I have only recently learned to appreciate savory crepes.  I grew up eating sweet crepes for breakfast at a stand at the farmer’s market in the Bay Area, and when you saw one customer leaving with ham and cheese, and the other leaving with a pile of fresh berries and whipped cream, you couldn’t help feeling like the first got the short end of the stick.  I never understood, when faced with the option, why anyone would choose a savory crepe.  It wasn’t until I discovered a small Belgian joint in the Mission in San Francisco called Frjtz that I discovered the true beauty of the crepe’s dinner potential.

Frjtz‘s menu is simple, consisting of about ten sandwich and crepe options, a few salads, Belgian-style mussels, and the most delicious french fries with about twenty different aiolis and ketchups to dip.  You order at the counter and they bring you your food, but the sexy and modern decor and the delicious food are worth a little self-service.

When Adrian and I moved back to Cambridge, we found ourselves thinking about these savory crepes and we thought we would try to reproduce to the best of our memory their Rosetti crepe filling.  It wasn’t exactly the same but it was close — and just as good, if not better.

We used Alton Brown’s recipe for the crepes.  You will want to prepare the crepe batter ahead of time so it can sit in the fridge for at least an hour before you cook the crepes.  When the filling is almost done, cook the crepes so that both the filling and the crepe is hot when you serve it.

The Crepes:

• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 cup flour
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• Butter, for coating the pan while cooking

In a blender, combine the eggs, milk, flour, and melted butter and pulse for ten second.  Refrigerate for at least an hour before cooking (the batter will last for up to 48 hours).  This will make about eight large crepes, so you will probably have batter left over.

To cook the crepes, heat a nonstick skillet or crepe pan over medium low heat.  Coat with butter and pour about 1/4 cup of the batter in the middle of the pan.  Rotate the pan to coat with the batter.  After about 30 seconds, or when the crepe begins to turn a light golden color, flip the crepe and cook the other side for about half as long as the first side.  Lay flat to cool while you cook the other crepes.  Fill and serve right away.

The Filling:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 small or 1 large eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 large red pepper, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup of feta cheese, crumbled
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh chives
• Salt
• Crushed red pepper

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add the olive oil.  When the oil is hot, add the onions and cook about three minutes, until they become slightly translucent.  Add the eggplant, peppers, and garlic, season with salt and crushed red pepper to taste and cover.  Cook for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally, until veggies start to soften from their own steam.  Add the wine and continue to cook until veggies are thoroughly caramelized, another ten minutes or so.  Turn off the heat.  Add the feta and fresh herbs and stir to combine.  Keep covered so the filling will stay warm until you are ready to fill the crepes.

Assembly:

Put 1/4 of the filling in the center of the crepe.  Spread the filling out into a square shape in the middle of the crepe.  Using the handle of a wooden spoon, fold all four sides of the crepe in to form a square.  Turn over and garnish with a small dollop of the filling and a couple fresh chives.  Repeat for the other three crepes.  Serve immediately.

More good looking Crepe ideas:

• The Veggie Table
• C’est Bon
• GupShop

Recently, however, various trips and family obligations have kept me from this decadent routine.  This past weekend, I stayed at a friend’s house on Saturday night, and while I knew that the sleeping-in part would not be a problem, the breakfast was up in the air.

Most everyone who loves food and eating has some sort of routine that they hold sacred.  I have my Sunday Mornings, others have “Roast Chicken Thursdays” or make their salad the same way for every lunch.  Caroline, the friend with whom I was staying this weekend, has a breakfast routine of her own.  She pours cereal – usually mixing two or three different brands – into a pasta bowl and douses it with about a quart of milk, leaving it to sit for a bit before sitting down to the table with a carton of fresh berries and diluted O.J.  Far be it from me to cast aspersions on her breakfast – everyone has their own comforting food traditions – but I was craving my own form of Sunday Morning catharsis.

As we wandered into the kitchen that morning, she went into the pantry to grab her cereals, and I went into her closet to grab the Joy of Cooking.  She shook her head at me with a smile and we went our separate ways.  As she got out a bowl and a spoon, I took down her food processor from the shelf; as she grabbed berries and milk from the fridge, I withdrew eggs, lemons and apple cider.

Eventually, my friend’s husband wandered into the kitchen and I think I lured him to my side of the battlefield, because soon he was flipping crepes alongside me.  When all was said and done, however, and I took my seat at the breakfast table, Caroline passed me a big mug of steaming hot tea and all was right with the world.

Crepes with Apple Cider Syrup, adapted from the Joy of Cooking

For the Crepes:
2 eggs
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. lukewarm water
pinch of sugar
pinch of salt

For the syrup:
1 1/4 c. Apple Cider
1 Tbs. Light Corn Syrup
2 Tbs. Brown Sugar
Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Add all of the ingredients for the crepes into the bowl of a food processor or the pitcher of a blender.  Mix until fully blended and a bit frothy at the top.  If using a food processor, pour mixture into a pitcher – or leave it in the blender pitcher – and let sit for 30 minutes so that the liquids absorb the flour.

In the meantime, pour all of the ingredients for the syrup into a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan and stir until blended.  Turn the burner on medium until the mixture comes to a boil, then turn down the heat to maintain a rapid simmer.  Reduce until mixture reaches a syrupy consistency.

When the syrup is where you like it, warm a nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Wrap a tablespoon of butter in one sheet of paper towel, and rub the bundle over the pan to grease it.

Pour some batter into the pan (1/4 cup should be plenty, but it depends on the size of your pan) and immediately tilt the pan around in a circle to spread the batter across the surface.  If you have a wooden crepe-spreader-thingy, all the better. 

Cook for about 1 minute or until the edges of the crepe easily separate from the pan when you pass a thin metal spatula around the perimeter of the skillet.  Flip the crepe and briefly cook it on the other side.  The crepe should be lightly browned.

Remove the crepe to a plate and drizzle with the apple cider syrup and (if you like the crunch) some demerara sugar.  Other winning toppings: lemon juice and sugar; jam of preference; and sweetened cream cheese with cinnamon or finely zested orange peel.  Then, what I like to do is fold the crepe in half and then in half again so it looks like a triangle.  Top it with some berries or whipped cream and voilà – the perfect Sunday Morning!

(This post first appeared on my other blog: http://www.frommytable.com ) check it out!