One of my favorite restaurants in New York City is La Mercerie run by French chef Marie-Aude Rose. Her food is French—both country and elegant. This is my version of her amazing buckwheat crêpes with Black Forest ham, nutty Gruyère, and a fried egg. It’s great for breakfast, lunch, or brunch.
MAKES 6 CRÊPES
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
8 extra-large eggs, divided
¾ cup whole-grain buckwheat flour, such as Bob’s Red Mill
¼ cup all-purpose flour
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, divided
6 large, thin slices Black Forest ham
3 cups grated Gruyère cheese (8 to 10 ounces)
½ cup crème fraîche whisked with 1 tablespoon milk
Minced fresh parsley
Note: To keep the yolks intact, I break each egg into a small bowl and slide it into the pan without touching the other eggs.
Put the milk, melted butter, 2 of the eggs, the buckwheat flour, all-purpose flour, and 1½ teaspoons salt in the jar of a blender and process for 30 seconds, until smooth. Refrigerate in the covered jar for at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours. Before making the crêpes, add ¹⁄₃-cup water and blend until smooth.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange three racks evenly spaced in the oven.
Heat a 9-inch nonstick crêpe pan over medium heat, add 1 teaspoon of the butter, and swirl it with a paper towel. Pour a full ¹⁄₃-cup measuring cup of batter into the pan and swirl it to distribute the batter evenly. Cook the crêpe on one side only for 1½ to 2 minutes, until it’s cooked through and doesn’t stick to the pan. (Don’t flip it over.) Transfer the crêpe to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Make 5 more crêpes with the remaining batter, adding butter to keep the crêpes from sticking to the pan and placing 2 crêpes on each of the three sheet pans lined with parchment paper. Place one slice of ham on each crêpe and sprinkle each with ½ cup of the Gruyère.
To fry the eggs, heat a medium (10 to 11-inch) sauté pan over medium-low heat and add 1 tablespoon of the butter. When the butter is sizzling, carefully add 3 of the eggs without breaking the yolks (see note) and fry them for 4 to 6 minutes, until the whites are almost done but the yolks are still runny. Place one egg, sunny side up, at 12 o’clock on each crêpe and repeat with 1 tablespoon of the butter and the remaining 3 eggs. Sprinkle the eggs generously with salt and pepper and bake the crêpes for 5 minutes, until the cheese melts. While the cheese is hot, fold the sides of each crêpe toward the middle, overlapping like a letter, pressing lightly, with the egg yolk visible. Drizzle each crêpe with the crème fraiche mixture, sprinkle with parsley and salt, and serve hot.
Recipe courtesy of MODERN COMFORT FOOD: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. Copyright © 2020 by Ina Garten. Photography by Quentin Bacon. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
