Savor welcomes spring with the debut of cooking videocasts on www.journalstar.com, featuring Margaret Berry’s “Welcome to My Kitchen.”

In the first of these occasional segments, you’ll see the local artist and innovative cook prepare Spring Crepes filled with asparagus and ham/turkey and Swiss cheese, perfect for brunch, lunch or a light dinner.

Don’t let the French-sounding “crepes” scare you; just think thin, lacy pancakes that don’t have to be perfectly round.

You don’t need any special equipment to make the dish — Berry uses a large skillet instead of a crepe pan — and the ingredients are basic. Plus, fresh asparagus is plentiful this time of year.

Berry showed her flair for food preparation early on: In high school, she was named a Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow.

She learned cooking basics from her Czech mother, but most of her cooking style comes from contemporary food magazines and shows. She often enters cooking contests, and one of her recipes was published in Better Homes & Gardens.

Berry looks for recipes that are easy, stand the test of time and allow her to add artistic flair.

A former executive director of the Lincoln Arts Council, she returned to her art studio to work in encaustic, an ancient art form that uses molten beeswax, damar resin crystals and pigment as hot paint.

Berry, who lives in Lincoln, is an artist-in-residence for the Nebraska Arts Council and teaches students of all ages in her home studio. Learn more about her work at www.margaretberryart.com.

In “Welcome to My Kitchen,” Berry will show you how easy it is to make crepes. Tune in and see.

Here’s her recipe from “The Vegetarian Epricure: Book Two” by Anna Thomas (Alfred A. Knopf).

Spring Crepes

3 large eggs

2/3 cup milk

1/3 cup light cream

½ cup water

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons cognac (optional)

Beat the eggs, then beat in the milk, cream, water and salt. When the mixture is well blended, add the flour gradually, whisking it in until the batter is perfectly smooth. Or combine all these things in a blender. Stir in the melted butter, sugar and cognac and leave the batter to rest for at least 2 hours.

Heat your crepe pan and melt a piece of butter in it. As soon as the foam subsides, pour a small amount of batter into the pan, then quickly but gently tilt it around so that the batter spreads evenly over the bottom of the pan. (I use about 2½ to 3 tablespoons batter for a 7-inch pan.)

Cook the crepe over medium to medium high heat for about a minute. Loosen the edge by running a knife or thin spatula under it, turn the crepe over, and cook on the other side for just under a minute. The crepe should be golden, with golden brown spots here and there.

Brush the pan with a tiny bit of butter between crepes. If the butter sizzles violently and starts to brown immediately, the pan is too hot; the batter will not want to spread evenly in the pan. If, however, the batter does not start to congeal and coat the pan right away as it is swirled around, the pan is too cool. You may have to make 2 or 3 crepes before the heat is perfectly adjusted, but after that it goes quickly and smoothly.

This recipe makes between 15 and 18 7-inch crepes, which can be used immediately, kept warm in the oven for a while, or refrigerated and reheated later. To keep crepes warm, stack them on a plate, cover them with a very slightly damp tea towel, and put them in a warm oven. To reheat crepes, wrap them airtight in foil and put them in a moderate oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until all of them are hot to the touch, even the ones in the middle of the pile.

To fill crepes, layer in the center of each thinly sliced smoked turkey or ham, 1 to 3 spears (depending on the size of the crepe) of canned and drained or fresh steamed asparagus, and sprinkle with grated Swiss cheese. Roll the crepes over the filling, starting at one end until you have the shape of a short, plump cylinder. Place filled crepes seam side down in a greased or cooking sprayed shallow baking dish. Put additional grated cheese on top and bake 10 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees F. or until cheese melts and crepes are heated through.

Remove from the oven and garnish with additional aspargus spears placed diagonally across the top and citrus zest.

To make the sweet version, the classic Crepes Suzette, you need only make a sauce to top the unfilled crepes.

Lemon or orange sauce

Zest and juice of one large orange or 2 small lemons

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons butter

Put juice, zest, sugar and butter in a glass measuring cup, allowing several inches on top for sauce to boil up. Microwave on HIGH for 2 minutes. Pour over crepes and add some citrus zest peels for garnish. Serve with ham and scrambled eggs, and you have a second way of using your crepes.

Reach Patty Beutler at 473-7307 or pbeutler@journalstar.com.