Buckwheat Crêpes with Tangerine Butter and Poached Kumquats

Step 1

Prepare and cook: 12 Buckwheat Crêpes (opposite).

Step 2

Stack the crêpes as they are cooked. Don’t refrigerate them if you are using them within a few hours.

Step 3

Prepare: Poached kumquats (page 365).

Step 4

Prepare the tangerine butter. Remove, with a fine grater, the zest from: 1 tangerine.

Step 5

Cut the fruit in half and squeeze the juice into a measuring cup.

Step 6

In a small bowl mix together: 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, softened, 2 tablespoons sugar.

Step 7

Beat until soft and creamy and then, with a fork, stir in the zest and half of the tangerine juice. When mixed stir in: 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier or Cointreau.

Step 8

This will take a while, but keep stirring until the liquid is incorporated. If possible add a bit more of the tangerine juice. The butter will appear lumpy; this is not a problem.

Step 9

Remove a crêpe from the stack and, with the pale side up, spread a spoonful of butter over half of the crêpe. Fold the crêpe in two over the butter, and then in half again to make a triangle. Repeat with the rest of the crêpes. Lay them out in a buttered baking dish in slightly overlapping rows. If desired, sprinkle them lightly with more liqueur. Right before serving, bake the crêpes in a preheated 350°F oven for 5 to 8 minutes to warm through. While the crêpes are heating in the oven, warm the poached kumquats. Serve the crêpes hot from the oven and top each serving with a few spoonfuls of poached kumquats and their syrup.

Variations

Step 10

Serve the crêpes with the segments of 3 tangerines, raw with their juice, instead of the poached kumquats.

Step 11

Instead of the tangerine, use an orange or a blood orange to make the butter. Use only 1 teaspoon of its zest and start with about one third of its juice.

Step 12

Serve with vanilla ice cream or tangerine sherbet.