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Buckwheat crêpes with ham, cheese and eggs

SERVES 6

I love the nuttiness (and added nutrition) that buckwheat flour brings to these crêpes. This makes for a superb brunch or supper.

For the batter

100g (3½oz) buckwheat flour

½ tsp sea salt

1 egg

200ml (7fl oz) milk

40g (1½oz) butter, melted

For the filling

200g (7oz) Gruyère, Emmental or Comté cheese, grated

6 slices of best-quality ham

a little butter, for frying

6 eggs

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. First, make the batter. Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. Put the egg, milk and melted butter into a measuring jug, add 100ml (3½fl oz) water and whisk. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, then pour the liquid into the well, whisking all the time to gradually draw in the flour from the edges of the bowl, until you have a smooth batter with a few bubbles on top. Use straight away, or it can store in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

2. Preheat the grill to medium or the oven to 200°C (400°F), Gas mark 6 (see tip).

3. Heat a frying pan (ovenproof if you’re using the oven). Rub a piece of kitchen paper in the butter and wipe it over the base of the pan – do this each time you put in a new batch of batter. Pour in some of the batter and swirl it around to coat the base of the pan with a thin layer. Allow to fry until it sets and is golden underneath, then flip it over and immediately place a slice of ham in the centre of the crêpe. Cover the ham with grated cheese, leaving a little dip in the middle, and break the egg into the dip. Fold up the edges of the pancake to meet the edge of the egg white, then place the pan under the grill or in the oven until the cheese has melted and the egg is cooked. Repeat for all the other crêpes, serving each finished one at once.

TIP

You can either make all the crêpes first then fill and bake them one at a time, or if you have two pans and a bit of nerve, you can leave one pan cooking the finished crêpe in the oven while the other is cooking the batter on the hob.