Crepes
When I went to search for my recipe in my blog, like I usually do for recipes that are particularly good that I know I must have shared them, I could not find the crepes. How could I not have posted this recipe here? For a while there, I was making them all the time, they are so simple to make, it's ridiculous. Since I had been making them so often I didn't need to follow the recipe, I just knew it. This morning, however, I needed to follow the recipe. It's been months since I've made them. Just as with any favored recipe, the frequency of its use waxes and wanes.
This recipe come together almost instantly, in a blender, there's no need to have the batter rest or any of that business. And as for the old adage that the first couple of crepes cooked are crap, well, to that adage I say, that's crap. Every single crepe turns out perfectly.
While I was tending to the crepes, Mark, my sous-chef, worked on preparing the fillings, grating mature cheddar, cooking up back bacon rounds (Canadian bacon in the U.S.), slicing the gorgeous strawberries and cleaning up the blueberries (to have with Greek yogurt and honey as filling) . I also whipped up a bechamel sauce for our savory crepes as well.
This recipe makes about 16 crepes.
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups milk (whole or semi-skimmed)
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbs sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 Tbs melted butter, plus extra for brushing pan
Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until batter is smooth (about 10-15 seconds).
Using a pastry brush (I'm a fan of the silicone pastry brush for this) brush bottom and sides of 9 or 10-inch nonstick skillet very lightly with melted butter; heat skillet over medium heat. When butter stops sizzling, pour 1/4 cup batter into pan in a steady stream. While pouring the batter in a stream, you want to be rotating and twirling the pan slowly counterclockwise until pan bottom is covered with even layer of batter. Cook until crêpe starts to lose opaqueness and turns spotty light golden brown on bottom, loosening crepe from side of pan with rubber spatula, 30 seconds to 1 minute. To flip the crepe, loosen edge with rubber spatula and, with fingertips on top side, slide spatula under the crepe and flip. Cook until dry on second side, about 20 seconds.
For our savory crepes, I placed a crepe back in the warm skillet, sprinkled some cheese and some thinly sliced back bacon, allowed the cheese to melt, transferred to the plate and topped with bechamel, green onions and cracked black pepper.
The bechamel you ask? Another recipe I just know and do, but, it's about 2 Tbs of butter, melted until bubbling, add 1 Tbs. flour and whisk together for a couple minutes to cook the flour (making a simple rue). Once flour has cooked, pour in a little milk at a time of a total of 1/2 cup, whisking all the while. It will get extremely thick and a bit lumpy at first, keep adding milk and whisking until desired consistency. The sauce is finished when once it has come up to a simmer again and is smooth and creamy.