us, whether it's animal or vegetable. I just really love sharing the things I've learned."

Sigrithur is a chef and has a food podcast, but ordinary folk are invited to contact researchers to arrange a time to come to the truck, cook and share their connection to food. It doesn't have to be great or even delicious, and people certainly don't have to be crack culinary artists.

"We are not only interested in recipes that are your favourite or that are nostalgic and very rose coloured. It can also be something you hate with a passion," says Kimberley Moore, an adjunct professor at the Oral History Centre.

Here is Sigrithur's recipe for crepes with wild greens.

Basic crepes:

• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 1 cup, plus 1-2 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 2 eggs

Whisk eggs, milk and butter together. Add flour and stir until smooth. Pour a small amount of batter onto a hot pan, tilting the pan so as to cover the entire surface thinly. Let cook for 1-2 minutes and then flip. Cook 30 seconds more and remove from heat. Repeat until batter is finished.

Filling:

• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup butter
• 4 cups washed, chopped lambs quarters (a common wild green and a relative of quinoa)..
• 1/2 a fresh lemon, juiced
• 1 teaspoon salt

Saute garlic in butter for one minute until fragrant but not burning. Add in lambs quarters, stirring to coat in butter and wilt in the heat. Let cook a few minutes, turning as the greens wilt down. Add lemon juice and salt about two minutes in. Keep turning. After about five minutes the greens should be nicely cooked and glossy. Fill crepes with a small amount of cooked greens, roll up and enjoy.

Note: Always harvest wild plants from an area where you know the soil is toxin free and no herbicide has been used nearby.