Cathy Katin-Grazzini
Cathy’s Kitchen Prescription LLC
www.cathyskitchenprescription.com
Lacy Blackberry Crêpes and Soy Crème Fraîche
Our family Sunday brunch ritual for years has been pancakes with blueberries. These crêpes just rewrote that script.
The crêpe batter is whole grain, gluten-free, and low in fat. Cooked on a nonstick griddle in the lace-like style of Malaysian roti jala, they reveal the beauty of blackberries, cooked briefly to accentuate their natural sweetness and brighten their color. They sit in a puddle of blackberry juice, reduced to a glass-like finish. Garnished with a dollop of homemade soy creme fraîche and yum!
Lacy blackberry crêpes look fancy but are SO simple to make. Enjoy for breakfast, brunch, teatime, dessert.
Prep time 30 minutes + 2 hours to strain the crème fraîche
Cooking time 20 minutes
Makes about ten 5-6” crêpes
Equipment
A blender
A large, good quality nonstick skillet
A multi-spout squeeze bottle (available online)
A natural fiber placemat like jute or water hyacinth
A 12” by 12” square of unbleached muslin and string
Hint! While the traditional tool for making roti jala is a multi-spouted
funnel, I prefer to use a squeeze bottle because it allows you to control the flow of batter into the pan according to the pressure you exert on the bottle.
Ingredients
6-8 cups fresh blackberries
Batter
2 cups mix of your favorite whole grain gluten-free flours, e.g. buckwheat, oat, teff, millet, etc.
1 teaspoon Ceylon cinnamon, freshly ground
¼ teaspoon nutmeg, freshly ground
1 full Tablespoon baking powder
1 ½ cups low-fat, unsweetened plant-based milk
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
Plating and Garnish
Reduced blackberry syrup from your cooked blackberries
Soy crème fraiche from 2 cups soy yogurt
Directions
Prepare the Blackberries and Sauce
Rinse the berries and toss them in a saucepan with ¼ to ⅓ cup of water. Heat over a medium-low flame, cover, and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Stir periodically and make sure the berries are not drying or over-cooking. They should become plump, turn magenta in color, and release their juices. Strain the berries and set aside. Reheat the pan to reduce the juices to a thin syrup. The natural pectin in the fruit will thicken the sauce and cause it to congeal upon cooling. Remove from the heat when the syrup is dense enough to coat the back of a spoon. Set aside.
Make the Crème Fraîche
Line a bowl with your square of muslin. Spoon in the yogurt. Tie it up with some string and hang the bag over the sink or over the now empty bowl. Allow it to “strain” for about 2 hours. The longer it drips, the denser your crème fraiche will become. For this dish, 2 hours is sufficient to create of soft tangy mound of crème fraiche for your garnish.
Prepare the Batter
Toss the dry batter ingredients in the blender. Pulse to combine. Now add the vanilla extract and plant milk. Blend for 1 minute until very smooth and entirely lump-free.
The diameter of your squeeze bottle lid’s holes and the density of the batter will determine how how well-defined your crêpes’ “lace” will be: Too thin as it will run together and fill in the holes. Too thick, and you may have trouble squeezing it out of the bottle. Your first batch will tell you what you need to know. If too thin, add a spoonful more flour and blend it in well. Stir in a spoonful or two of plant milk if the batter is too dense.
Make the Lacy Crêpes
Preheat your nonstick skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes. Fill the squeeze bottle with batter.
Now the fun begins! You can create all sorts of lacy designs as you gently squeeze the batter into the pan. Small overlapping circles will create a doily-like crêpe; or you can make geometric cross-hatching by adding the batter vertically and then horizontally. Have fun experimenting with your designs.
Cook on one side only. The crêpes are cooked when they become matte and begin to curl up on their edges.
When ready, pinch the edge of the crêpe, lift it off the pan, and place it on the woven placemat. Cover it immediately with a clean kitchen towel and repeat until all the crêpes are cooked. Covered, the steam from the hot crêpes will soften them and keep them pliable.
Filling the Crêpes and Plating
The crêpes should be composed and plated at the same time.
Spoon some blackberry syrup onto the plate.
Choose which side of the crêpe to show on its exterior and place that side facedown. Spoon on some blackberries and roll the crêpe around it.
Transfer to the center of your plate.
Garnish with a spoonful of soy crème fraiche.
