Blood orange crêpes Suzette - Crêpes Suzette à l'orange sanguine  

I love making crêpes. A handful of key ingredients turning into something that not only looks good but also tastes great. What more could you ask for? Because crêpes simply rely on flour, milk and eggs, being picky about the quality of these few ingredients is key. Ideally, get your hands on some organic oranges because you will be using the zest. My twist here is to use blood oranges, which will give a red color to the caramel.  At home, I'm always experimenting with different types of flour: buckwheat, spelt, or T80 (The French farine bise); with the milk - I often use homemade almond, hazelnut or oat milk; and the extra ingredients to flavor the batter - orange blossom, rose syrup, rhum, vanilla extract. For this recipe, which is a little bit more fancy than regular crêpes, I'm using white flour because I’m aiming for contrast between the crêpes and the red caramel. I’m also using whole milk and a touch of water to make the batter a little lighter. If Marc convinced you in episode 3, you can always replace the water of this recipe with beer and tell me what you think! I’m against beer in crêpes as you know ;) so my batter is flavored with orange blossom water and orange zest. Don't be afraid of the flambé step: as long as your caramel is hot, your Cointreau will create beautiful flames, deepen the orange flavor - and impress your guests.

Serves 4

for the batter

all purpose white organic flour (T45)- 250g

whole milk - 200ml

filtered water - or beer, if you really want to take this route - 100ml

eggs - 3 (pasture raised if you can find them)

orange blossom flower (or vanilla extract or both) - 2 teaspoons 

melted butter - 1 tablespoon

sugar - 1 tablespoon (optional)

zest of one orange - (optional)

salt - 1 pinch

for the blood orange caramel

organic blood oranges - 2

organic orange - 1

butter, diced - 60g

sugar - 100g

Cointreau - 1 splash

for the little orange syrup

organic blood orange, thinly sliced - 1

organic orange, thinly sliced - 1

sugar - 50g

water - 100ml

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the salt, then crack the eggs in the middle. Add 150 ml of the milk and whisk vigorously - by only adding half of the liquids at this stage, you will get a thick lump free batter.  Once all the flour has been incorporated, add the rest of the liquids (50ml of whole milk and 100 ml of filtered water). You can also go water free and just do whole milk if you prefer a richer batter.  Add the melted butter, sugar, orange blossom water and orange zest - if using any. Let the batter rest for about an hour - you can skip this step if you are in a hurry but it's always nice to let it breathe in the fridge a little bit.

To make the crêpes, use your frying pan on medium/high heat, melt a little bit of butter and using a ladle, pour the batter over the pan, trying to evenly cover it. I like y crêpes really thin so I'll take a few holes. Add each crepes to a plate and make a pile of crêpes. Cover with a kitchen towel and save. You can do this step ahead and keep in the fridge as the crepes will be reheated in the caramel. Slice one blood orange and one orange with the skin on to use as decoration later on : let the oranges slices simmer in a little sugar syrup. To do so, mix 100 ml of water and 50g of sugar in a saucepan together with the sliced oranges and cook over low heat : the idea here is simply to soften the oranges a little bit while keeping the shape of the slices. You can let the syrup gently simmer for roughly 5 minutes - keep an eye on it while you make the caramel.

To make the blood orange caramel, take a deeper frying pan, put it on low heat and add the sugar, as well as the juice of one blood orange. Keep stirring using a spoon until the syrup start bubbling, at this point add the juice of the other blood orange and the zest of one orange. Once the caramel is thin and bubbling, add the butter and let it melt away. After a few minutes, the caramel will reduce a little bit as the water from the orange juice evaporates so that the caramel becomes a syrup: at this point, fold each crêpes in 4 to form a triangle and add to the pan. Coat each crêpe with the caramel, using a tablespoon and a fork to turn them over. Don't over cook the crêpes, they just need to dive in the caramel, become coated and get out - otherwise they can become mushy. Add the slices of oranges to decorate.

To flambé the crêpes, add a splash of Cointreau to the frying pan just before serving, and quickly strike a match - the flames will go up pretty quickly if your pan is hot enough so don't put your head right over it. Serve on a desert plate, two crêpes per person are usually perfect.