Let me introduce some crepe goodness to the english-speaking world ! Considered by most non-French people as a rare delicacy, crepes are in fact a very easy and extremely cheap popular dish. The making and the eating of crepes are quite related to what practitionners of the american pancake are used to.

This is my own favorite interpretation – one of the many ways to prepare this folk dish. I tried many variations but settled on this one after much trial and error. This recipe is theoritically suited to salty fillings, but since I’m lazy I don’t prepare a separate bowl of sweet-specific mixture and eat this one with the sweet stuff just as well.

Ingredients :

  • About 500g buckwheat
  • About 1.35l whole milk
  • Six eggs.

All that makes twenty-one generous crepes – three crepes with filling feed an adult human nicely so the basic recipe should be good for seven guests. Multiply the quantities according to your guest’s apetites.

From separate ingredients to twenty-one crepes should take about thirty minutes.

Preparation : mix everything with enthusiasm. Other recipes recommand several hours of settling – mine does not : the liquid mash is ready immediately. How much simpler can it get ?

Cut a sliver of butter onto the hot pan, pour just enough mash so that by gently tilting the pan around you cover its whole surface with a thin continuous film. Then wait a few dozen seconds until the crepe unsticks naturally from the pan. Do not try to unstick it using a spatula as this will most likely result in a sticky messy heap of half-cooked crepe. Just wait until the crepe’s pan side is lightly brown and effortlessly turn it. When the second side is also lightly brown the crepe is ready. Stack it and prepare another one.

If Just In Time processes are more your thing, or if you are just an impatient glutton, set the filling on top of the crepe while the second side browns and eat your hot crepe right out of the pan.

Else you can store the crepe stack in the fridge with a foil cover to keep it from dessicating. A day or two should be the maximum : crepes are best fresh.

When you feel like eating a crepe, reheat it on the pan with grated cheese and a slice of ham on top of it, and from time to time an egg for a change – these are the basic classics. I also enjoy a mix of mushrooms and crême fraiche, but you can really fill a crepe with anything that suits your fancy – just open the fridge and try anything…

Make sure you have some lettuce on the side to compensate for all that heavy stuff. Your favorite cider shall go along nicely as cider and crepes are both native of western France.