Crèpe making. The first one is always crap but then I got into my stride…
Stack
Crèpe Suzette
Even though the event was oversubscribed in terms of girls, one of the three men that made it asked if a female friend could come “she was dumped two weeks before Valentine’s and is feeling a bit down”.
Valentine’s Day and Christmas Day create such pressure, are often the crunch point for a relationship. If you are going to break it off, you will be weighing up whether to do it beforehand or afterwards. I’ve been dumped twice on Boxing Day. One of the dumpers came for Christmas Day, hoovered up all the food and drink, and, in return for the large selection of presents I gave him, gave me a bottle of Baileys. Don’t get me wrong, I love Baileys but it’s the sort of present you get for an elderly aunt, not a lover. It was at this point I had an inkling he didn’t feel the same way about me.
My Anti-Valentine’s Pancake night had 17 attractive, intelligent, sociable, amusing women. The three guys, one at each table, swapped tables at each course. Talk about having a selection to choose from! At least one man left with somebody. (Found out later he never called. Scoundrel). But never mind, the girls may not have met their man but they certainly made friends; there was much swapping of phone numbers.
I had a tooth extracted on Monday and spent the day in a fog of Neurofen and pancake batter. In retrospect making crepes for 21 people was a little ambitious on an Aga which relies on the 80/20 rule: 80 percent of cooking should be in the ovens and 20 percent on the top burners. I was making crepes from 11 am till 5 pm on my trusty cast-iron crepière pan that I bought in France. The first batch consisted of a buckwheat and cider batter, crèpes au sarrasin(1). However the delicate frilly-edged doily of batter was difficult to turn over without breaking.(2)
At the end of this mammoth crèpe making session, the heat had gone out of the top of the Aga therefore the best solution was to fold the savoury crepes with garlic mushrooms and cheese into an oven dish and bake them. The alcoholic batter gave the pancakes a pleasingly boozy sour and tangy flavour.
At the end of this mammoth crèpe making session, the heat had gone out of the top of the Aga therefore the best solution was to fold the savoury crepes with garlic mushrooms and cheese into an oven dish and bake them. The alcoholic batter gave the pancakes a pleasingly boozy sour and tangy flavour.
Jane Milton of @FoodNetworking came to help in the evening. She made the broken galettes into a true Shrove Tuesday dish of leftovers from the fridge: I christened it Crèpes millefeuilles. It was a kind of crèpe lasagne, broken crèpes layered with cream, onions, pesto and Spanish Cabrales blue cheese which is incredibly piquant. The result was absolutely delicious. It’s great having guest chefs, basically I get to meet a lot of different people that work in the food industry and I learn something from each.
Menu
French Sparkling Brut cider
Parmesan and poppy biscuits
Fresh made creme fraiche blinis (particularly light and fluffy) with Goldstein’s smoked salmon, creme fraiche and chives.
Oven-baked cider galettes with cheese and mushrooms.
‘Crepes Millefeuilles’ or leftover surprise…
Mixed salad with pea shoots, alfafa, walnuts and walnut oil dressing.
Cheeseboard with heart shaped cheeses such as Neufchatel, a washed rind Coeur de Thierache and a tiny goat cheese heart Capriole encrusted with pink peppercorns, oat cakes, almonds.
Dessert crepes, a choice of lemon and sugar, nutella or crèpes Suzette (made with Sicilian oranges)
My old recipe for galettes au sarrasin, hence in ounces.
4oz buckwheat flour
1/2 pint of French cider ( you can replace with English cider or ale)
Pinch of salt
1/2 oz of melted butter
One egg
One yolk
Mix ingredients together but don’t overwhip as the batter will give you tough pancakes (because you don’t want to activate the gluten in the flour too much). Grease your pan with a little kitchen roll dipped in butter or an old butter paper (these world war two habits I learnt from my grandmother die hard). Let the batter rest for half an hour at least. Spread a ladle’s worth of batter over the pan, tipping the pan so that the batter covers the whole surface. The trick is to have a large circular pancake which is still thin. This takes a little practice. The first one is always terrible but stick at it and they will improve as you get your eye in for how much batter to put in.
Let it cook first on a highish heat then lower heat so that the top side can ‘steam’ cook. This is because it’s almost impossible to turn it over without breaking. Then, add your ingredients, be it cheese or a ‘complet’ with ham, cheese and a fried egg and gradually let cook. Fold over the edges and serve.
(1) Crèpes au sarrasin is the name for these buckwheat or blé noir galettes which are a speciality of Brittany. I’ve tried to find out why they are termed ‘au sarrasin’ which comes from the word Saracen or of Arab origin but can only assume it’s because they are black. Moor or Saracen is a term often used for black in France.
Crèpes are also associated with a French festival on February 2nd called Chandeleur, (chandler in English meaning candle maker), the candles perhaps representing the triumph of light after the darkness of winter.
(2) I then discovered that galettes should be cooked one side only.
P.S.
Found this on the balcony. The other week I found some salmon wrapped in paper too. I started to think it was guests that didn’t like their food but for some reason were too scared to leave it on the plate! But I didn’t serve green beans. I looked more closely, it was wrapped in a piece of paper with child’s handwriting on it, with a list of presents he didn’t want for his birthday…transformers, wolverine etc. Then I realised it was the little boy upstairs throwing his dinner out of the window again. He did this a couple of years ago when I found an entire plate of spaghetti on my balcony. I remember hiding my dinner in pot plants when I didn’t like it.
I'm definitely going to follow suit, we have 14 people staying with us for the weekend and I think a little Crepe party for sunday Brunch will be a great idea. Luckily I'll be cooking on gas with our trusty 6 burner range!
a beautiful menu. x shayma
The menu sounds great – I definitely ate too many nutella pancakes last night (with banana so I could pretend they were a bit healthy).
Incidentally buckwheat flour is gluten-free, so that might explain why the batter was less elastic.
six burner range…wow…easy then
thanks Shayma and thanks for commenting!
TC: good point…didnt think of that!
Sounds like another delicious evening – I like the sound of that pancake lasagna! Sounds delicious! xxx
So you've got the salmon and french beans – is there a sauce on the way, maybe potatoes too?
Re the low gluten buckwheat – you can add xanthan gum which you can buy from healthfood shops. I keep some for gluten free baking – invaluable. Replaces some of the gluten effect.
Great tip James. Always wondered what to do with Xanthan gum.
CC: yes it was great..
I love how that kid has been throwing food out of the window for two years – two years!!
Actually thinking back, it was his brother that threw the spaghetti out, maybe 3/4 years ago.
The last time his mum made his brother write a really sweet letter apologising and saying he'd clear it up. Not sure whether to let his mum know the younger brother is doing it now.
That sounds like a great evening regardless of the lack of men! buckwheat is also called sarrasin or serasin, so the name derives from the alternative name for the flour. buckwheat was introduced to europe via the middle east, so that might explain the use of saracen as a name.
As others have mentioned buckwheat is gluten free so you can beat it to your heart's content. I have never needed to put xanthan gum in buckwheat pancakes, I find that beaten eggs hold the batter together.
Sounds like a logistical nightmare! (although am vay jealous of your trusty crepe pan).
Those cheeses sound fa, too
Oh how funny! A gift of unwanted food from your upstairs child neighbour. Heehee!!
I love the idea of a pancake only menu – and the "crepe lasange" sounds good. A friend of mine was talking about a "pancake cake" that they had the other day: 15 raspberry pancakes sandwiched with rapsberries and mascarpone, all covered in more mascarpone – could be one for next year's event?
Sounds yummy lizzie!
Katethebake: of course! did not think of that…the non gluten aspect of the flour
Mrs P: yes well worth buying a proper crepiere when you visit France.Too heavy to toss pancakes but delivers a flat thin crepe
wow, you have originality..so yummy, something NEW to put on the table..