Ham Egg & Cheese Savory Crepe

What can I say about this other than the fact that I love crepes - savory or sweet - they are delectable. The crepe batter recipe below is classic and fantastic. I used some Buckwheat flour in it as I like the nutty flavor and color it imparts on the dish. But if you don’t have buckwheat flour, simply substitute with all purpose flour. You can also use this recipe for sweet crepes, add a bit more sugar or don’t - it will still be good. Hope you enjoy it!

Ham Egg & Cheese Savory Crepe

Serves: 4 (Makes four large crepes)

Crepe Batter:

100 grams All Purpose Flour

25 grams Buckwheat Flour

Pinch Sugar

Pinch Salt

2 Eggs

250 Milk

20 grams Brown Butter (how to make:below)

20 milliliters Canola Oil or Clarified Butter, for cooking crepes

Crepe Filling:

80 grams Gruyere Cheese, grated

8 slices Country Ham

4 Whole Eggs

Salt & Pepper, to taste

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To Make Brown Butter: Put butter in a small saute pan. Put heat to medium-high and watch butter melt. First it will start to look frothy, then slowly the froth will subside. At this point, keep swirling the butter in the pan and you will slowly see it taking a brown hue. You will see tiny little brown bits. Take it of the heat and keep swirling. Once it looks fully brown, pour it into a small bowl. If you keep it in the pan it will continue to cook and the little bits will go from brown to black. Put the bowl aside. It will need to be room temperature when introduced to the batter.

To Make the Crepe Batter: Put the flours, salt and sugar in a bowl. Mix it up a bit and form a well in the bowl. Add the eggs to the middle of the bowl. Whisk ingredients and keep whisking while slowly adding the milk. Once fully mixed and lump free, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

After an hour, take the batter out of the fridge, pour in the brown butter, and whisk. At this point check the consistency of the batter. You will want it to be the consistency of a cross between whole milk and heavy cream. If it is too thick, add a bit more milk. Check for seasoning.

Crack one egg in a small bowl. Whisk it up and sprinkle with a dash of salt and pepper. Put aside. Take a very large saute pan and put it on the stove on high heat. You will want the pan to be hot, not smoking - but very hot. Add your fat to it and swirl around so that the whole pan is fully coated. (I sometimes take a paper towel and carefully wipe it around the pan to absorb excess oil but to make sure it is all coated - if you do this, be careful and remember the pan is incredibly HOT. You will only want enough fat to literally just coat the pan. You don’t want streams of it moving around in the pan. ) Once the fat is warmed, take a very large ladle full of batter (essentially about 1/4 or less of the batter in all). Right as it hits the pan, start swirling it so that the pan is fully coated with a thin layer of batter. At this point, reduce the heat. Watch the crepe as it cooks. You’ll notice little holes puckering through the batter and it won’t look as moist.

Pour the cracked egg on top of the crepe and swirl it around so that it coats almost all of the crepe (don’t have it pour off the edge of the crepe into the pan). Watch the egg as it cooks on the crepe. Once it looks as if it is almost cooked, picked up one side of the crepe and fold it over itself to now form a half circle. Let it cook one more minute.

Put your two ham slices on top (You don’t want the ham to be cold. It should be room temperature or hot. Heat it up in a saute pan if need be). Then sprinkle the cheese on top. Let it cook a couple more minutes. Then fold one third of the crepe onto its center and fold the other side onto the center (It will look like the shape of a funnel). Plate it or wrap it in a piece of paper and serve.