Gosh, I love crêpes

Don't be scared of making crêpes. If you have a blender, a good pan and a good wrist, you should be making them right now. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, whenever you please. As long as you have batter ready to go, it's the best fast food around.

Since I usually make crêpes for two, I just halve the recipe (Julia Child's) and it works out great. But I could make the full recipe and keep the batter in the fridge for another day, I guess. Why hadn't I thought of that until now?

But when I made these the other night, we were leaving town the next day, so it was savory ham and cheese crêpes for two with some salad (dressed with a quick French vinaigrette, yum).

If it were just me, I'd just stand at the stove and eat them right out of the pan while they are crispy and sizzly. But it's nearly just as good to keep them in a warm oven until you've made all you want, and then sit down and enjoy.

Smoked Ham & Gruyére Crêpes for Two

adapted from Julia Child

makes 6-ish crêpes

For the crêpe batter:

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

pinch salt

3/4 cup flour

2 tablespoons melted butter

(1 tablespoon oil/butter for brushing the pan)

For the filling: 

Your absolute favorite ham, thinly sliced - it only takes a slice or two per crêpe (the smokier, the better)

AND

Gruyére cheese, or some other cheese that you fancy, finely grated. I make a 4-inch tall mountain of it and almost always grate more by the end. Grate plenty of it, in other words.

Put all the crêpe batter ingredients in a blender and blend at high speed for a minute. Scrape down any flour that clings to the sides and blend again for another 20 seconds. Place the container in the fridge for 30-60 minutes minimum, or overnight.

When you're ready to crêpe it up, heat a crêpe pan (or a shallow 9-10 inch nonstick pan) to medium high. Make sure your filling is nearby, and if you want, put an empty plate in the oven and set it to warm for when you've made a couple crêpes and want to keep going without the food getting cold.

When the pan is hot, brush the pan with oil. With one hand, hold the pan off-heat and with the other, pour scant 1/4 cup crêpe batter into the pan, rotating the pan to evenly coat the surface and then place it back on the burner. (Did you screw it up? Don't worry, the first one is always for practice. You'll do fine next time.) Don't go anywhere and grab a thin spatula. After 45 seconds, take a peek underneath. If it's getting a good number of brown spots, sneak the spatula under the edge and carefully help it along with your fingers to flip it over. It may take longer, or shorter, hence the "practice crêpe". The second side always takes less time, so as soon as you flip it, place your filling on top. You don't need to load it up; just a slice or two of ham and a modest sprinkling of cheese works great. After 30 seconds (or when it begins to brown on the other side), fold the crêpe in half and after another 10 seconds or so, flip the half to the other side for another 10 seconds until you're certain the cheese is melted. You can plate it like this, or fold it one more time into a triangle. Put it on the plate in the oven to stay warm while you make the others, or eat it immediately over the stove.