CREPES! A work in progress.

My classmate, MR, received a shiny steel crepe pan from his mama, and recently we experimented with crepe fillings and recipes. Definitely beats making them in a nonstick pan (though seasoning the pan makes for a bit more work). If you have butter/milk/eggs/flour, you can make this at home.



Tried a couple different fillings for this: sauerkraut, curried cauliflower, & confetti squash w/ pinenuts. Dove into 5 or 6 homemade jams courtesy of MS; nutella; pumpkin custard. Lovely.

We'll go with MR's recipe, lifted from Bon Appetit verbatim ("Bacon & Squash Crepes"), since it was tastier (my batch included a wee teaspoon of whiskey that had raisins soaking in it for 3 days, fewer eggs, and had it sit for 2 hours - it was good, but not as light as his). As MS remarked, "Why have pancakes when you can have crepes?"

Ingredients:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
3 large eggs
1 cup (or more) whole milk, divided
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups all purpose flour
Melted butter (for cooking crepes)

Directions:
Cook 1/4 cup butter in small skillet over medium heat until butter browns, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes; cool slightly. Blend eggs, 1 cup milk, 3/4 cup water, and salt in blender. With machine running, add flour 1/2 cup at a time, blending until smooth after each addition and stopping to scrape down sides of blender as needed. Blend in browned butter. Blend in more milk by tablespoonfuls to thin to consistency of thick cream if necessary. Let batter rest at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour. Reblend 5 seconds before using. N.B. When making sweet crepes, the secret ingredient is a few drops of orange blossom essence, or orange zest/juice. Thanks to AM for that. And maybe 1-2 T sugar in the batter.

Heat 10-inch-diameter nonstick skillet with 8-inch-diameter bottom over medium-high heat. Brush with melted butter. Add scant 1/4 cup batter, shaking and rotating skillet so batter covers bottom. Cook until crepe is brown on bottom, 30 to 40 seconds. Run heatproof rubber spatula around edge and turn crepe over. Cook until brown in spots on bottom, 30 to 40 seconds. Turn crepe out onto paper towel. Repeat with remaining batter to make 16 crepes, brushing pan with butter each time and stacking crepes between paper towels. Can be made 1 day ahead. Wrap crepe stack in foil and refrigerate.