Crepe-Off!

The first of what I'm sure will be a glorious series of competitions, pitting filling against filling in attempt to explore the wonderful world of pancakes!

Definitely bit off a little more than I could chew though last night.....the crepes were a lot bigger and more filling than I expected, leaving my roommates and I like force fed goose livers stuck to the couch in front of Disney films on the telly.

If you don't have a rounded top crepe pan, I recommend using a medium sized saute pan, with rounded edges. The key for frying crepes is to make sure the pan is WELL buttered. I prefer butter over olive oil. You can even use a paper towl to make sure that it coats all around the edges.

Batter for crepes is extremely simple. Most recipes are almost identical, with slight variations. Mine is as follows:

2 cups milk (I like to use whole)
Dash salt
Spoonful sugar
1-2 Tblspn butter
3 eggs
1 1/3 cups flour (for thinner, more delicate crepes, only use 1 cup flour, but I am no professional crepe flipper and found it easier to flip and fold with a little more flour)

Now I generally double these proportions, but if you only want about six, the above portions are fine.

Whisk the mixture together well! I used my electric mixer because I was lazy.

Heat a medium sized saute pan on high. The pan MUST be very hot. Add about a teaspoon of butter onto the pan and spread it evenly across the bottom. Scoop about 3/4 cup batter onto the pan and angle pan until the batter fills the entire base. Cook like your typical American pancake, so that it cooks more than half way through on that side. Flip by sliding a spatula (the wider the better) far under the crepe. It doesn't take long to finish cooking on the second side.

If the crepes are thicker, you can stack them right on top of eachother. If the crepes are thinner and more delicate, I generally put a paper towel inbetween each one.

ALWAYS butter the pan before each crepe. Better safe than sorry and it will guarantee that your crepe will perfectly slide off the pan everytime.

For the fillings, I chose to enter four into the running, three savory and one sweet.

To start I combined marscapone, smoked salmon, fresh chives and topped it off with a very runny fried egg. I kept thinking of those delicious Locks and Cream Cheese Egg Bagel Sandwiches that they do at Bewley's in Dublin....

The marscapone melts in a hot crepe so perfectly and just seeps into the bread of the crepe.

The second had a filling of sauteed mushrooms in butter and garlic with spring onions with wilted spinach and brie. I filled half the crepe and folded it, placing it back in the fry pan and letting the cheese melt. Super savory and delicious...there's not a lot better than old fashioned spinach and hot, melted brie.



The third I filled with caramelized red pears (in butter and brown sugar) and blue d'auvergne cheese with fresh thyme leaves. Super savory and great with port or a big red wine.

Finally, I did an oldie but a goodie-strawberries and nutella sprinkled with powdered sugar. YUM!

Can't wait to do this again, it was so fun but certainly need to invite a few more people over next time!

Bon appetit!