Lemons!

When I was little my Mom and I were in London England and we went to this beautiful little basement restaurant and had an amazing meal, I do not remember what we had for dinner, but I will never forget the dessert.  Lemon Crepes.  They were heaven and I will spend the rest of my life trying to recreate them.

This morning I woke up and had a craving for lemon crepes and found Martha's Lemon Crepes Recipe, it required a little prep but by far looks more daunting than it really is.
They turned out fantastic, not quite as amazing as my crepes from London but delish!

I made a small shortcut with the order of things. Below are my slightly modified versions, click here to see  Martha's way.


First I made the candied lemon slices  I should have let them simmer much much longer, I only let them simmer for 40 minutes, should have been an hour but I was impatient, and had nothing to do after cleaning the entire kitchen and living room. The rind and peel should be translucent.

Candied Lemon Slices

Ingredients

Makes 1/2 dozen

• 1 large lemon
• 1 cup sugar

Directions

1. Prepare an ice-water bath; set aside. Using a mandoline or sharp knife, cut lemon into 12 paper-thin slices; discard seeds and ends of rind.
2. Bring a medium saucepan of water to a rolling boil. Remove from heat, and add lemon slices; stir until softened, about 1 minute. Drain, and immediately plunge slices into ice-water bath. Drain.
3. Bring sugar and 1 cup water to a boil in a medium skillet, swirling to dissolve sugar. When liquid is clear and bubbling, reduce heat to medium-low. Add lemon slices, arranging them in one layer with tongs. Simmer (do not let boil) until rinds are translucent, about 1 hour. 4. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment. Let stand until ready to serve.

I used the reserved sugar water for the caramel sauce.

Martha's Lemon Caramel Sauce 

My Lemon Caramel Sauce

Ingredients

Makes about 1 cup

• 1/2 cup reserved liquid from your candied lemon slices
• 3 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Directions:

 Let syrup boil, gently swirling pan occasionally, until dark amber.

 

Remove from heat and add butter.

I let the caramel sauce simmer while I made the Lemon Crepes.
The rule with crepes is the first one is always crap but you can always eat your mistakes!

Ingredients for Crepes

• 6 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, plus about 1 tablespoon, melted, for pan
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cup milk, (not skim)
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• Lemon-Caramel Sauce
• Candied Lemon Slices

Directions

1. Bring 2 tablespoons water to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat; add 6 tablespoons butter, a little at a time, whisking until butter is completely melted.
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, vanilla, and eggs. Gradually add milk mixture to flour mixture, whisking until smooth. Whisk in butter mixture. Pour batter through a fine sieve into a bowl; discard lumps. Transfer batter to an airtight container; refrigerate at least 2 hours (or overnight).
3. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Lightly coat a 6-to 7-inch crepe pan or nonstick skillet with melted butter. Heat over medium heat until just starting to smoke. Remove pan from heat; pour 2 to 3 tablespoons batter (depending on size of pan) in center. Swirl to cover bottom. Reduce heat to medium-low; return pan to heat. Cook until edges of crepe turn golden and center is dry, about 45 seconds. Flip crepe; cook until underside is brown in spots, about 45 seconds more.
   
4. Slide crepe onto an ovenproof plate; cover with foil, and transfer to oven. Repeat process with remaining batter, coating pan with more butter as needed.
5. Fold each crepe into quarters to form a triangle. Arrange 3 crepes on each plate; drizzle with lemon-caramel sauce and garnish with candied lemon slices