Crepes

Every French household makes use of crêpes, not only as a festive dessert for Mardi Gras and Candlemas Day, but as an attractive way to turn leftovers or simple ingredients into a nourishing main-course dish. Crêpes may be rolled around a filling of fish, meat, or vegetables, spread with sauce, and browned under the broiler. More spectacular is a gâteau de crêpes in which the pancakes are piled upon each other in a stack of 24, each spread with a filling. This is then heated in the oven and gratinéed with a good sauce. Or the crêpes may be piled in a soufflé mold with alternating layers of filling, heated in the oven, unmolded, and coated with sauce. Whatever system you decide upon, including rolled crêpes, your dish may be prepared in advance and heated up when you are ready to serve. Dessert crêpes, called crêpes sucrées, and entrée crêpes, crêpes salées, have slightly different proportions, but their batters are blended and cooked in the same way. The following recipe is made with an electric blender, because it is so quick. If you do not have one, gradually blend the eggs into the flour, beat in the liquid by spoonfuls, then the butter, and strain the batter to get rid of any possible lumps. Crêpe batter should be made at least 2 hours before it is to be used; this allows the flour particles to expand in the liquid and insures a tender, light, thin crêpe.

Yield: About 12 crepes, 6 to 6 1/2 inches in diameter

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