happy crêpe day – a sweet monday meditation

Crêpe – A Haiku

Sweet february
A golden, délicieuse crêpe sings
delighting the heart

Charlotte le Blog

Bonjour! Welcome February! It may be cold but it’s sweet! Not just because of Valentines Day, did you know February 1st is National Dark Chocolate Day? February 5th is World Nutella Day. What I’m meditating on today is Crêpe Day (speaking of Nutella!). Also known as Candlemas, or La Chandeleur in France, it takes place every February 2nd. Ma sœur is the inspiration for today’s post – she has been très occupé perfecting the crêpe and all it’s many variations. Allons-y! Happy crêpe day – a sweet monday meditation!

tradition

So why crêpes on Candlemas? According to tradition, successfully flipping a crêpe in the air with a frying pan with your right hand while holding a gold coin in your left will give you good fortune for the year.  Chandeleur takes its name from the word chandelle meaning candle in French. The ancient holiday was a festival of light, looking forward to the brighter days of spring ahead. The round shape and golden color of a crêpe resembles the sun and its rays and this symbolism also applies to the gold coin held in the your hand.

crêpe

Crêpes are sweet. The most well known dessert crêpe is probably Crêpes Suzette, which is made with an orange flavored sauce and flambéed. Here is a recipe from the wonderful Jacques Pépin with Grand Marnier and Cognac – I’m in!

I remember when we were little, mom would make us Palasinta, the Hungarian version of crêpes. She would fill them with cottage cheese and maybe apple sauce. Oh, I need to make those soon! Here is a vegan recipe – in honor of sister and our Hungarian heritage – Hungarian Aquafaba Crepes / Palacsinta.

There are so many crêpe recipes out there, I don’t need to list them all here. I would love to make an Ispahan inspired one some day with rose, raspberry and lychee? That would be magical 🦄. In fact…I will! And look at this adorable mini mille crêpe on Pinterest! Definitely on my to do list.

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Ispahan Crêpes

Inspired by Pierre Herme's beautiful Ispahan Macaron, I created these magical crêpes! Traditionally, crêpes are made with regular flour, but because I have Buckwheat Crêpes made already, I am using those. I think they will perfectly compliment the sweet flavors of lychee, raspberry and rose.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French, Japanese

Servings: 2

Ingredients

• 2 Buckwheat Crêpes, kept warm * your favorite recipe
• 1 tbsp butter
• ½ 20 oz. can of lychees in syrup * reserve syrup and other half of lychees for another use – see below!
• 2 tbsp rose water
• ½ cup raspberries
• matcha ice cream * optional

Instructions

• Warm butter in skillet over medium heat. Add lychees and saute several minutes until they start to caramelize. Add rose water to pan, saute a few minutes more. Remove from heat. Fill crêpes with lychee mixture and roll up. Garnish with raspberries. To give this a japanese flavor (in honor of Breizh, and my haiku 😉) top with a small scoop of matcha ice (or nice) cream!

Notes

I plan on using the reserved lychees and syrup to make a Lychee Martini!  🍸  Wait a minute, add some rosewater and raspberry, or Chambord, and you have an Ispahan Martini!  Why have I never thought of that? 🌹💕😋💕🎉

galette

A galette is a savory crêpe, usually made from buckwheat flour. A very popular one in France is ham and cheese, which is what husband is having for La Chandeleur 😘 Add an egg and it is a Complète. I am inspired, again, by my Breizh Cafe Cookbook and will be making the Aubergine 🍆 Galette with Comté and curry powder! Here’s a link I found for their mashed potato and seaweed tartar galette which looks très intéressant!

I said inspired again, because I have mentioned Breizh several times, notably with my Breizh Roll Artichoke and Wakame adaptation in my post about French Cookbooks I Love. I was also inspired by Cyril Lignac and his famous Crab Galette with Avocado and Curry and created my own version in a quoi de neuf post. Btw, I still haven’t been able to get my hands on Tartary Buckwheat flour. Maybe I will just have to grow my own.

I hope you enjoyed this short, but sweet, post. After reading my happy crêpe day – a sweet monday meditation, I know you are going to make les crêpes et galettes tomorrow, but the question is what kind? So many choices – that’s why crêpes are the best, the jam. Join me again Wednesday for a brand new quoi de neuf! À bientôt!