Legitimate Crepe. Savory with Thyme

Gilda Radner as Emily Litella Saturday Night Live

Gilda Radner’s Emily Litella was the queen of mishearing and one of my favorite characters. If you don’t know or remember or were born in the ’80s, Emily Litella was a sweet little old lady that visited the Saturday Night Live Weekend Update desk to give editorial on a current issue she had mis-heard about. She did pieces about ‘violins on tv’ and the ‘deaf penalty’ and called Chevy Chase ‘Cheddar’. One week she opened with; ‘What’s all this fuss about endangered feces.’ She then went on her diatribe wondering how we could ‘possibly run out of such a thing. Just look around you, you can see it all over the place’. When corrected, Emily Litella didn’t apologize for her rant, she simply said; ‘never mind’ and moved on. That simple ‘never mind’ was her own admission of error. She didn’t try to justify it or explain it away. Nope, just ‘never mind’ and move on.

Then there are things that are misspoken; verbal farts or momentary lapses. No one is immune to this. I had back to back boyfriends in my 20s (not THE ’20s, MY 20s) who had the same first name. One might think this would eliminate all opportunities for calling one by the other’s name…No, no it did not. In a verbal battle/heated argument, I shouted out an obscenity followed by the former boyfriend’s last name. Like if Ben Affleck yelled ‘Eff You, Lopez!’ at his now wife, Jennifer Garner. You get the idea. Not my proudest moment. Still, my mistake didn’t mean that I wasn’t angry at BF #2. I was. The talking doctor might also argue that I had BF #1 on the brain. Probably.

So…we all make mistakes. We get riled up or react too quickly to something we misheard. We misspeak in the heat of an argument. It can happen.

But, let’s face it – somethings are exactly what they seem to be. There isn’t a universe, circumstance or situation where anyone in his right mind would ever use the term ‘legitimate rape.’ I’m not political, but Todd Akin’s recent verbal farts infuriate me. AND, more infuriating is his refusal to back away from a political run – even though his own party has disowned him.

So, in the spirit of mishearing, I like to think that Emily Litella would have heard Akin’s comments and done an editorial piece on Legitimate Crepes.

Crepes can go two ways – sweet dessert crepes and savory dinner crepes – both are totally legitimate. This weekend,  I was all about the savory.

Savory Crepes (22 – 28 crepes)

1. In a blender (you can also do this by hand with a whisk or in a Cuisinart) combine 4 large eggs, 1 1/2 cups whole milk, 1 cup of water,  2 cups of flour, 6 tbsp melted butter (cooled), 1/2 cup thyme, 1/2 tsp of salt.

NOTE: any fresh herbs will do here…I’m just on a thyme kick right now.

2. Blend/pulse for about :15 seconds until all ingredients are combined and the mixture is a little frothy on top.

Crepe Batter in Blender

Let the batter rest in the refrigerator for at least one hour. You can also leave it in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Savory Crepe batter coats pan

3. Heat a small non-stick pan over medium/high heat and add butter just to coat. I used a steel crepe pan…but, then abandoned it for a 12 in non-stick All-Clad pan because the steel pan got too hot.

4. Put about 1/4 cup of batter in the center of the hot pan and swirl the pan around to coat the bottom.

5. When the batter is dried (:30 seconds or less, it’s fast), flip the crepe and continue cooking for about another :10 seconds or so.

6. Remove and allow to cool. Repeat until all the batter is gone.

Warning…If you have too much butter in your hot pan, the batter will NOT swirl around and you can end up with a sad, ugly crepe.

Sad Ugly Crepe

The sad, ugly crepe did taste just the same. And, I ate it right there at the stove while making the rest of the crepes.

Once the crepes have cooled, according to Alton Brown, you can keep them in the refrigerator for several days or freeze them for up to 60 days.

The next two days will follow with savory filling recipes for the crepes.

Emily Litella apologized and didn’t try to explain. She said, ‘never mind’ and moved away from the editorial desk. I think all parties (even that tea one) can agree that Akin should move away from a political career. Akin is a legitimate creep.

Until then, if you get a chance, google Emily Litella and watch some of the skits on youtube.  Sadly, as this election year heats up, we now know that Emily Litella was right – there are not so-endangered feces all around us.