Savory Crêpes filled with Cream Cheese Salmon Dill Cucumber Recipe
French Crêpes with cream cheese topped with smoked salmon, fresh dill herb and cucumber slices. It's a marriage of flavors in this savory crêpes filling.
Make sure to have all your ingredients ready. Begin by cracking the eggs into a mixing bowl and using a whisk or hand mixer, beat them until they become frothy. It's important to continue beating until the eggs change to a pale yellow color.
2 Medium Eggs
Mix a portion of the flour and salt with the beaten eggs, and also add some milk to the mixture. Avoid adding all the ingredients at once.
1½ Cup All-purpose Flour, pinch Salt, 2 Cups Milk
Using a hand mixer, blend the mixture until it thickens, then gradually pour in more milk. Continue to blend while adding all the flour and milk, ensuring that everything is well combined and there are no lumps left, resulting in a thin batter.
Allow the batter to rest for 15 minutes.
To fry the Crêpes:
Ensure that the skillet remains on the stove while keeping the batter nearby, along with a ladle.
Preheat the skillet to a medium-hot temperature and add a tablespoon of butter, stirring until it has melted and is evenly distributed. Ensure that the skillet is hot but not smoking before proceeding.
6 Tablespoons Butter
With one hand, take the skillet and use the other hand to pour a ladle of batter into the hot pan, quickly moving the skillet in a circular motion to evenly distribute the batter across the entire surface. It's important to work swiftly and avoid wasting time.
After the batter has been evenly distributed and has settled in the pan, return the skillet to the heat, maintaining a medium-hot setting.
Cook the crêpe on one side until it starts to turn slightly brown in some areas. As it cooks, the edges will begin to separate from the pan, making it easier to flip.
Using a wooden spatula, carefully flip the crêpe and cook it on the other side, maintaining the same heat setting.
Cook the crêpes on both sides until they are done or have turned slightly brown in certain areas. It should take approximately 10 minutes to cook one crêpe thoroughly on medium-high heat, flipping it to cook each side for approximately 5 minutes. Ideally, the crêpes should be crispy on the thinnest parts.
Using a wooden spatula, transfer the cooked crêpe from the griddle onto an empty plate, and then lower the stove heat to medium.
Repeat the same steps with the remaining batter, making sure to add approximately 1 tablespoon of butter to the skillet before frying each savory crêpe. Keep the skillet on the heat, but be cautious not to overheat the pan and butter to the point of smoking, as this could pose a health risk. A slight sizzle from the butter is acceptable.
For the Filling:
Prepare all the fresh ingredients. Peel and slice the cucumber, clean the salmon by cutting off the brown/gray parts, chop your fresh dill weed.
1 Small Cucumber, 6 Slices Smoked Salmon, 2 Teaspoon Dill
In a bowl, combine the cream cheese, dill weed, salt and black pepper.
2 Teaspoon Dill, ½ Cup Cream Cheese, ⅛ Teaspoon Salt, ⅛ Teaspoon Black Pepper
Place your crêpes over a working board or plate so that it is open-faced. Spread some cream cheese filling over the crêpes.
Place a small slice of smoked salmon over the cream cheese in the center. Place and spread cucumber slices over that.
6 Slices Smoked Salmon, 1 Small Cucumber
Fold your filled savory crêpes your way, either like a burrito or in half two times. Serve up and enjoy.
Video
Notes
Choose if you want to make your own batch of savory crêpes or if you are going to use store-bought pre-made unsweetened crêpes. If you select store-bought crêpes, which is the faster effortless option, skip all the crêpes making instructions in this recipe and jump right to the recipe filling instructions.If you make your own crêpes from scratch:
If the batter is too thick, add some more milk. It should be the consistency of a syrup falling off a spoon.
Whisk the batter every time quickly before pouring it with the ladle into the skillet.
Don't over fill the ladle, fill it to 90% because that's all you need for a thin crêpe, and it's also easier to move around the ladle without making a mess (I'm guilty of that!)
You will need about 1 tablespoon of butter per crêpes to fry. I use about 6 tablespoons to fry my crêpes.
For the Filling:
You can substitute smoked salmon with lox.
Cream cheese can be substituted with crème fraîche (mostly common in France)
You can skip dill weed in the recipe if you can't get it, but it adds a lot of flavor.
See post for variations and for next-level seasoning ideas.