This morning we celebrated the first official day of Spring with a wonderful breakfast featuring a special ingredient, new to our kitchen. I've been hearing about Meyer lemons for a while now, but the recent posts at Oyster Food & Culture and Eat a Beet really caught my attention and I had to learn more about this ingredient.
Meyer lemon is a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange and is named after an agricultural explorer who introduced this citrus to the United States. Meyer lemon has become the trendy ingredient recently as popularized by such chefs as Alice Waters at Chez Panisse. These lemons are special because they are much sweeter and more complex than regular lemons.
I used Meyer lemon in all of the components of today's sweet creation. I added some lemon zest to my regular crepe batter and some lemon juice to the strawberry coulis. Its flavors are highlighted in the cream where lemon juice is even sweeter and more concentrated from the baked lemons.
Ingredients:
Meyer lemons
6 Meyer lemons
6 teaspoons of sugar
2 additional Meyer lemons
Meyer lemon cream
1 cup cream cheese
1 cup Confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/2 cup lemon juice (from baked lemons)
strawberry coulis
1 cup sliced strawberries
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons Confectioners sugar
crêpes
1 cup all purpose flour
3 large eggs
1 1/3 cups milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
Directions:
Meyer lemons
Pre-heat the oven to 400 °F. Slice the lemons in half and arrange on a baking sheet. Sprinkle one teaspoon of sugar over each half. Bake the lemons for about 15 minutes. Cool and then squeeze as much juice as possible.
Zest and juice the fresh lemons.
Meyer lemon cream
Beat cream cheese, Confectioners sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice together until the cream is smooth.
strawberry coulis
Combine strawberries, fresh lemon juice, and Confectioners sugar in a mixing cup and blend with an immersion blender.
crêpes
In a large bowl, combine flour, eggs, milk, butter, sugar, salt, and lemon zest using electric mixer until smooth.
Spray nonstick skillet with vegetable oil spray and heat over medium-high heat.
Pour 2/3 of the scoop of batter into pan and turn the pan gently to spread the batter around the whole pan. Cook until edge of crêpe turns light brown, about 1 minute. Loosen edges gently with spatula and turn crêpe over. Cook until bottom begins to brown in spots, about 30 seconds. Transfer to plate and cover with foil. Repeat with remaining batter, spraying pan with oil spray as needed and keeping the crêpes warm.
Place the Meyer cream inside the crêpes and fold. Top with the Sweet Strawberry Coulis. This recipe should yield about 8-10 large crêpes, if using a 12-inch crêpe pan.
