CREPES

The first time I ever had a crepe was not on the streets of Paris, served by a man in a beret, flipping them on a gleaming cast iron plate.  My first crepe was experienced in the perhaps unlikely setting of my mum’s kitchen in Minnesota. It was the 70’s and she made them for dinner party she was hosting. While growing up my mum was always hosting fabulous dinners with very adventurous and delicious food. Crepes were one of her signature dishes.

As I remember, she did them two ways: one savory, filled with a creamy chicken and crunchy almond concoction, and one sweet, dark chocolate in  colour and filled with a green creme de menthe flavored filling. Both were delicious and elegant.

In those days I loved to do the dishes during her parties so I could hang out in the kitchen, separated from the dining room by only a swinging door, and listen to  the raving comments from her guests. I also got to eat any leftovers! I remember her perfecting her crepes before the diners arrived, and the importance she placed on the consistency of the batter and the fact that the first one was always a dud, only to be eaten by kitchen scavengers like me. I would eat them dusted with cinnamon sugar.

It wasnt until many years later that I did, in fact, have my first French crepe on a side street in Paris, served from an unassuming hole in the wall. It was  simply spread with jam and a little powdered sugar. It was just as tasty as hers but, perhaps, not as elegant.

Crepes are simply a thin pancake and are called such in the UK where they are a must have on Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday), and are most likely spritzed with lemon juice and  sprinkled with sugar. I have made the following recipe healthy and tasty enough so we can have them for breakfast. My kids love them with all fruit jam or dark chocolate drizzled over, and either rolled tight like a cigar or simply folded in a triangle. I make mine with either unsweetened almond or coconut milk and a wholewheat sprouted flour for an extra nutrition rich punch.