Mushroom Crepes – Crepas de hongos

In a previous post, I mentioned that French pancakes (crêpes) arrived to Mexico in the 19th century, shortly after the country became independent; later on, the thin pancakes were established as a part of Mexican cuisine during the short reign of Emperor Maximilian I (1864-67). One savoury crepe filling that the emperor favoured and has remained popular to this day is huitlacoche (corn smut), the grey and black galls on corn cobs; often called “Mexican truffle” in culinary terms, huitlacoche has been harvested and consumed as an edible corn product since pre-Hispanic times. For this post, I am using my mom’s recipes for crepes and cheese sauce, and since huitlacoche is generally hard to find outside Mexico, I give an option to prepare a “huitlacoche-style” mushroom filling prepared with a medley of mushrooms.

Mushroom Crepes – Crepas de hongos

Ingredients

Cooked tomatillo green sauce (click here for my recipe, or from jar)

Basic Crepes
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs
2 cups milk
3 tbsp butter; melted, plus more butter for cooking

Huitlacoche-Style Mushroom Filling
1 lb (454 g) mixed mushrooms, such as oyster, cremini, king oyster, shiitake, etc.; for black tone, at least one Portobello
1 ear fresh corn
½ white onion; peeled and chopped
1 tbsp fresh epazote; washed, leaves only, chopped (if not available, for this recipe, a mix of fresh thyme and flat parsley leaves may be used)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil

Cheese Sauce
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tbsp butter
1 cup milk
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup melting cheese, such as mozzarella or Mexican Manchego

Prepare crepes: In a large bowl, beat eggs with a whisk (photo below, left); incorporate milk and continue mixing (photo below, centre). Pour in melted butter, and whisk to incorporate (photo below, right):

Continue mixing while slowly adding flour, sifting through a mesh to avoid clumps (photo below, left). The resulting batter looks runny and bubbly (photo below, right):

Warm up an eight inch frying pan over medium heat; add a dab of butter, spreading and removing excess with a paper towel (photo below, right). Pour two tablespoons of batter, tilting the pan to quickly spread the batter all over the surface of the pan (photo below, right):

Wait until the batter forms tiny bubbles and the edge becomes wavy (photo below, left). Release the crepe by running a thin spatula around the edge (photo below, right):

Flip the pan over a plate, to drop the crepe onto the plate. Continue cooking the batter, greasing the pan as before after cooking three to four crepes. Makes approximately twenty crepes:

Cover to keep warm.

Prepare mushroom filling: Quickly rinse and dry the mushrooms, or brush off all dirt. In the photo below, from left, I had a combination of Portobello, shiitake and king oyster mushrooms:

Chop and mix the mushrooms:

Reserve.

Remove husk and silk from corn on the cob; rinse under running water and dry. Slice the corn kernels off by running a sharp knife along the surface of the cob, turning to get all the rows of kernels (photo below, left). Discard the cob. Add reserved mushrooms and mix with corn kernels (photo below, right):

Warm up oil in a pan over medium heat; add chopped onions and sauté until translucent. Add corn and mushroom mixture (photo below, left), season with salt, and continue cooking for five minutes, stirring to incorporate all ingredients (photo below, right):

Sprinkle herbs on top (photo below, left). Stir and cook for one more minute, then turn off heat, but leave on the stove to keep warm. The filling looks like huitlacoche from the corn kernels, and mushroom tones, especially the black spots from the Portobello mushrooms:

Prepare Cheese Sauce: Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. add flour and whisk to incorporate (photo below, left). Cook for a couple of minutes, then add salt and slowly pour in milk, whisking vigorously to avoid clumps (photo below, right):

Reduce heat to low, and continue cooking and stirring continuously (photo below, left). Continue whisking, and as the sauce thickens, tilt the pan every minute or so; the right consistency is achieved when a film forms at the bottom of the pan (photo below, right):

Add grated cheese (photo below, left) and mix to incorporate and melt cheese (photo below, right):

Cook just until the cheese has melted completely and the sauce looks smooth:

Warm up green sauce and prepare plates: Place sauce in a saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat. Spread two to three tablespoons of green sauce on a dinner plate, and set aside.

Assemble crepes and plate: Place one crepe on working surface, spread filling along centre of crepe and top with some cheese sauce (photo below, left). Fold the crepe to form a roll (photo below, right):

Repeat with another crepe. Transfer to the dinner plate on top of the green sauce, placing the seam of the crepes facing up (photo below, left). Drizzle more cheese sauce on top of the crepes (photo below, right):

Continue plating as needed, and serve immediately. Enjoy while warm:

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I do not make crepes frequently enough to justify allocating any cash on the purchase of a dedicated crepe pan, and for now a regular frying pan is acceptable to conform to the requirements for cooking decent enough crepes. However, I would like to have a crepe pan some day, so I keep it on my kitchen wish list. For your convenience, click on the highlighted text below for products available on Amazon™. DISCLAIMER: Any reviews included in this post are my own, for items I have purchased, not provided by any company; as an Amazon Associates Program affiliate, I might receive a commission for any purchases originated from the links below, at no extra cost to you. Thank you to readers who have bought other products starting with a click from my links!