Serves: 8 – 12
Time: 20 minutes (plus 30 minutes refrigeration time for crepe batter)
Why the crepe? Why not make a venison stuffed breakfast burrito with cheese, mushrooms, and wrapped in a handy flour tortilla? It would be an easily transportable breakfast. And it would hold together better too, because crepes tend to fall apart when you manipulate them too much. So, why a crepe? My simple answer is I wanted to try something different than a wild game breakfast burrito.
The crepe has long been eaten for breakfast, starting to be served during the 13th century, and even has an amusing French urban legend birth story about a housewife accidentally spilling porridge, which conveniently was extra thin porridge, onto a flat cooktop surface, which was conveniently also piping hot, and the crepe was born. The culinary delights’ name, “crepe,” translates from French to English as “curled,” which adequately describes the delicately curled edges of this thin pancake.
The combination of simple ingredients: flour, eggs, milk, and of course lots of melted butter, results in a crispy, buttery canvas to build breakfast on. Traditionally, crepes with a buckwheat flour base were used to build savory crepes and ones with other flour bases, such as all-purpose, were used for sweet crepes. Crepe filling options are endless and part of what makes crepes for breakfast so much fun.
For this savory venison crepe recipe, I used a sourdough base. This adds a slight touch of tanginess to the dish, which is otherwise filled with comforting and warming flavors such as cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg. The dish pairs wonderfully with a mug of hot coffee, but the spices also pair great with the nutty portabella mushrooms and fresh chopped greens. I added goat cheese as an assistant to the slightly sour taste from the crepes.
These savory breakfast crepes are perfect for a cooler early morning breakfast before heading out on a fun day or a lazy, mid-day brunch where the goal is to take your time and relax.
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground venison
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil, such as avocado, canola, olive oil
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 oz whipped goat cheese
- Baby portabella mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 2 cups chopped greens, such as chard or spinach
- 8 eggs
- 1 cup sour dough starter
- 3 tablespoons melted butter
- ¾ cup milk, or a non-dairy alternative milk such as almond or soy
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- With a whisk, mix together ingredients for crepe batter: 8 eggs, cup of sour dough starter, ¾ cup milk, and some salt.
- Allow the melted butter to cool slightly before adding, so it will not cook the eggs. Slowly drizzle the melted butter into the crepe batter while whisking. Mix until smooth.
- Let crepe batter rest in the refrigerator for half an hour.
- Preheat a large cast iron pan over medium heat. Add the tablespoon of cooking oil and pound of ground venison.
- Brown meat for five minutes.
- Add sliced mushrooms and sauté for five more minutes.
- Season the venison mixture with the cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.
- Add chards and cook an additional two minutes. Drop temperature of pan to low and keep venison mixture warm while making crepes.
- In a medium non-stick skillet, grease the pan with a bit of butter or cooking oil and heat over medium high heat.
- Pour a ¼ cup of the crepe batter into the hot pan, tilting and twirling the pan while pouring and spreading the crepe batter evenly over the bottom of the pan.
- Once the batter is evenly spread over the pan bottom, allow to cook for 90 seconds. Flip with a spatula and cook the other side for 30 seconds. Repeat with the remaining batter, greasing the pan as necessary between crepes.
- To fill the crepe, spread a layer of whipped goat cheese and then add a generous scoop of the venison and mushroom mixture. Roll and serve!
