Our two children don’t have much time for the American style fluffy ones and so thin style crepes are a staple of summer weekends. Rolled with jam and cream, Swedish style or for something even more special try serving them with poached stone fruits and a mascarpone cream. The recipe for the fruit is flexible and is something I like to keep on hand in the fridge for breakfasts or with vanilla ice cream for a simple dessert. Peaches, apricots, cherries, strawberries, rhubarb are all wonderful to cook with a little sugar and poaching liquids. Experiment by adding garden herbs like lemon verbena or thyme or the peel of lemon or orange and a vanilla pod for truly memorable results.
For the fruit compote:
1 vanilla pod
4 peaches, stoned and halved
4 nectarines, stoned and halved
6 apricots, stoned and halved
1 lemon, peel and juice
4 cardamom pods, crushed lightly with the back of a knife
3.5oz caster sugar
For the pancake batter:
5.5oz plain flour
3 large free-range eggs
10fl oz of milk
3.7fl oz of water
3 tbsp of butter, melted
For the mascarpone cream:
8.8oz mascarpone
6.5fl oz double cream
2 tbsp icing sugar
Handful of pistachios, chopped, to serve
For the fruit compote:
1 vanilla pod
4 peaches, stoned and halved
4 nectarines, stoned and halved
6 apricots, stoned and halved
1 lemon, peel and juice
4 cardamom pods, crushed lightly with the back of a knife
100g caster sugar
For the pancake batter:
160g plain flour
3 large free-range eggs
300ml of milk
110ml of water
3 tbsp of butter, melted
For the mascarpone cream:
250g mascarpone
200ml double cream
2 tbsp icing sugar
Handful of pistachios, chopped, to serve
Making all 24 crepes is indeed a bit of a ‘crepeathon’, but it can be done in stages (prepare half the batter at a time) and they can be made up to 2 days in advance and kept covered in the fridge, layered between parchment paper. (Recipe from Sharon Hearne Smith’s, No Bake Baking available on amazon.)
My inner Dr Seuss fan gets excited at the mere thought of green eggs –even without the ham! I often make neon green spinach crêpes filled with Gruyère cheese and ham as a means to satisfy my needs but I do have a slightly lighter alternative in this super green omelette. This can easily become the vehicle for plenty of other ingredients of your choosing. Recipe from my new book Eat.Live.Go. which is available here.