I remember when I was in Dijon going to Philippe's friend Jean Claud's house. Jean Claude's wife, Anne, was Briton, and when their kids squawked she pulled a bowl of batter from the fridge and quickly made a couple crepes to feed them.

To me this seemed terrible right. Terribly nice. Returning home, I tried to find a crepe pan, but they are all heavy and none are non-stick. Crepes are considered gourmet food, and thus the pans are expensive and not suited to everyday life. I made a pile of crepes on the odd day but it was always a hassle.

Then last year Philippe and I visited France again, and stayed with relatives. His aunt took me to Gifi, a discount sort of we-sell-everything shop. There we found dirt cheap lightweight nonstick crepe pans. Upon returning home, I put the pans to work.

Now every single saturday morning starts with crepes.

For awhile the model for me was to cook the entire bowl of batter, and keep the crepes in the fridge. Crepes reheat beautifully, so it works well. But now I have the bowl of batter in teh fridge, and I can quickly pour out a crepe and eat it hot from the skillet and it keeps me from squawking too.

I could use Anne's recipes, but I find Julia Child's recipe work well for me. Here is how I make it each saturday morning (and now sometimes other times when I'm hungry)

Short version:

Break three large eggs into a bowl, and whisk yolk and white togther.
Whisk in 2/3 cups milk, 2/3 cup water, three Tbls sesame oil.
When all liquid is whisked together, then whisk in a tsp salt and one cup of flour.
Rest a half hour. Whisk again to add in some air. Heat crepe pan, brush with oil. When hot, pour a ladle spoon of batter in and spread across surface. when edges are brown, turn. Coork for 15 seconds more, and remove.

Long version with advise:

Break three large eggs into a bowl, and whisk yolk and white togther.
Whisk in 2/3 cups milk, 2/3 cup water, three large soup spoons sesame oil. Truffle oil is expesive, but really adds a lot, if you can find it. If you will make them sweet, use a more neutral oil.
When all liquid is whisked together, then whisk in a coffee spoon of salt and one cup of flour. Wondra is the safest bet, you never get a lump. I use all purpose flour. Bread flour is a bad idea, the crepe gets too thick.

Whisk until smooth, then let teh batter rest for a half hour. Then beat agian to put air in.

So-- even with a nonstick, I find I get better crepes if I brush the pan with oil-- usually olive. It works alright without oil, but they are much lovelier with oil. So I brush the pan, and put the heat on high and when the pan is hot, I pour the batter in, and quickly lift the pan and tilt it around to spread the batter out to the edges so the pan it coated thinly. Next time I'm in France, I'll look for the wooden spreader. But for now, if the batter is the correct thinness, it spreads fine with gravity. When the edges are brown, give it a bit of a semitoss... if the crepe is loose, you can turn it be tossing or with a spatula. If it sticks, give it a couple seconds more. if the middle is thick with batter, better to insist even if it won't come loose with a shake.

Finally cook the other side for 15 seconds more. then remove.

I do a lot to the crepes. Cheese, herb de provence salt and pepper is very good. a tiny bit of butter and a sprinkle of sugar is good too-- that's how Anne prepared her crepes for her kids. Jam is nice, marscapone is nice, it's all nice on crepe.

Mmmmm...crepes every saturday morning might just beat our eggs on sundays. Good to see you're still alive babe.

Claire