In the family where I babysit, Tuesday night is crêpe night, without exception. On other nights, the girls have to eat one thing “that has grown” but on Tuesdays, Nutella replaces vegetables. My first day nannying happened to be a Tuesday, so I was very quickly thrust into the world of crêpe making, which resulting in one crêpe being launched behind the stove. But after 8 months and approximately 700 crêpes, I now feel pretty confident in my crêpe making abilities. I think that French women are born with the crêpe recipe memorized, or perhaps they learn it in preschool, but whatever the case, there seems to be a fairy generic recipe, or more aptly, a serious of ratios, that they all know. I present the recipe a I have been learned it, reading it each week from the fridge where one of the girls wrote it in loopy French cursive with a drawing of me surrounded by piles of crêpes, one of which is flying through the air towards the stove. This is the recipe broken down to the simplest ratio as decided by the egg. To give you an idea, when I make it for myself and the girls I multiply it by 4, thus 500 grams flour, which is enough to feed me and three kids for dinner, dessert, and then them again for breakfast the next day.
Mix (which for me means supervise the total war that breaks out among 3 sisters who all feel that life will end if they don’t get to add the eggs):
125 grams flour ~ 1 egg~ dash salt~ 1/4 TBS oil (not olive — vegetable or sunflower)
Add slowly: 1/4 liter milk, stirring till there are no clumps (For extra light and tasty crêpes, substitute beer for part of the milk.)
Heat a crêpe skillet over medium/ medium high heat. Wipe with an oiled paper towel and use a ladle to pour batter in pan, turning it so the whole pan is evenly coated with a thin layer of batter. Let cook until sides pull away slightly then loosen edges with a knife. Use a spatula, or be brave and toss the crêpe to cook the other side. Wipe again with a little oil in between each, unless your crêpe skillet is really good and nonstick.
I usually make a pile to spread dessert stuff on then at the end make the savory crêpes, which you want to actually assemble over the heat to melt the cheese. Here are some of my favorite crêpe combos:
-The classic: ham and emmenthal (or swiss) cheese
-Soft goat cheese and sundried tomato
-Soft goat cheese with honey and walnuts
-Nutella with bananas and almonds
-Cane sugar with lemon juice
Bon appétit!
NOTE: When I made these at home over Christmas, I found that due to the different gluten content in American flour, I needed more milk to make the batter thin enough.
2000 Streets 