Simple pleasures: Crèpes à la @AlexSevigny

I have never been much of a breakfast person. To be honest, I often will have a little of last night’s dinner for breakfast when I am on my own, as I am not a fan of cereals.

Today I found myself contemplating foods I actually like for breakfast and thought I would start writing them up. I will start with my favourite – crèpes. I love these things, but find that many cooks make them heavy by using milk, salt or by too much oil when they fry them (you hardly need any at all if your pan is hot enough).

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@AlexSevigny Style Low-Cal French Crèpes
I love making my version of French-style crèpes. My formula is pretty simple, using my usual unorthodox measuring vessels.

  • Put in one espresso cup of flour (usually split 50-50 between unbleached white and whole wheat) to two espresso cups of filtered water.
  • Add an egg for each espresso cup of flour, a hefty splash of vanilla and a micro-grated zest of lemon.
  • Beat mixture by hand using a large whisk until smooth since I find hand blending is far superior in most cases over machine blenders.
  • Let sit for a bit – usually about an hour.

Now you’re ready to cook your crèpes!

I use a cast-iron crèpe pan. I am partial to Le Creuset because of their awesome even heat distro, but I know it’s kind of fancy and any old crèpe pan will do – this model from Tefal is quite good and more affordable.

Heat the pan up slowly at medium heat, edging it up until very hot. Lightly oil with grapeseed oil because it has a high smoke point. You can even try this with no oil, but it depends on the quality and how well your cast-iron pan has been seasoned.

Then ladle in the batter and spread around the pan by tilting it (careful not to burn yourself). wait until the edges rise from the pan and then use a silicon spatula to flip them (unless you’re a pro and can do it by jerking the pan).

Then put them on a ceramic plate and cover with another ceramic plate until you are ready with the next one. Repeat.

Voilà – you have lovely, milk-free, low cal crèpes made with next to no oil.

You can eat them with lots of great condiments, but I am partial to honey. My favourite honey comes from @RosewoodWinery in Beamsville, Ontario …

HoneyBearRosewood Honey

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