Every year, boyfriend and I go on a vacation overseas. We’ve been trading off on who chooses the destination.
Last year I chose Galapagos, and let’s just say, I made a fabulous choice. This year, boyfriend chooses. I’ve been dropping (not so) subtle hints that I would LOVE TO GO TO FRANCE.
Top five reasons:
Imagine biking through the countryside, stopping to try the most delicious wines and snacks along the way. Obviously, I have a basket on my bike in case we want to stop at a market and pick up a baguette. We’d sit at a cafe, sipping coffee and sharing a crepe.
You can imagine it right? Good, so next time you see boyfriend maybe you remind him of this conversation.
Crepes are so quintessentially French, yet I’ve never made them. I’ve always assumed these would be tricky or hard to flip and just sort of brushed them off as a dish I couldn’t master.
Glad I let that shit go.
I love Vietnamese crepes, so I should have assumed these would be just as easy. In fact, they are even simpler.
A French crepe is like a fast cooking pancake you can’t mess up.
You can make them sweet or savory (see note in the recipe below). I prefer a savory crepe and so I made French Crepes with Honey Onions, Brie and Spinach. Throw an egg in it and you’ve got a fabulous breakfast.
You can’t fail with a honey/brie combo. Throw some spinach in for color and nutrition. Wrap it in a warm soft crepe so the cheese gets melty and the spinach starts to wilt.
I should mention, I topped this with Pinch of Yums’ Roasted Red Pepper Sauce. I’ve made this about 100 times and it tastes EXACTLY like this sauce they serve at a French restaurant in town.
So I did it too. I love the crunch of almonds in this sauce. I added extra garlic and lemon for even more flavor.
I was shocked to discover that these were just as delicious the next day. Leftovers can get weird but there was zero weird factor here. Just pop them in the microwave for a minute to transport yourself to France.
French Crepes with Honey Onions, Brie and Spinach
(start making 40 minutes before you want French Crepes with Honey Onions, Brie and Spinach)
* If you are making sweet crepes, you’ll use this same recipe, just increase your sugar in the batter to 3 Tbsp.
Start by blending all your crepe ingredients together. You can do this by hand blender (I did) or by an actual blender. The benefit of this method is that you eliminate all clumps. Just be sure to mix until just blended, don’t leave the blender running for more than 10 seconds.
You can also do this by hand, just make sure you mix half the liquid into the flour first, then add the rest to ensure all clumps are gone.
Let batter rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Thinly slice your onions and get them sauteeing in 1 Tbsp of olive oil on the stovetop over medium heat. Stir often. You’re not looking for them to brown, rather get soft. After 18 minutes, add your honey. Stir for a couple of minutes then remove from heat.
Add all roasted red pepper sauce ingredients to a food processor. Blend just a few times if you like a chunkier sauce, blend longer if you want something smooth.
Get a non-stick skillet ready for your crepes. If using a 10-inch skillet, you’ll use 1/4 cup for each crepe. Mine was 9 inches, so I used just under 1/4 cup. If yours is 11 or 12, just increase your cup size slightly.
Heat the skillet over medium-high heat. Take a stick of butter, or a pad of butter on a paper towel and run it around your pan. We just want a thin layer of butter. Pour your batter over your pan and swirl it so the batter crawls up the sides of the pan by about an inch.
Let cook for 40-45 seconds (set a timer). Once the edges start to brown, flip with a spatula and let cook for 15 more seconds on the other side. Remove, set aside on a plate, and keep going! You’ll get about 10 crepes in total.
When you’re ready to fill, take some of your honey onions, and spread them in the upper right quadrant of your crepe (between 12 and 3 o’clock). Top with a few leaves of spinach and slices of brie. Fold the bottom half of the crepe over the top and then the left side across the right.
If you’d like these warmed up, heat them briefly on your skillet, covered, for about 1-2 minutes. The cheese will get melty and the spinach will wilt.
Top with roasted red pepper sauce, go to town.
Danielle
