Crêpes for Every Meal

Have you ever done this? It’s hot-hot-HOT here, and crêpes seem like the perfect light meal. (Or maybe I am lying to myself. Whatever.) I stayed up late on Friday night making enough crêpes to get through the weekend. We had crêpes for breakfast, crêpes for lunch, crêpes for dinner, and crêpes for dessert.

What am I saying? There are never enough crêpes to make it through the weekend. But we did get by.

Melted chocolate and sliced banana crêpes for breakfast:

Caprese crêpes with fresh mozzarella, fresh fat tomatoes, and a balsamic vinegar reduction for lunch. I reduced the balsamic vinegar on the stove myself, burning one batch quite spectacularly, but I just learned that Trader Joe’s sells a product called  Balsamic Glaze for $2.99 that would have saved the house being smelly for an entire day.

For dinner, sautéed mushrooms with thyme and white wine, thickened with a splash of cream. Spread the crêpes with ricotta or burrata and add mushrooms:

For dessert, Richard’s favorite, crêpes Suzette. You could probably do this by hand if you wanted to, but I use a food processor. Mix the zest of an orange with 4 Tbsp of sugar, then add half a stick of butter and the juice of the orange. When it comes together (the orange juice may not totally incorporate, and that’s okay), add it to a large sauté pan. Heat till your orange butter is melted and slightly thickened to make a sauce. Then add four crêpes one by one, saturating them with the sauce and folding them into triangles. Forks are useful in this endeavor, unless you like burning your hands off.

Pour in about a quarter cup of Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur. You can do more if you like. Then set it on fire with a fireplace match or lighter. Or don’t! Either way it’s hard to beat. Serve with a scoop of ice cream, and if you are retro like me, some mandarin orange segments.