Crepes St. Jacques is a copy cat recipe from the old Magic Pan restaurant chain and the flavor of this is outstanding.
I knew it wouldn’t take long for me to try a savory crepe dish. After having so much fun making sweet crepes, I had to go for savory. And Christine had told me how good this meal could be. (See Fresh Fruit Filled Crepes). This is Crepes St. Jacques, which is a crepe filled with scallops cooked in a mushroom bechamel sauce, then accented with cheese.
I looked up Coquilles St. Jacques crepes on google and immediately found a copycat recipe for a dish that The Magic Pan restaurant chain used in the 70’s. It was from Uncle Phaedrus at www.hungrybrowser.com. I then looked at another website that had the identical recipe and the wording was nearly identical. That was from www.absolutelyfresh.com, which is a fish market/restaurant in Omaha Nebraska. So that is the recipe I tried and it is really spot on. The taste is complex with lots of scallop flavor and everything about it works. When I make this again,(soon), I will make some additional mushroom sauce to pour over the finished crepes. Additionally, other recipes add grated cheese to the bechamel sauce, but I think that would make the dish too filling. It has enough going on and is flavorful enough without the extra cheese.
Here’s a look at the creamy, scallop filling.
Wrapped, scallop filled crepes. Another presentation method would be to just wrap the sauce in crepes that were trimmed for consistency and not have the sides tucked.
Ingredients
CREPES:
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp melted butter
SAUCE:
- 1/3 cup dry white wine
- 2 tbsp chopped green onion
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 1/2 pound bay scallops , or sea scallops chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
- 3 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cup half and half
- 2 tbsp parsley chopped
- 1/2 cup Swiss cheese , grated
Instructions
CREPES:
- Combine all the ingredients except the flour in a bowl and whisk together.
- Gradually add sifted flour and whisk until a smooth batter is achieved.
- Ladle 1/4 cup of the batter at a time into a small fry pan or crepe pan that has been preheated to medium high.
- Swirl the pan quickly after you pour the batter, so the pan is coated with a very thin layer of batter.
- Cook the crepe for about 45 to 60 seconds, until the edges start to curl up.
- Flip and cook an additional 20 seconds.
- Place on a plate between layers of wax paper until needed.
SAUCE:
- Combine the white wine, green onion, mushrooms and scallops in a saucepan.
- Simmer for 5 minutes on medium.
- While the scallop mixture simmers, melt the butter on medium heat in a large skillet, and stir in the flour and salt.
- Whisk continually until the flour becomes a light brown color.
- Pour in the cream and cook, whisk constantly until thick, which takes about two minutes.
- Add the parsley, and then the scallop mixture.
- Line a sheet pan with parchment and spray with cooking spray.
- Fill each crêpe with 3 to 4 T of the scallop mixture.
- Fold the crêpe and lay it seam side down on the parchment, then sprinkle with the cheese.
- Place in a preheated 350F oven until the cheese melts, about 10 or 12 minutes.
- Serve while hot.
Definitely worth a try. This could be an elegant meal that is assembled in an hour or less. It certainly tastes great.
I’m going to try this for lunch today, but using Alaskan codfish instead of scallops. Can’t wait to try it!
Hi Linda,
Interesting! You might consider a bit of Old Bay seasoning to compliment the mild fish.
Let us know how it works.
Thanks for the comment.
Joe
I love this recipe and plan to make it for a luncheon tomorrow. Do you think I could make the scallop and sauce the day before?
Hi Barbara,
Thanks for finding my blog.
I think that would work okay and the flavor would still be good. I would heat up the sauce the next day and it may need a bit more milk or half and half added since it would thicken over night. I’ve never tried it, but I think even the crepes could be made a day ahead. Make the crepes and let them cool completely to room temp. Then place them in a stack, separating each one with waxed paper.
Have fun at your luncheon.
Joe
Great tasting! Thanks!
Hi Joe,
Don’t quite understand your 11/2 cup half and half instructions in the sauce ingredients?
Help!!
Thanks Helen ( Australia)
Hi Helen,
Half and half is light cream, around 12% fat. 50% milk and 50% cream. Sorry for the confusion. Using 100% heavy cream in this recipe would be fine too.
He actually means a cup and a half (1 1/2) of the dairy ingredient half and half (an American/Canadian ingredient that is often added to a morning cup of coffee.
I tried them today, a very good, straightforward recipe. I will make them again.
Thanks for the nice comment Roxanne. Glad you liked it.
Delish. We patronized The Magic Pan during our dating (SF) and early married life (Concord, Ca) 40+ years ago. I always ordered crepes St. Jacques and have craved that flavor off and on ever since. I found healthy crepes for my diabetes at costco (Crepini egg thins with cauliflower) and thought, now I can have Crepes St. Jacques. Googled c st j and there was your post re Magic Pan. Thank u so much. The flavor was so memorable. We tremendously enjoyed revisiting that flavor as well as that time in our lives.
I tried them today as it was one of the most straight forward recipes & they were good. I have saved the recipe.
Im allergic to shellfish, so I made it with chicken, was absolutely delicious, thanks for such a great recipe
Thanks Debbie.
I found scallops on sale and since I already had some crepes frozen decided to make crepes st Jacques always a favourite. As I was driving to the store I worked on remembering the ingredients I’d need. Only bits I do differently is use shallots and gruyere. When I want to cook with a dry white wine, I cheat with dry or extra dry vermouth since it stores with a screw top. I think when we had this in Paris they seemed to have prosciutto in it. Personal opinion I didn’t think leaving it out was an issue. (I’ve always have left it out because of cost and not many other recipes that I’d use it.)
5 stars for sure. This is excellent. Making it again for a friend’s birthday. Don’t even hesitate if you love scallops. I can’t say enough good things about this recipe. Thank you for posting it.
Thanks Mark. It is very tasty.
I have made these for years. I found my recipe in a crepe cookbook I bought it the 70s. The only other thing I add is about 12 ounces of raw medium shrimp. Adds another dimension to this dish.
Thanks for the tip Karen, I’ll have to try it with extra shrimp.
I also add shrimp and a touch of dry sherry instead of white wine. I use to always get these at the Magic Pan in Beverly Hills along with an Orange Almond Salad on the side. so good .
Fantastic! I made it without mushrooms (hubby is sensitive to them), still so good! Thank you!
Thanks Valerie. Just the flavor of the scallops in the white sauce is enough.
I made these for my husband’s birthday tonight. Just delicious! Thanks for sharing!!
Hi Karine,
Thanks for the comment. Happy birthday to your husband, and I’m glad you liked the Crepes St. Jacques.
These are surreal. Absolutely spot on identical flavours of the Crepes St. Jacques served at the former Garden Creperie in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Divine silky sauce swimming with eclectic flavours surrounded by the pillowy tender flavourful crepes. We topped each crepe with some sauce before sprinkling with Gouda cheese. Served with a baby kale and beet salad with a shallot dressing, we were in heaven!
Thanks Janet,
I fix this dish when I want something really good tasting. Happy to hear you liked it.
Joe
That is so great to hear, the Garden Crêperie was my favorite place to eat for the Crepe St. Jacques and spinach salad. Went there with my Mom for lunches and pretend it was a mini holiday. Miss it so much
Hi Charlynne,
So glad you found my recipe. Crepes St. Jacques is one of my favorites. Hope you like it.
Thanks for the comment.
Joe
When Joe made this I thought I died and went to heaven, it is so amazing. I love crepes, I love mushrooms, and I love scallops but I never would have thought of putting them together, much less would I have believed that the combination would taste so divine.
Wonderful