Category: breakfast Dishes

The Magician’s Crepes

About three months after my mother died, my siblings and I met at the “home place” to sort the contents for an estate sale. In the kitchen and back room (where the dining table was) we found things that I had never seen. My mother liked to try new cooking equipment she saw on TV or featured in stores. There were gadgets for chopping vegetables, juicing fruits and specialized electric devices for cooking things like toasted sandwiches. I think that Mom was making paninis before I had even heard of them.

One of the items that I found there was a “Crepe Magician,” which I stored next to my desk for over sixteen years without opening the box. The flap of the carton is worn, which proved that Mom had used the pan. Finally one day I carefully pulled back the flap and removed the pan, a covered plastic plate for storing finished crepes and a little recipe book. Molded into the bottom of the pan are the words: “Made in U.S.A.”

The fact that I would be using a genuine American-made pan encouraged me, but the idea of flipping crepes as Julia Child did on her TV program was intimidating. I have flipped many things out of frying pans in my life. Fish fillets, hamburgers and hot dogs seem to develop a life of their own when I try to turn them over. I have dribbled pancakes over skillets at home and over campfires, and I once flipped a grilled cheese sandwich so skillfully that it landed about three feet from the range on the floor.

However, the instructions for cooking crepes in the little recipe book told me that I did not need to flip the crepe, which probably explains why it is called the Crepe Magician. I got out our electric mixer (1960’s vintage), dumped the ingredients into a pouring cup, beat everything together until it looked smooth and put the cup in the fridge for an hour as the recipe instructs.

The first couple of crepes did not look very inviting, but I learned to loosen the edges of the crepe with a small wooden spoon and soon was dropping rather dark crepes onto the plastic plate like a pro.

Once I had the heat adjusted properly, I made a dozen beautiful crepes in just a few minutes, and we filled them with a recipe from the little cookbook that came with the pan. The recipe called for leftover turkey, mushrooms and spinach rolled in the crepes and covered with a creamy Parmesan cheese sauce. They were delicious.

Jerri and I agreed that my first crepes were a success, so we had one more reason to bless my mother’s memory. Crepes are perfect for using up leftovers, they make meals high in flavor but low in carbs and calories and you can use them for desserts that look elegant and taste wonderful.

Here is the recipe from the Crepe Magician.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
4 large eggs
3 T butter

PROCEDURE:

Blend the flour and salt in a one quart pouring cup or measuring bowl. Melt the butter in a small bowl and allow it to cool slightly while you combine the liquid and dry ingredients. Add the eggs and half of the milk and beat with a rotary beater until the mixture is smooth. Beat in the rest of the milk and the butter. The batter should flow in a thin stream. If necessary, add a little more milk.

Cover the cup or bowl and let the batter rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Put a non-stick pan over medium heat and very, very lightly grease it. When the pan is hot, pour just enough batter into the pan to make a very thin seven-inch cake. If you pour in too much batter, you can pour it back into the cup.

If the temperature is set correctly, the edges of the crepe should turn slightly brown and the top should be dry in thirty to forty seconds. Loosen the edge with a wooden spoon and turn the crepe upside down on a plate. You will be looking at the public side of the crepe. Adjust the temperature of the burner if the crepe doesn’t look quite right and repeat until you have used all the batter.

Crepes are usually served by putting some kind of filling on the “private” side of the crepe and rolling it up like an enchilada. You can fill crepes with just about anything from scrambled eggs to fresh fruit.

Here are two photos showing how to serve crepes with fresh blueberries and whipped cream. I will post a few recipes for other fillings and sauces from time to time.

NOTES: First a note on the pronunciation of “crepe.” Having been introduced to crepes in Europe many years ago and watching Julia Child make them on “The French Chef,” I have always used the French pronunciation. The French say “crepe” to rhyme with “crept” without the “t.” In the United States and other countries, some people pronounce the word to rhyme with “drape” while others use the French pronunciation. It’s your choice.

Second, you don’t need a special crepe pan. A small non-stick frying pan or skillet will work, but a pan like our Crepe Magician makes it really easy to make nice round even crepes. You can spend a lot of money if you want, but you can also find a non-stick crepe pan like ours for less than $20.

And third, flipping a crepe just produces a few brown spots on the “private” side of it. Nobody but the cook sees the private side, so why worry about how it looks? Crepes are rolled up or folded before you serve them so your guests will see only that beautiful public side. You don’t have to flip them if they are cooked through when you tip them out of the pan. That’s why you want the tops to be dry. A crepe with a dry topside is done.

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

Bananas were a special treat for us kids when I was growing up, so special that I tried to save a small banana that was the hot lunch dessert one day. I tucked it into my jeans pocket to take it home. After lunch I joined a bunch of guys in a softball game. As fate would have it, a line drive hit the banana pocket. I learned two important things from this event: First, bananas are pretty effective softball shock absorbers and second, removing a smashed banana from a pocket is a challenge.

I excused myself from the game and went to the boys’ bathroom where I discovered that I would have to take off my jeans, turn the pocket inside out and wash the offending mush away. The warning bell for afternoon classes rang while I was doing this, so about twenty guys came into the room to find me in my shorts scrubbing my pants in the lavatory.

They were not as amused as the girls in my class when I walked in with a big wet spot on the front of my jeans. Mrs. Coogan was very nice and did not quiz me about the matter, though she did look startled as I carefully walked to my desk near the front of the classroom.

And then I had to ride the bus home, accompanied by laughter and the odor of ripe bananas. My mother sympathized philosophically, “I’m sorry, but I hope you learned your lesson.” I did. I have never put a banana in a pocket again.

In spite of this embarrassing episode, I still thought well of bananas because we had them only once in a while. They were almost always available at the Co-op or A & P but they were expensive. When young people look at old supermarket advertisements and see bananas for fifteen cents a pound, they may wish bananas were that cheap today.

Adjusted for inflation, however, bananas actually cost less now than they did when I was a kid. Fifteen cents in 1950 is the same as $1.50 today, so sixty cents a pound is a real bargain. Mom bought bananas only when they were on sale for ten or twelve cents a pound. Every once in a while she would use a couple of bananas to make banana pancakes. They were her regular thin pancakes with slices of bananas baked into them, but we thought that they were extra good.

I like to use some whole wheat flour in my recipe. The whole wheat gives the pancakes a slightly nutty flavor that I think makes them taste even better. And just think, you can buy the bananas for less than half the price Mom paid!

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
1 T baking powder
2 T sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups milk (approximately)
2 T vegetable oil plus more for frying the cakes
2 medium bananas

PROCEDURE:

Use a fork to mix the flours, salt, baking powder and sugar together in a bowl. Stir in the milk, eggs and oil and mix until you have a batter. Don’t worry about a few small lumps. If the batter is too thick to pour, add a little more milk. If it is too thin, add a little more flour.

Heat a skillet or griddle over moderate heat. Spread a half teaspoon of oil on the surface of the pan. When a drop of water sizzles as it hits the surface, the pan is ready.

Pour or ladle a fourth or third of a cup of batter onto the pan and spread it to a five to eight-inch circle.Banana Pancake cooking Cut four to six thin rounds of banana on top of the batter. Cook each cake until bubbles start forming in the center and the edges are dry. Turn and brown it for a minute or two on the other side.

Continue with the rest of the batter, greasing the pan very lightly after each cake is done if necessary, until you have enough pancakes for everyone. Leftover cakes can be warmed next day in the microwave.

Serve with maple syrup, butter and bacon or sausage for a real Wisconsin breakfast.

NOTES: You can make oatmeal banana pancakes the same way, and they are delicious. I discovered this at the cabin when we didn’t have any whole wheat flour. We now enjoy them for breakfast occasionally at home as well. Just use the recipe for Easy Oatmeal Pancakes and slice the bananas on the cakes.