Spartan Lab: CREPES

Cooking breakfast for Ben on weekdays always sounds like a good idea until he shakes me awake at 5:45. I have taken to making strong, bitter Irish tea the night before, so all Ben needs to do is pour me a cup and head to the shower. I am rarely creative when groggy, so Ben can always expect some form of eggs with sausage and bell peppers. He has a choice of omelets, breakfast burritos, English muffin sandwiches, and little else from Monday to Thursday (his office provides red fruit goo pastries for free on Fridays).

I have been distracted as well: my brother Ryan is getting married on Saturday to a wonderful woman. I catered her surprise birthday party in June and Ben played photographer, after which we drove until 3:30 am to get back to Eugene. I planned to do tropical fruit crepes with a vanilla rum sauce for dessert until I realized that I had never made crepes before. I had no idea how much finesse they required, so I chickened out and chose cookies with ice cream and the aforementioned rum sauce (which was extraordinary, by the by).
It goes without saying that I would do anything for my brother. You can imagine my disappointment, then, that my layoff left us with too little money to afford the trip down. With a sadly free weekend and Ryan in every thought, I took Saturday to experiment with crepe recipes. I chose a simple dough recipe (omitting the jam) and made a variety of fruit fillings to test my skill. If all went well, I could make them for Ben as a departure from yet more eggs.

Even in my Spartan kitchen I was able to whip up some fantastic crepes. The dough is easily assembled and only needs two minutes at medium heat to complete, making it a simple dish. It is also a versatile enough dough to accommodate many different fillings. Omit the two tablespoons of sugar for more savory fillings, such as meat and cheese. Add one teaspoon of vanilla extract and the taste is even more delicate for stronger, more acidic fruits. Either dough can keep overnight for future use as a delightful breakfast.

Our banana blueberry crepes (1/3 cup blueberries and ½ banana, mashed together with a fork in a bowl) were creamy, comforting, and had a slight bite from the blueberries. The pineapple required some slight grilling, per the tropical crepe recipe, and played well against the sweet, strong rum sauce. The shining star, though, was the raspberry peach crepe (1/3 cup raspberries mashed with ½ sliced yellow or red peach). The flavor is luscious against the soft vanilla crepes, and the colors look like a sunset in Maui. Ben is thrilled to have the remainder of the crepe batter made for him this week.

On a side note, my most heartfelt congratulations go to my brother and his adorable new bride. They can expect a prince’s ransom in crepes as soon as I visit them in California.