Sweet and Savory French Crepes…..fa la la la…Santa Claus is coming to eat them all…..lol.. :)

Yummy Yummy Yummy! That’s all I can say…rest you have to try for yourself and tell me 🙂 .
Loads of season’s wishes to everybody out there,my dear friends and family. Have a great holiday and make merry. This post marks my festivities. Merry Christmas everybody!

Well this post is special to me. It’s a saga in itself…..with sweet crepes and savory crepes and the discovery & re-discovery of ricotta cheese in an amazingly new way! First time, I had tasted the crepes, when I was on a vacation in Montreal, Canada. Canadian cuisine is so colored with French cuisine. You find stalls serving the crepes, on the road side as well. When I lived in Texas, there was this small hole in the wall kind of a cafe…served delicious crepes.Then when I was in Seattle last year, got to taste these gorgeous again. I have always fancied the savory crepes over sweet ones.

I made both the varieties though. Sweet ones filled with Ricotta cream and strawberries. Savory ones filled with mushroom spinach and ricotta. Savory one was for me…bold and beautiful 😉 . You must be wondering about Ricotta cream..that’s a story. My kids wanted sweet crepes and my fridge had no whipped cream. An idea crossed my mind….mixed the ricotta cheese with some milk, vanilla essence and sugar…blitz it and had a more nutritious cream in hand and nobody guessed it..amazing…right ? 🙂

The savory one was my favorite only… A bold and beautiful combo can be handled well by someone experienced only.. Right? 🙂

This is a recipe from Alton Brown Collection, yes..the science food guy on Food Network. Without more blabbering, note the recipe and enjoy. Make a big batch and refrigerate or freeze.

Yields : 10-20 crepes depending upon the size.

Ingredients :

2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons melted butter
Butter or butter spray, for coating the pan

Directions :

In a blender, combine all of the ingredients and pulse for 10 seconds. Place the crepe batter in the refrigerator for 1 hour. This allows the bubbles to subside so the crepes will be less likely to tear during cooking. The batter will keep for up to 48 hours.
*This is what Mr. brown says, but I didn’t have the patience or time for refrigerating it and mine were fine..didn’t break.

Heat a small non-stick pan. Add butter or spray the butter spray to coat. Pour either 2 tbsp or 1/4 cup of batter into the center of the pan and swirl to spread evenly. Cook for 30 seconds and flip.

Cook for another 10 seconds and remove to the cutting board. Lay them out flat so they can cool. Continue until all batter is gone. After they have cooled you can stack them and store in sealable plastic bags in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for up to two months. When using frozen crepes, thaw on a rack before gently peeling apart.

Ricotta Cream with Strawberries Stuffing :
You will need 1/4 cup Ricotta cheese, 1 tbsp milk, 1/8 tsp of vanilla essence, 2 tbsp sugar or more if you like super sweet. Blitz everything together in blender for 30 seconds or till it looks creamy. Cut up some fresh strawberries. Layer the ricotta cream and strawberries in the middle of the crepe. Roll it up and eat :).

Spinach Ricotta and Mushroom Stuffing :
Take 4-5 button mushrooms, 2-3 tbsp of thawed or fresh spinach and 1 tbsp ricotta. Heat 1 tsp oil in pan, add 1/4 tsp each of thyme and rosemary. Add mushrooms and spinach and cook till all the water is evaporated. Add black pepper and salt and ricotta and sauté for few seconds till ricotta is all mixed well. It is ready to be rolled inside a crepe. Simply delicious! As usual, I topped mine with some hot sauce for that extra kick and fire dance in my mouth with that ginger tea. Crazy me 🙂 .

Note : These crepes can be eaten as is without stuffing too. Here is how :

*Savory Variation Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs, spinach or sun-dried tomatoes to the egg mixture.

*Sweet Variation Add 21/2 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of your favorite liqueur to the egg mixture.