Brown Butter Crepes

Crepes.  Enough said right?  But I'll say just a bit more.

Crepes are versatile little suckas.  They can be dainty and vegetarian, hearty and meaty and of course sweet and dessert like.  Though my sister swears my brother in law will eat anything, I feel almost a compulsion to ensure that there's something for everyone.  Crepes make this easy.

This version of crepes calls for browning the butter before adding it.  It's amazing how just toasting or browning ingredients adds a level of flavor.    Then you simply add all of the ingredients to the blender, blend and refrigerate for bit-the batter is that simple. And while making the crepes themselves seems scary, I've learned it's all about confidently pouring the batter and swirling.  If you hesitate, you get something like this.  Not so great.

But if you just pour the batter quickly so that you can start moving the pan around, it just works. Pas de problem. They also make those crepe machines that you dip right into batter--we used those in high school french class and they made crepes as easy as toast.  I've really been limiting the "one use" appliances so nonstick pan it is.  It's still not that hard.

Once you have all of the crepes made, you can refrigerate or use immediately and the filling is only limited by your refrigerator contents.  I opted for ham and swiss in a nod to the croque monsieur for the carnivores, ham, swiss and mushrooms for the omnivores and mushroom and swiss for, well, me. Dinner in 20 minutes is about as easy as it gets.

Brown Butter Crepes

Crepe Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup flour
Butter, for coating the pan

Filling Ingredients

deli ham sliced paper thin

shredded baby swiss

mushrooms

Directions

• In a small saucepan, heat butter over medium high heat until the butter is brown but not burnt--about 2-4 minutes depending upon pan used. 
• In a blender, combine all of the ingredients and pulse for 10 seconds. Place the crepe batter in the refrigerator for 1 hour. This allows the bubbles to subside so the crepes will be less likely to tear during cooking. The batter will keep for up to 48 hours.
• Heat a small non-stick pan. Add butter to coat. Pour 1 ounce of batter into the center of the pan and swirl to spread evenly. Cook for 30 seconds and flip. Cook for another 10 seconds and remove to the cutting board. Lay them out flat so they can cool. Continue until all batter is gone.

For filling

• Preheat oven to 300
• Sautee vegetable/s with garlic until tender
• shred cheese
• Lay crepe out flat, fill half of crepe with fillings of choice
• Fold crepe in half and then half again and place in large casserole dish and make remaining crepes
• Cover casserole with aluminum foil and bake for 15-20 mins or long enough to melt cheese.