Crêpes Suzette
I saw this on pancake day, on the story of the owner of one of my favourite places to go in Manchester. Dan mad me these an hour after I saw them, and I was very much obsessed.
Crêpes Suzette is a French dessert, of crêpes with beurre Suzette (a sauce of caramelised sugar and butter) tangerine or orange juice, zest, and orange liqueur on top. (cointreau or triple sec will do). It may be flambéed tableside, but I did NOT trust myself to play with fire, although I may try this again.
Recipe, serves 1-2;
THE SAUCE.
2 heaped tbsp soft brown sugar
250ml orange juice with bits
1 tbsp chilled butter
1 tsp vanilla
Optional: splash of cointreau
THE CREPES.
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup plain flour
1 orange, segmented*
Method
Cut the top and bottom of your orange. Peel it, then slice the membrane off each segment, leaving you with a segment.
Set your orange segments aside, leaving them to soak in a bowl with a splash of orange juice.
For your crepes, add your egg & milk to a mixing bowl and whisk together well.
Add your flour & whisk through the batter so there are no lumps.
Leave the batter to sit for 15-30 minutes, then skim the bubbles off the top of the mixture.
Add 1 tsp butter to a large non-stick frying pan, and melt on medium heat.
Once your butter has melted, add 1 ladle full of crepe batter to the pan, tilting so that the batter covers the entire base.
Leave the batter to cook, until the surface of your pancake is matte, then flip & cook for another 30 seconds - 1 minute.
Once your crepe is nicely browned on both sides, set aside, then fold in half, then in half again.
Repeat with the rest of the batter - you should end up with 3-4 pancakes.
Once you’re ready to serve, add your sugar to the pan that you fried your pancakes in, on low heat. Leave your sugar to melt slowly, and don’t stir.
Deglaze your sugar with your orange juice, keeping over the heat and stirring well, so the lumps of sugar dissolve - they’ll clump up & solidify, so make sure the heat is high enough for the sugar to melt again.
Once your sugar has melted again, add 1 tbsp butter, then allow the sauce to reduce and thicken.
Once the sauce has thickened, add your crepes, then vanilla extract, Cointreau (if using), then your orange segments.
Plate your pancakes up - lay them on top of each other, then pour over the sauce & top with the orange slices.
Notes + Variations:
*If you don’t want to segment the orange, you can use segmented orange from a tin, but it is very easy to do yourself.
