Botticelli’s bacon and mushroom crêpes

Crêperies:

I first had the pleasure of dining in a Crêperie (a restaurant severing various varieties of crêpes) in northern France (Brittany). They are dotted across the landscape and serve an almost endless variety of stuffings in the crêpes. Save the recipe below for crêpes and try different types of stuffings in the future – for example, cheese, ham, vegetables, etc. And if you want one of the finest breakfasts you have ever experienced make crêpes with no stuffing and serve them with maple syrup.

Ingredients (serves 5):

Crêpes (makes about 10 6- to 7-inch crêpes):

• 6 – large eggs
• 2 cups – whole milk (please don’t use skim)
• ½ teaspoon – salt
• 1 cup – all purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons – butter, melted
• Extra butter to cook the crêpes in the pan

Stuffing:

• 1 tablespoon – extra virgin olive oil
• 24 ounces – button mushrooms, sliced
• 1—large onion, chopped
• ½ cup – dry white wine (e.g., chardonnay)
• 2 tablespoons – sweet paprika
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 pound – bacon, cooked and diced
• 8 ounces – Swiss cheese, grated
• 1 cup -- Hollandaise sauce

Preparation:

Mix the eggs, whole milk, salt, and flour in a large bowl with a whisk (see photo below)

Egg, milk, salt and flour.

and then slowly whisk in the butter. First let me warn you about making crêpes if you have not tried it before. They need to be thin. I use a nonstick skillet with no crown in the middle of the pan. In other words, you need a very flat bottom to your pan. Place the pan over medium heat and cover the bottom of the pan with butter by rubbing the end of a stick of butter over the bottom. You will need about a half a cup of the crêpe mixture for each crêpe. Pour it into the pan and let it spread out over the surface as shown in the picture below (each crêpe is about 6 to 7 inches in diameter).

Crêpes batter in pan (about 6 to 7 inches in diameter)

It should cook about 30 seconds (gently lift up the corner to see when it begins turning light brown – see photo below).

Crêpe after turning.

Carefully turn the crêpe over and allow to cook for about another 15 additional seconds. Gently slide it out of the pan onto a plate and repeat the process until you have made about 10 crêpes.

Plate of 10 crêpes.

I like to finish the crêpes before I start making the stuffing. Place the bacon in a pan or skillet over medium heat.

Bacon frying.

While the bacon is cooking, add the olive oil along with the onions, mushrooms and wine in another skillet and cook over high heat until the liquid cooks off (about 15 minutes).

Mushroom, wine, and onion mixture cooking.

Stir in the paprika and salt and pepper to taste then remove from the heat. Once the bacon has cooked, place it on a paper towel to drain and then finely dice. Mix the bacon together with the vegetable mixture.

The finished stuffing.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place a few spoonfuls of the bacon and mushroom mixture onto a crêpe (see photo below),

Stuffing placed in the crêpe.

Roll it up and place in a baking dish ends face down (see photo below). Do this for the remaining crêpes and then sprinkle the cheese over the top of the crêpes. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

Voila!

While the dish is baking you can prepare the Hollandaise sauce.

Once the crêpe dish is finished, place two on a plate and drizzle the hollandaise sauce over the top (use as much as you like but the sauce is rich). Bon appétit.

J. Botticelli