Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Basic Crêpe Recipe

Here the crêpes are filled with cottage or ricotta cheese and served with fresh strawberries, sweetened strawberry sauce and Chantilly Cream.
~*~*~*~*~

The recipe I usually use for crêpes is based on Julia Child's recipe; I prefer to make the batter a couple of hours ahead of making the crêpes but if you are in a time pinch, even 1/2 hour of resting will help.

Crêpes Ordinaire

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:
1. The batter:

You can whisk the batter ingredients by hand, but it is much quicker to mix in an electric blender; whiz the liquids and eggs in the blender container, then gradually add the flour and allow to blend for about 30 to 60 seconds. Scrape blender container if necessary so all flour is combined.

Set aside at room temperature for one hour, or refrigerate up to 24 hours until you are ready to make the crêpes.

2. To cook the crêpes:

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.

Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side.

Julia taught us that the first side to cook is considered the "public" side ~ it is the more attractive presentation side, so you may want to keep that in mind when you serve your crêpes.

For an excellent tutorial and more information about crêpes you can refer to a number of Julia's cookbooks for highly detailed instructions ~ for example page 531, in "From Julia Child's Kitchen", etc.





Click HERE to return to Once Upon a Plate.