Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Classic Crêpes





















Classic French crepes on Shrove Tuesday, I am sure that is appropriate. This recipe
 is dedicated to Myrtille, my son Matthew's beautiful French partner, who has entertained
 and delighted us many times with her French crepes using this recipe.

She has been forced to graciously accommodate some Australian variations to the 
original recipe by the males in our family who insist there must also be a place for
 vegemite somewhere, when eating crepes, particularly on Australia Day. 

The following is Myrtille's authentic and never fail French crepe recipe with
variations, written by her.


Classic Crêpes

               350 g flour (plain, white)
               90 g butter
               75 g sugar
               5-6 eggs
               milk
Notes:
- This recipe is only lightly sweet, and thus accommodates all kinds of toppings,
savoury included. - For more rustic-tasting and healthy crêpes, replace a third of
 the flour with buckwheat flour - for Britany crêpes, replace part or all of the milk
 with beer!

Secret procedure for a lump-free mixture without the need of a sieve…
1. Place butter in a large bowl, microwave briefly until liquid hot but not boiling
 (set aside a bit if necessary).
2. Mix in eggs and a bit of milk, then sugar.
3. Add all the flour, mix the thick mixture well. If too solid, add a touch of milk.
4. Once all the flour is well incorporated with no lump in sight, add a bit of milk,
 mix, and repeat until the mix becomes a fluid (but not too much liquid,
 otherwise it will not cook well).
5. Pour a scoop in flat pan (previously lightly oiled for the first crêpe, usually not
necessary for the following ones).
6. Once the first side detaches itself easily, make the crêpes do some acrobatics
 in the air, and voilà!

Examples of classic great toppings (most are best directly placed on the crêpe
in the pan while the second side is still cooking):

Savoury:

“Cheese & herbs”: cheddar, Italian herbs, fresh basil






















“Double decker/the Lot”: eggs (+S&P) on folded crêpe (made first, slightly cut
egg white for firmer quicker),  on top of ham + mushrooms + capsicum + fresh spinach 
+ cheese on a second crêpe











































Mixes:
“Honeyed goat”: Goat cheese (the firm type) + honey
“French-English Wars”: Ham + Jam 
“Die-hard Aussie”: Butter + Vegemite

Sweet:
“Suzette”: sugar + a touch of Cointreau or Grand Marnier, or simply squeezed
   lemon juice
“Chocolate-almond”: shaved almonds + cooking dark chocolate
“Chocolate-banana”: sliced banana + cooking dark or white chocolate
“Plombières”: ice cream (kirsch flavoured, otherwise vanilla/cherry) + candied/glacé
   fruits and just by themselves:
-  Nutella, (real) maple syrup, fruits, etc…





















Bon appetit!
This article and photos are Copyright (c) 2014 by Hope Pauline McNee, All rights Reserved.

1 comment:

  1. We had bananas and caramel sauce (made just before) on one and lemon and sugar on the other!

    ReplyDelete

(c)2014-2024 Copyright on articles and photographs by Hope Pauline McNee.
Thank you for taking the time to leave me a note - I love hearing from you.
If you would like to receive follow up comments, simply click the "Notify me" link to the right of the "Publish" and "preview" buttons.
Comments containing personal or commercial links will not be published.