It’s a grey, damp and windy day here – feeling right at home to make the annual batch of pancakes.  My recipe is for French crepes, light and buttery, not heavy English style pancakes – accompanied by lemon, sugar and, maybe, strawberry jam….  Lemons come straight from our trees, unwaxed, organic and extremely juicy.

This recipe is inspired by @AnneWillan, French Cookery School and makes approximately 18 pancakes :

125 gr flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
250 ml milk (make sure to get the fresh milk in Portugal, not long life)
3 eggs
2 tablespoon melted butter
100 gr clarified butter for frying

Sift the flour into a bowl, make a well in the centre and add the salt and half 
the milk.  Whisk in the flour to make a smooth batter.  Whisk in the eggs (do not beat the batter too much at this stage or the crepe will become tough).  Stir in 
the melted butter (but if resting the batter for any length of time, it is better to add this just before cooking) with half the remaining milk and let it stand for 1 - 2 hours.

Just before using, add enough milk to make a batter the consistency of thin cream (note for those in Portugal, the flour is not the same strength as in the UK and I always find much less milk is needed – be careful). Add the melted butter if not already done. Then, just a little butter brushed in a crepe pan, add 2 -3 tablespoons of batter and cook over fairly high heat until browned and turn the pancake. The crepes are so buttery that you do not need to grease the pan before each one, just when they start to stick.

The best crepe pan I had was from E. Dehillerin in Paris, brilliant. cast iron, but it has disappeared and I have had to revert to a non-stick version which is nowhere near as good.  Just seen they have an online shop E. Dehillerin – maybe they can deliver to Portugal?