CLASSIC CREPES.  

 with Suzanne Dunaway

(MORE RECIPES FROM SUZANNE.…Local, national, international….)

The crêpe is the king of tortillas. I manage to eat them right out of the pan with a little butter and salt, or even without the butter and salt.  In Collioure, where went for three glorious summers to live on two beaches with the ancient Chateau out our windows and the smell of the sea and the Roussillon wafting in and where we now live, a jolly Frenchman and his wife from Marseille set up their Grand Marnier crêpe stand on the boardwalk.

Each night after dinner when we took our walks along the sea, we stopped for a crêpe with brown sugar, chocolate or plain sugar and Grand Marnier.  “Arroser bien!” cried Monsieur Crepe Master, thrusting an oversized bottle of Grand Marnier at us while his wife, pouring sweat, turned another crêpe in its bubbling butter on huge round iron hotplates.

I knew that we were the reason (four of us ate one crêpe per night for a month at not a few francs per head) Monsieur and Madame retired to their ocean view condo in, say, Monaco, and we shall now have to make our own. And so we can.

Crêpes are also made in France on Candelmas, (see PO Life article) known in America also as Groundhog day! Originally a pagan holiday of worshipping the god, Pan, it lost its pagan theme to become a religious celebration 40 days after Christmas and celebrated by lighting candles, hence the name. What you do with the candles is your choice,

I suppose that if the groundhog could frolic Pan-like with a mate, light a candle and serve him/her crêpes, it would be a perfect day.

• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 3 eggs, beaten well
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• Dash of Cognac

Sift the flour, sugar and salt.  Beat the eggs and milk and stir into the flour until smooth.  Add the melted butter and Cognac and let sit for an hour at room temperature.

In a well-seasoned 10″ skillet, melt a teaspoon of butter and using a soup ladle, pour about half a cup of crêpe batter into thehot pan and rotate the skillet to cover the bottom with a thin layer of batter.

Let cook for 30 seconds or so, watching the edges of the pancake.  When the edges look curly and browned, turn the crêpe and cook on the other side for 30 seconds.  Stack the crêpes on a heated plate until use, or serve each one as it is ready, spreading with caramel, melted bitter chocolate ganache or brown sugar, folding each in half, then in half again to form a quarter circle.

CARAMEL

Melt 1 cup sugar over a medium to low fire.  When the sugar is golden brown, add 1/2 cup heavy cream slowly down the side of the pan, stirring constantly to make the caramel.  You may need a bit more cream, depending on the consistency you want.  The cream must be added slowly as it cools the sugar and hardens it quickly, so you must give it time to warm and blend with the sugar to make a sauce.  This is also delicious over ice cream.