A New Breakfast Buffet For A New Year

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

There is something about watching a very big apple drop that causes Americans to plan big parties or big trips in anticipation of that life-changing moment when one Western Calendar year passes into the next. For anyone who remembers Y2K, however, such high expectations often come hand in hand with a bit of disappointment, or at least a sense of anti-climax. You may think, in that midnight moment, that you felt a tangible tingling sensation that could only be your connection to the earth’s getting officially another year older. I would suggest that the real reason for your tingling might lie in that glass of bubbly and in the lips of the eager fellows lining up for a New Year’s kiss.

Whatever the highs and lows of the night before, the morning brings with it a new day, and a new year. New Year’s Day is a time for Rose Parades, Rose Bowls, and rosy-cheeked friends and family yawning off the festivities of the night before. In my experience, those too young or too smart to have imbibed in the bubbles are usually the first to the kitchen and the first to the TV to catch those computerized, hydraulic, flower-covered floats crawling down Pasadena. But if you're like me, you might have foolishly bought into the hype of the night before (again), and would be lucky to see even the second half of the parade broadcast. Last night was just last night, but your memories of Perrier Jouet and pounds of cocktail party puff pastry seem somehow distant.

The point is, family and friends in various states of excitement and recovery are unlikely to get up at the same time on New Years Day. And those who do get up early enough to make breakfast might be too engaged or hungover to make breakfast for the rest.

At some point in my childhood, my family started making crepes for New Year's. It started one year at the home of my best friend Janna, whose crepe maker, with its concave top perfectly designed to heat flat, round pancakes in under two minutes a piece, had always intrigued me. Back at my family’s home the next year I convinced my mother that we too, should make these paper thin pancakes, rolled and filled with such healthy toppings as maple syrup, confectioner’s sugar, and strawberry jam. So we did and it was a delicious, crowd pleasing, mess of a New Year’s breakfast.

Two years in a row makes something a tradition--doesn't it?--so like our annual New Year’s Eve kid tournament of “Hide-and-go-seek-in-the-dark,” I was determined to make crepes part of the deal. My mother thought the whole mess was too time consuming but I managed to persuade her that crepes, are in fact, the perfect solution to the lazy New Year's morning breakfast.

The keys to a successful, and fast, New Year's crepe buffet are as follows:

1. All the ingredients for the batter are literally whizzed together in a blender in less than five minutes.

2. Since the batter needs time to rest, it is the perfect make-ahead meal, as in you can make it before you go out the night before when you actually have the energy and hydration to do so.

3. Fillings are at the discretion of the individual, ranging in difficulty from straight out of the bottle sweet syrups to savory cheeses or meat fillings.

4. With ingredients prepped and a batter whipped up, the crepes can be made and filled to order, allowing a timely, a la minute breakfast for everyone.

Another year has come and gone. A warm filled crepe will ease the grumpy stomachs and groggy memories of the previous night's revelries, wiping a clean slate for a new year and another New Year’s Eve to come.

Serves/Makes: 6

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk, PLUS
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup flour
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound frozen cherries
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 piece (2 inch size) ginger root
• 1 orange
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cup cottage cheese
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper