Buckwheat Crepes With Asparagus, Ham and Gruyère Recipe (2024)

You can use all buckwheat. This is common in Brittany.

Overall a very delicious brunch or lunch item - I did make some minor changes. I had to thin the batter a bit and whisked in about a 1/4 cup of whole milk (after chiling the batter for two hours). I also pan fried my asparagus and added lemon juice, about a 1/4 teaspoon of lemon rind, black pepper and sea salt. The touch of lemon went well with all the ingredients. I'm not a buckwheat fan but I would make this again and probably make a vegetarian version with spinach and mushrooms.

you need AP flour to lighten the batter. all buckwheat would be too dense/leaden.

Yes. You will notice when you cook them that the side cooked first is more attractive, so should be down when crepes are filled.

I made this according to directions (rested the batter for 2 hours), with the exception of having 'grilled' the asparagus stalks (on the stove in a ridged pan) instead of boiling them. After having to discard the first few crepes, I thinned the batter with water, and the rest went more smoothly. Be sure to butter the pan with your paper towel before each new crepe, and be aware that your last crepes will be better looking than your first ones.

I had a failure using my leftover batter. My success two days ago was after I switched to a large cast-iron grill from the eight-inch cast iron pan. Today, I switched back to 8 inch, and also added some more butter milk. The batter never crisped, just mush and soft. I think the 8inch may be part of the problem. The larger grill allows the mixture to flatten out more and can be smoothed a bit. Also, easier to lift from. Mushy, but edible, but perhaps this will help others.

After looking at comments, used M R Shulman's recipe for buckwheat crepes, which were perfect. Otherwise, followed this recipe. Served filled crepes with a fried egg on top. The richness of the gruyère and earthiness of the buckwheat, very nice.

I haven’t cooked mine yet but the batter is thin like heavy cream,. My issue is with weight vs volume of the flours. I scooped and leveled 1/2 cup of AP flour which weighed 69 grams. Then I scooped a little less than one cup of buckwheat flour and it weighed 141 grams. I think in the end I went with the weight which is why, perhaps, it seems thin enough, so far. It is in the fridge for several hours. But it is confusing. Graeme Bethune

AMT buckwheat crepes are much better, sub whole milk buttermilk.

Way too thick. I ended up adding probably 1-2 cups extra liquid. I also added oil. These are really finicky. I’d probably try Martha Shulman’s recipe for the crepes themselves. I panfried the asparagus with salt and pepper and added capers 2 tbsp on the brining liquid. I used Brie instead of Gruyère!.

I learned this same recipe from friends while I was living in Québec, except we added apple slices and a drizzle of maple syrup - delicious!

I agree with Diana that the MR Shulman recipe is less finicky. Perhaps it's the inclusion of oil which helps. Her NYT column was for low calorie cooking so you can certainly use whole milk and melted butter.

Our buckwheat flour gave a lighter colored crepe than the photo, but delicious. Going to the store today but I made these last night with what I had: my husband's home-grown tomatoes sauted with onion, garlic, and pinto beans, a not-bad-not-great grated cheddar, and scrambled eggs. Kind of France-meets-Mexico. Milk ran out so used a blend of plain yogurt, water, and cream to get to the right consistency. Love flexible recipes.

We loved these and will make again. I need to work on getting them thinner (maybe the batter was too thick) and browner. David Lebovitz has a similar recipe on his blog and he recommends the following for storage: If you’re going to stand over a hot stove, you may as well make extra and freeze them. Once cool, wrap securely in plastic film, then foil. They’ll keep in the freezer for a couple of months. You can also store them in the refrigerator for up to three days, well wrapped.

I found these proportions resulted in a very thick mass of batter. Perhaps the buttermilk or buckwheat available to me was different somehow, so I thinned it with 1/2c of milk. I suggest adding the dry ingredients until you reach the necessary consistency, instead of just going by the given ratio.

This recipe is very similar to the one David gave in "The Heart of the Artichoke," except that in the cookbook he calls for milk instead of buttermilk. I've made it that way and the consistency was just right. I wonder if cooks who found the batter too thick were using a thicker buttermilk. Buttermilk thickness can be all over the map; the one my supermarket carries is almost like yogurt, and I always thin it with milk if I'm making pancakes or waffles.

Adding sale con tartufo was a big hit with this recipe.

After looking at comments, used M R Shulman's recipe for buckwheat crepes, which were perfect. Otherwise, followed this recipe. Served filled crepes with a fried egg on top. The richness of the gruyère and earthiness of the buckwheat, very nice.

Really lovely brunch item! I added butter, salt and pepper to the asparagus and substituted a ham butt for deli ham. Delicious and filling.
I used Red Mills organic buckwheat flour, Kate's Creamery buttermilk and organic goose eggs. I made the batter about 15 hours ahead of cooking and didn't have to thin it at all.

Followed the recipe closely -- including the update to thin the batter out -- and loved the results. Used white asparagus because life is short (in truth: used white asparagus because I misread the price and though it was cheaper than green...it was not). On the plus side, I can safely say that white asparagus works brilliantly in this recipe!

Very difficult to flip over. The batter yields super soft crepes, perhaps needing more AP flour to fortify the mixture. Also, it is rather grainy. I'm rarely disappointed with a recipe David Tanis writes. Unfortunately, this one is not a keeper.

Why use buttermilk for crepes? The crepe recipe needs more eggs and some oil. As given, it is much too thick to spread in the pan. Replace the buttermilk with regular milk, add about 5 more eggs and 1/4 cup of canola oil. Use equal amounts of buckwheat flour and all-purpose flour.