Lazy Weekend Breakfast

Can you think of a dish that can be used as breakfast, lunch or dinner and be either sweet or savory?  It sounds too good to be true but it’s none other than crêpes.

Crêpes are a very thin pancake that originates from Brittany, a region in France, where they are traditionally served with cider.  They are considered as a national dish and are very prominent in the French cuisine.  They are served on Candlemas, which was originally Virgin Mary’s Blessing Days but then came to be known as ‘avec Crêpe Day, symbolizing the tradition of offering crêpes.  It is thought that if you catch a crêpe in the frying pan after flipping it in the air with your left hand, while your right hand has a gold coin, then you will be rich the following year.

If you ever get a chance to stroll down the streets of France, you will most likely run into a crêperie, a stand that sells crêpes right on the streets.

Crêpes’ cousin can be seen in different cultures such as the Spanish tortilla, African injera, Indian dosa, the Mexican sope or the Norwegian pannekake.

Crêpes (by Beth Hensperger)

3 eggs
1 cup milk
? cup water
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt

Mix all the ingredients together by slowly adding the dry to the liquid and making sure there are no lumps.  Let the batter sit for an hour or overnight.  This allows the starches to mix properly.

In a frying pan/skillet, spray with cooking spray and put on medium heat.  Depending upon how big your pan is, you want to pour just enough batter in to coat the pan.  I used about 1/4 cup and swirled the batter around so the bottom of the pan was covered in batter.  Cook the first side for 1-2 min and flip to cook the other side for 30 sec.  Place in a plate and put a paper towel on top to keep it warm.  You can stalk them on top of each other as they come out, they won’t stick.

After making all the crêpes, you can fill them with whatever fillings your heart desires.  It can be savory or sweet.  Simply lay the crêpe flat on your plate, lay the filling in the middle and bring the sides to the middle.

For breakfast this past weekend, I had a few fillings:

-Scrambeled eggs that had onions, cherry tomatoes, salt, pepper, paprika, and sharp cheddar.

-Sliced and peeled apples sautéed in butter and cinnamon.

-Equal parts of sour cream and cream cheese mixed with strawberry preserves.  Then layered on some fresh strawberries and banana.  Topped with local syrup.

Be creative with the fillings, you can do just about anything.  You can easily use whatever you’ve got sitting in the fridge.  I know many people enjoy it with Nutella.