Crêpes Suzette

When I was a child crêpes suzette was one of the first fancy puddings (i.e. desserts) I had. I think it was Omi, my maternal grandmother who had been living in France, who made them. Anyhow, Yesterday Signe and I purloined the following recipe from Delia Smith.

First prepare the crêpes (this can be done in advance).

Batter:

• grated zest of one orange
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 110g plain flour, sifted
• pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 dl milk
• 75 ml water
• 50g butter

Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Whisk the eggs gradually incorporating the flour as you do so.

Next slowly add the milk and water mixture, continue whisking until you have a nice smooth batter, with the consistency of thin cream.

Now melt the butter in a pan. Spoon 2 tbsp of it into the batter and whisk it in. Save the rest to grease the pan between pancakes.

Get the pan properly hot, then turn the heat down to medium and do a test pancake to see how much batter you need. 25 ml should be about right for an 18cm pan as these crêpes need to be quite thin. Go find a ladle of roughly that size, you should be able to pour the batter into the hot pan in one go. As soon as the batter hits the pan, tip it around with your other hand to get it evenly coated with batter. It should take just half a minute or so to cook until golden on one side. Flip it over - the other side will need a few seconds only - then simply slide it out of the pan onto a plate. If the pancakes look a little bit ragged in the pan, no matter because they are going to be folded anyway. You should end up with 16 crêpes. Stack the pancakes as you make them. All this can be done up to a day ahead.

Now prepare the sauce.

• 150ml freshly squeezed orange juice
  
• grated zest of 1 orange
• juice of 1 lemon
• grated rind of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 3 tbsp Grand Marnier + a little extra for flambing
  
• 50g/2oz unsalted butter
  

For the sauce, mix all the ingredients - with the exception of the butter - in a bowl. At the same time warm the plates on which the crêpes are going to be served. Now melt the butter in the widest frying pan you can find, pour in the sauce and allow it to heat very gently. Then place the first crêpe in the sauce in the pan, let it heat through before folding it in half and then in half again to make a triangle. Slide it to the edge of the pan, tilt the pan slightly so the sauce runs back into the centre, then add the next crêpe. Continue like this until they're all re-heated, folded and well soaked with the sauce.

Flame and serve. Heat a ladle filled with Grand Marnier over a gas flame, then set light to it. Carry the flaming ladle to the table over the pan and pour the flames over the crêpes before serving them on warmed plates.