Ham Cheese & Mushroom Savory Crepes
French savory crepes are usually known as standard large crepes or “galettes” which are topped up with various ingredients, folded. and then served to customers. And this is actually what you will find most of the time in Creperies of you travel through France. However, there is another type of savory crepe that is extremely famous amongst French people but you won’t find them anywhere but supermarkets. These specific types of savory crepes are actually super famous in France and for good reasons. They are in fact delicious byte-size crepes that are filled with a creamy and velvety white sauce blended with ham, cheese, and or mushrooms. They also differ in the fact that they are sold frozen and actually have to be pan-fried when used which gives them a crispy coating that goes perfectly with the creamy filling.
Equipment
- Stainless steel frying pan
- large glass bowl
- balloon whisk
Ingredients
Crepe Batter:
- 250 grams plain all-purpose flour
- 5 grams of salt
- 3 whole eggs
- 500 ml of full cream milk whole milk
Mushroom Duxelle (all finely chopped in a food processor):
- 200 grams white button mushrooms
- 20 grams shallot
- 10 grams onions
- 2 teaspoons parsley
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- A pinch of salt and pepper.
Ham:
- 200 Grams thin black forest ham finely chopped in a food processor
Roux:
- 40 grams butter
- 40 grams plain all purpose flour
Sauce Crème:
- The roux you made earlier
- 400 ml full cream milk whole milk
- 100 ml double cream heavy whipping cream
- 40 grams gruyere cheese
- 1 bay leaf
- A quarter onion with 3 cloves attached to it
Instructions
Crepe Batter:
- In a large bowl add all of the flour (sifted), the salt, then using a whisk make a well in the middle. Pour in the middle the beaten eggs then start to incorporate slowly the eggs with the flour ( as shown in the video) Once you get a consistency of a paste start pouring in the milk bit by bit while keeping whisking to incorporate the flour. Keep on going until you get a smooth batter. When done leave the batter to rest for 1 hour at room temperature.
Mushroom Duxelle:
- Add a tablespoon of butter in a pan on low heat. when the butter starts to foam add the chopped shallot and onion stir gently and leave to cook for about 2 minutes. Add then all of the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Finally, add a tablespoon of lemon juice and mix well.
- Leave the mushrooms to cook on low heat until all the water has evaporated.
- When all the water has evaporated, turn the heat off, add the parsley and mix well to incorporate the parsley with the mushrooms.
- Reserve the duxelle in a container and leave to cool down.
Crepes:
- As soon as your batter has rested it is now time to cook the crepes.
- They are best made with a crepe pan (I used a 22 cm 8 inches diameter pan) but you can also use any other pan you have. Just remember that crepes have to be thin not thick. (Check the video to see the example). When all the crepes are made let them cool down while you make the Sauce crème (creamy béchamel sauce)
Roux:
- In a saucepan on low heat add the 40 grams of butter and leave to melt completely. As soon as the butter is melted, add all of the flour at once over the butter then stir well with a wooden spoon. Leave it to cook for 2 minutes. Once done turn the heat off and leave to cool down.
Sauce Crème:
- As soon as the milk reached the simmering point turn the heat off.
- Now use the pan that you used to make the roux and pour the warm milk over the (cold) roux. stir well using a whisk to incorporate the roux with the milk.
- Next put the pan on the stove over medium heat and keep stirring until the sauce thickens.
- When the sauce reaches boiling point turn the heat down to low, add the cream in and stir gently.
- Keep on cooking the sauce on low heat for 2 minutes while stirring then turn the heat off and add the grated cheese.
Crepe Filling:
- Now for the filling, you have the choice of either making a batch with ham and or a batch with mushroom duxelle that really depends on your personal preference.
- use the previously prepared incredients
- sauce creme, Finely chopped ham, Duxelle of mushroom
- Making the filling is really simple just add some of the creme sauce in a bowl and mix it with either chopped ham or some mushroom duxelle. you can even use other ingredients that I have not tried like seafood or fish for instance.
Filling folding and freezing the crepes:
- Once the filling is ready it is just a matter of garnishing each crepe with some of the filling, fold them, and place them on a tray or plate ( as shown in the video)
- once all the crepes are garnished and in a tray place them in the freezer and wait until they are totally frozen before using them.
Pan-frying and serving the crepes:
- Once your crepes are frozen you can basically start using them whenever you like being the next day or in two weeks' time and the good thing is quality will not suffer at all.
- To warm up the crepes, simply use a frying pan on low heat. add a nudge of butter in the pan, let the butter melt and add the crepes in. leave to crisp up for 5 minutes on each side. after 10 minutes when the crepes are crispy and golden. they are ready to serve.
- In France the crepes are just served as is on a plate but you can also serve them with a side of lettuce with french dressing if it is for a light lunch.
Video
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