The season of the crepe. Hugo assures me that crepes will not make me fat. Just eggs, milk and flour, he says. Checking the ingredients off on his fingers. Luckily the eggs and the milk come from the farm because he goes through heaps of both. He makes a big batch of crepe batter every few days and we eat them for breakfast and sometimes dinner. And he often has another late at night before going to bed.
He is going to give me a lesson on making the batter now that I have perfected cooking the crepe.
Yesterday I had roasted ham and brie in my breakfast crepe and he had Nutella. In fact he always has Nutella in his crepes.
I hope to do this with pictures for you one day but in case I forget:
The recipe for Hugo’s Crepes – (please feel free to halve the recipe – this boy has hollow legs)
- 500 g flour
- 8 eggs
- 1 litre of milk
- a little salt
(if you are making dessert crepes you can add a little sugar or vanilla or orange essence)
Sift all the flour into a big bowl, make a well, break in the eggs, (one handed while moving to French Rap) then beat the well while you drizzle in the milk mixing the milk into the eggs while incorporating the flour. This method was new to me.
I pour the batter into a big old Teapot to store in the fridge. So whenever a French teenager wants a snack, he heats the cast iron pan to smoking hot, rubs the end of a stick of butter over the surface, pours a little batter from the Teapot (then puts the lid back on and forgets to return it to the fridge), cook, flip, cook, eat.
I hope we get a photographic tutorial on the method from my wild French teenager! These are great.
We had such storms last night. HUGE thunder and lightening, internet and lights going on and off, deafening thunder and lightening like endless flashing lights – we were all on the verandah watching the show so no-one cared about the lights going off. A lot of rain, heavy rain. An Autumnal storm. The crops are ready to be brought in so it will rain.
Which reminds me here is a short video I made the day before yesterday to show you the sound that the dry corn makes in the breeze.
This did not play very well for me when I tested it so just close your eyes and listen to it. It is the sound I want you to hear and you can see that I am right back at the house recording it. Not too close at all.
Anyway last night the lightening was so persistent that I opened the barn doors for all the cows to come in – usually only the babies take cover. But those big cows look like a big lightening target to me. I know lightening has no eyes and it seems incongruous that lightening would hit a cow in the dark but I suppose it can. I mean in the dark storms don’t feel so scary. However erring on the side of caution I let them all in.
Boo is of course literally terrified and for hours after the storm was still sleeping in his special Storm Bed in my wardrobe behind my old coats (I really need to get in and clear all the old clothes out of that wardrobe!). What amazes me is that (here at least) only the dogs are afraid of the storms, the cows will graze and even the pigs graze in storms or stand about with their tails to the wind calmly chewing their cud. Last night when I checked them after the storm had abated they were all snoozing peacefully. Imagine if Sheila was afraid of storms, she would take out whole fences trying to hide from the thunder.
Speaking of Sheila I think she has come into heat, (after all this time) and yesterday she decided to systematically take apart the Rat House (ripping boards off the back wall) to try and get to Manu (the not so baby boar) on the other side. Consequently (as Poppy is coming into heat too) all the big pigs were sent to their rooms, to think about their behaviour, for the duration. And tomorrow our dear Manu will take a ride to the West Barn and stay over there out of harms way. I want no breeding until January.
So, as I am seem to be playing Musical Pigs; Molly and Tahiti the little gilts will get to stay here and live in Manu’s field while they grow.
AND I just might have a surprise for you – coming to the farm next week. I am still in negotiations but I have finally found a young Llama that I can train as a full time guardian over at the West Barn. Initially though she will be at the home farm to bond with Naomi and Little and learn to come to my call and all those things, then they will all move Across The Way en masse.
Just for the record Jake my good friend lives in the house at the West Barn so they are not alone over there, he does a night time check before he goes to bed. And of course I am there two or three times in a day.
I have one last helper coming on Sunday, a girl who is going to help me and Hugo clean both barns and get them ready for winter. I know I was determined to close the kitchens but she seems like such a nice girl. She will only be here a few weeks.
Time for work for me.
I hope you have a lovely day,
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
67 responses to “The Crepe Season”
Mmm, crepes! And Go Hugo! At Cordon Bleu we always made them with melted butter and always made the batter the day before so it could rest in the fridge and do the gluten magic of silky, smooth crepes. It’s wonderful to make them fat and guilt free. (unless, of course, you stuff them with yummy cheeses or drench them in orange liqueur and cover them with heaps of whipped cream, but them, a little running around after naughty piggies the next day will take care of that. 😀
I could hear the corn rustling. What a haunting sound that must be in person. Love the crepes and will have to try them. Do you cook in a cast iron skillet or on a cast iron griddle? Do you flip by tossing or turning? Just curious! Would love to see a video of the process to answer all these details, having never attempted making crepes. 🙂 Exciting news about the Llama.
Hello Betsy, it’s just that easy as Celi says: cook, flip, cook, eat. 🙂 It’s like making pancakes.
I just took my simple small and coated pan and they turned out great. But there is an art to get the batter into the (well heated) pan and to distribute it as thin as possible with as little fat as possible. That’s the challenge in making crèpes in my opinion. I flip them by just turning them.
Happy crèpe making!
and yes i do use a cast iron pan , getting it smoking hot before i pour the batter in, and of course Hugo flips them!! crazily! c
Donkies make nice guardians also. Now you can get sheep again and shear, and card and comb and make rove…and…..
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
Llama! I can’t wait to see pictures! They are rather wonderful.
Orange essence in crepes? You are brilliant!
It will be a new experience that is for sure.. I think she will do well with the little motherless calves. c
We had a guard llama growing up, named Lindbergh, to protect the lambs from coyotes. They can have such a marvelous spirit.
A llama, that’s great news. Lot of people around here have llamas….or alpacas…not sure which, same same different….some as guard animals, and others for the wool and spinning. Look forward to seeing pics of Lily Llama. My Mirrhi dog doesn’t care about thunder, but is terrified of the sound of the rain on the tin roof, she goes under my bed but as the bed’s not that high, she doesn’t all fit and leaves her butt hanging out, so I put a blanket over her and she thinks she’s well hid then…..I don’t have a wardrobe big enough for her to fit in.
Have a small farm of them next door . . . what beautiful animals : so am so waiting to see the one ‘farmy’ will own!
That made me laugh – a blanket on her bottom sticking out! poor lovey.
I don’t always get a chance to read your posts daily, but this one drew me in with the delicious photo of the crepe. Yum, yum! Thank you for sharing the recipe, and the idea of adding vanilla or orange essence sounds great. I love pancakes or crepes with lemon juice and maple syrup… simply divine! Perhaps I’ll make some tomorrow for a Sunday treat. 🙂
Looking forward to seeing photos of the llama!
A llama! I’m so excited! The crepes look and sound amazing. My daughter loves them. I love meeting Hugo, beating his eggs to rap music! Wonderful picture in my mind. Poor Sheila. Poor Manu. Poor Miss C!
Crepes! The perfect food creation. Now I will pass a sinful secret on to you. If you take those perfect crepes and spread them with my salted caramel sauce (recipe on Mrs.Butterfingers) you will truly think you have gone to heaven and can hear the angels sing.
One of my best childhood food memories… wafer thin crêpes with lemon juice & sugar 🙂 Love the teapot idea, and I have a few to choose from! A llama is exciting news.
Llamas tend to be bigger than alpacas. They are interesting creatures, but. They do spit when upset. Especially nasty since they chew their cud and deadly aim. Can’t wait to see her.
I loved listening to the corn!
‘A wild French teenager’ – huh ? – that very stylish, well brought up young man . . hmm ? French rap – a wee bit of a change after the Argentine tango ! Neat to have a teapot of crepe mixtures in the fridge . . . shan’t ruin a lovely Sunday morning with my professional ‘take’ on Nutella 🙂 🙂 🙂 !!!
While our dog does not get scared during storms..she did get a bit freaked out during yesterday morning’s walk in the city. We spotted a mama opposum (hissing and showing her very nasty sharp pointy teeth) carrying about 10 possumettes by a neighbor’s gate. We were about 15 feet away from her and definitely picked up speed on the walk after that encounter.
We don’t realize how bombarded our sense of hearing is on a daily basis until we have the chance to listen to something so natural as corn rattling in the wind. That was really nice.Thanks for thinking to share this.