This week I made Crêpes Suzette from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I said I would be making Ratatouille, but after some recalculating, I realized I only had two weeks left in the semester to cook for this project. So I had to skip ahead to dessert. It was important to me that I make a couple of recipes from the dessert section of the cookbook. I wanted to make crepes because I have never made them. I also wanted to make Reine De Saba, which is a chocolate-almond cake and a classic Julia Child recipe. So, that's how I ended up at Crêpes Suzette.
As I mentioned, I have never made crepes. I was more nervous about making them than any other recipe in the book, besides maybe the souffle. I made the batter in the blender. The crepe batter starts by blending eggs, whole milk, sugar, and vanilla extract until smooth and frothy; then I added the flour and salt and mixed until just combined. I stored the mixture in the refrigerator for an hour. It is essential to wait at least an hour before making the crepes. The time allows the flour to absorb the liquid, creating a more tender crepe.
Once the batter was ready, I started cooking them. I used a 12" castiron skillet. Everything I read said to use a nonstick skillet or even a crepe specific pan. I don't have a large nonstick skillet, and I certainly don't have a crepe pan. I'm not a big believer in recipe specific equipment. I like to keep things as minimal as possible in my kitchen. I don't have much storage. I used my cast iron skillet, and I was fully prepared for the crepes to stick. Why would I ever doubt my castiron skillet?!?!??! Of course, it cooked the crepes perfectly. Using the larger size gave me enough room to flip them easily. I used a spoon to spread the batter out evenly in a nice circle. The crepes were much sturdier and easier to make than I expected.
I kept the crepes warm on a plate with a piece of foil. I made ricotta whipped cream, which is just ricotta cheese whipped with a little bit of cream. I left it unsweetened because the crepe batter had sugar as well as the Suzette Sauce.
The Suzette Sauce. Man-o-man. It was marvelous. It was equal parts of orange juice and sugar plus Grand Marnier, which is an orange-flavored cognac. I boiled the three ingredients until the sugar dissolved and then added small pieces of cold butter until creamy and thickened.
I put a little bit of the whipped ricotta and Suzette Sauce on half of the crepe and folded it in half, and then in half again, making a little triangle. Added a small dollop of the whipped ricotta and Suzette sauce on the top, and that was it. We had this meal for dinner. I served it with some bacon to balance the sweetness. It was heaven.
The crepes were incredibly tender and light. The sauce had so much flavor and richness. The whipped ricotta added the perfect balance to the sweetness and acidity of the crepes and sauce.
Next week I will be making Reine De Saba, which is a chocolate almond cake. And that will be the last recipe from this project. I can't believe it. I am not sure what my focus is going to be next, but I think I'm going to dive a little deeper into bread making. 🥖