French crepes

Crepe With All The Trimmings

We have been celebrating Shrove Tuesday for 500 years yet considering that pancakes are such an important part of our food mythology isn’t it strange that we don’t eat out in pancake houses? The French have creperies in every part of town, but we don’t have any pancakeries.

In France it is quite common to have a whole meal based around crepes; with savoury crepes (made with buckwheat flour) and a huge selection of fillings for the main meal and sweet crepes (made with white flour);drizzled with lemon and sugar, chocolate spread or jam for dessert.

Last weekend my French cousin Caroline and her boyfriend Alize came to stay with me in London.  I made them a Sunday Roast with all the trimmings (neither had tried before and were unaware of our tradition!), and in exchange myself and my flat-mates were treated to a feast of savory and sweet crepes, French wines and a fantastic selection of cheese from Grenoble - the foot of the French Alps. 

Mmm French Cheese

Savoury crepes

70g buckwheat flour
10g White flour
1 egg
1/2 liter Milk
Water
Sunflower oil

Put the flour in a large bowl, make a hole in the middle, break in the egg and gently mix together.
Stir in the milk and a little water a bit at a time until you get a good texture. If it’s too heavy the crepes will be too thick and if it’s too watery you won’t be able to make them into crepes. Add a dash of sunflower oil at the end.

Pour a little sunflower oil into a bowl and dab a piece of kitchen paper in it.
Place a crepe pan or frying pan on a medium heat until it is very hot. Rub the pan with the oil soaked kitchen paper and pour over a small ladle of batter.
Quickly, swirl the pan, so that the batter evenly distributes in a thin layer.

Cook over a low heat until the crepe starts to brown (about two minutes). Turn over the crepe (tossing the pan is the best way as it’s quite a fun element to the cooking process but this can be pretty tricky to get right first time so be prepared to waste a few!) and start adding your fillings. Fold the crepe in half at the end before serving with a garnish of salad.

There are many options of what you can serve your crepe with. We had the following options:

Mushrooms in a garlic cream sauce

Buttery leeks

Caramalised red onions

Blue cheese

Cheddar cheese

Ham

Crème fraiche

Eggs

I was intrigued by the egg option and asked my French cousin Caroline to demonstrate, as I hadn’t tried this before. She broke the egg into the middle of the crepe and placed cheese around the outside to stop the egg from running off. She then added all the other options I wanted in my crepe (I had a bit of everything on the first one!). After a few minutes she placed a lid over the top to cook the egg through and finally folded the crepe in two before serving with a side of salad. 

Sweet Crepes

100g White Flour

1 egg

1/2 liter Milk
Water

Sunflower oil

Put the flour in a large bowl, make a hole in the middle, break in the eggs and gently mix together.
Stir in the milk and a little water a bit at a time until you get a good texture. If it’s too heavy the crepes will be too thick and if it’s too watery you won’t be able to make them into crepes.

Pour a little sunflower oil into a bowl and dab a piece of kitchen paper in it.
Place a crepe pan or frying pan on a medium heat until it is very hot. Rub the pan with the oil soaked kitchen paper and pour over a small ladle of batter.
Quickly, swirl the pan, so that the batter evenly distributes in a thin layer.

Cook over a low heat until the crepe starts to brown (about two minutes). Turn over the crepe (tossing the pan is the best way as it’s quite a fun element to the cooking process but this can be pretty tricky to get right first time so be prepared to waste a few!) and start adding your fillings. Fold the crepe in half at the end before serving.

We had the following filling options:

Nutella

Sugar

Lemon

Selection of jams

Caroline what impressed with my favourite filling: Nutella, lemon and a sprinkle of sugar (to add a crunch). She had never tried lemon with Nutella before but loved it and has decided to take this delicacy (?) back with her to France.

Bon Appetit!