Hello my fellow food lovers,
I have yet to meet any person on this entire earth who doesn't love crepes. Whether you're stuffing your crepes with salty savory yumness or getting your sweet tooth fix, crepes allow for endless possibilities. Which is why I love them.
But I feel like a lot of people are scared to make them. Is it 'cause people believe you need french blood running through your veins in order to make a decent crepe? Or that only a french restaurant can make it right? Who knows what it is, but I'm here to get you to get over your fear of making crepes! They are so so simple.
All it takes is:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Sort-of-maybe-kind-of important: when looking at these recipes make sure to look at the "Yield"! Because this recipe yields four crepes, and I was cooking for two hungry people, I doubled the recipe.
I really liked how this recipe turned out: the crepes were thick, a bit sweet, and a little spongy. My mom makes her crepes much thinner and less sweet, but you really can't go wrong as long as you use the basic ingredients above.
Now to the stove. I started with a medium heat, but realized that a high heat was much more successful in keeping the crepe in one piece when I flipped. For some crazy chemical reason that I can't even begin to explain, the higher heat coagulated the crepe better...basically the liquid stops being a messy goo and turns into an edible mass to hold and cherish in your hand. So! Turn stove to high heat and spray pam, butter, or whatever you like to use on the pan (preferably a non-stick pan).
Now, using a cup (in my case a 1/4 measuring cup which I found to be the perfect amount for my needs), dip in batter and pour over your hot pan.
Important! Move the pan in a circle slow enough so that the batter covers the entire bottom of the pan (and thins out evenly) but not too fast as to leave the batter dripping around the pan...unless you want really cute mini crepes the size of your thumbnail. And don't freak out if it's not perfectly circular! It will still be delicious (remember, presentation only counts for 1/3 in the judging of Top Chef).
Now comes the creative part. You literally can put ANYTHING in this crepe. Anything at all. Sweet or savory. I decided to do both. Now, flip your crepe over to cook the other side (the timing of this should be determined based on how well the crepe is staying together and how brown it's getting, also how toasty you like your crepe.) For my savory crepe, I went with my left over asparagus, which I steamed for 7 minutes (with lemon and truffle oil to flavor a bit) over boiling water and then chopped into one-inch pieces.
I want to interject really quickly here to say that timing for cooking is not absolute. It's probably my biggest frustration with following recipes. If you're constantly checking the exact time for everything you'll drive yourself into an OCD frenzy and forget all about taste. So my advice is this: get a sense for time, how long things cook in general--5, 15, 30, 45 minutes? General increments. But more importantly get to know the timing that works best for your palette. Get to know what YOU like. Yes the professionals and the Food Network have been around the block, but only YOU are the professional of your own taste buds. So check your dishes constantly and consistently until you get it to where you like it.
Now, back to crepes! Ok so easiest recipe ever. I had my asparagus ready to go. I then shredded two kinds of cheese: a goat chevre (which I've already exclaimed my love for) and manchego.
Manchego. An AWESOME sheep cheese. It's a Spanish cheese that is fairly hard in texture, very dry, but incredibly flavorful. And apparently it's such an ancient cheese that Cervantes wrote about it in Don Quijote. So yeah, it's been around. It's great for shredding as the hard texture makes it easy. Again, you can find it at stores like King Soopers (but not Safeway last time I checked, unfortunately).
So I've flipped my crepe. Now all I do is sprinkle some asparagus, both cheeses and then fold it like an envelope. Flip the little package and throw it on a plate in the oven to keep warm until you're done cooking all the crepes (the oven is set to "warm" or a low 200-level heat).
And Bon appetite!
Other savory crepe ideas:
-Breakfast!! -- Eggs, hash browns, salsa, cheese
-Ham and cheese
-Chicken, spinach, cheese
-Mix all the cheeses in your fridge
...Can you really go wrong?
For sweet crepes, I love using jam. Or awesome melted dark chocolate from Ghiradelli...but only when you're at home and you have an awesome mom who picks up things like that.
For now, jam will do. I used a strawberry rhubarb jam that was great--not too sweet for my taste buds. (The jam happened to be homemade from Lucille's--an incredibly delicious cajun restaurant in Denver that also has great po' boys, beignets, and bloody mary's...if you're ever around the southern, Denver University, part of Denver you HAVE to stop by before 2 pm when they close).
Other great sweet crepe ideas:
-Berries and whip cream (blackberries, boysenberries, huckleberries?)
-Banana and nutella
-Raspberry jam and chocolate
-Strawberries, bananas and whip cream
...And I could go on...
And there you have it! The French definitely knew what they were doing...and somehow stay thin after eating all of them...but that's for an exercise specialist to discuss. Remember, butter never hurt anyone...in moderate amounts.
Love & Doughnuts,
The Mrakulous Kitchen
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