Lambic is unique Belgian beer fermented by wild yeast. Sometimes fruit is added and the brew allowed to ferment a second time. The result, reduced and blended with cream, makes a wonderful accompaniment to savory crepes wrapped around a hash of ham, mushrooms, and tart apples.
|
Ingredients |
|
|
|
1 medium |
1 medium |
|
|
Lemon juice |
1 tablespoon |
15 ml |
|
Mushrooms, diced |
4 ounces |
110 grams |
|
Unsalted butter |
1 tablespoon |
15 ml |
|
Cooked ham, diced |
6 ounces |
170 grams |
|
Salt and pepper |
to taste |
to taste |
|
Lambic pomme |
1 cup |
250 ml |
|
Sharp cheddar, shredded |
1 cup |
250 ml |
|
Crepes, buckwheat or plain |
6 |
6 |
|
Heavy cream (36%) |
½ cup |
125 ml |
Cut eight thin wedges from the apple for garnish. Set aside in a small bowl of water with the lemon juice mixed into it. Peel, core, and dice the rest of the apple.
Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat and sauté the mushrooms until they begin to release their liquid. Add the dice ham and apple. Continue to cook until the apples begin to soften. Pour in ½ cup of the lambic and stir until mostly evaporated. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool a bit.
Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Place a crepe face down on a plate. Add about ½ cup of filling about ⅓ of the way from the edge nearest you. Sprinkle on about 2 tablespoons of cheese then carefully roll up. Set on a baking sheet. Continue until all the crepes are done. Place in the hot oven for about 15 or 20 minutes until heated through.
While the crepes are warming, pour the remaining ½ cup of lambic into the same frying pay you used for the filling. Bring to a boil and reduce to a syrup. Stir in the cream, return to a boil, and allow to thicken for a couple of minutes.
When the crepes are warm, plate and nap with the sauce. Garnish with the reserved apple wedges and serve hot.
Buckwheat, sarrasin in French, is not a grain but an herb. Naturally free of gluten it is a great substitute for wheat in crepes and pancakes. To make the latter just leave the batter thicker. The best pan for cooking either is one made of cast iron because of its superior heat retention. If you do not have a crepe pan use a skillet. You may have heard that crepes can be cooked on the back of frying pan but in my opinion that is an urban legend.
This recipe is translated and adapted from one by Stéphane Lecuyer.
|
Ingredients |
|
|
|
1½ cups |
325 g |
|
|
Baking powder |
1teaspoon |
5 ml |
|
Milk |
1 cup |
250 ml |
|
Eggs |
1 |
1 |
|
Salt |
½ teaspoon |
2 ml |
|
Cold water |
1 – 2 cups |
250 - 500 ml |
|
Oil for cooking |
as needed |
as needed |
In a bowl combine buckwheat flour and baking powder. In a second bowl lightly whisk together the milk, egg, and salt. Slowly incorporate the liquid into the flour being careful not to over mix. Stir in cold water as needed to produce a thin batter about the consistency of heavy cream.
Heat a crepe pan or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. When a drop of water skittles quickly across the surface brush the pan with oil and pour in about 2 ounces, one quarter cup (75 ml) of batter. Swirl it around quickly to coat the pan. When the top is set and dry carefully turn the crepe, using a spatula to gently scrape it from the pan if needed. Usually the first crepe is a discard so do not be discouraged if it is not quite right. Continue to make the rest of the crepes, oiling the pan between each. To keep the crepes from drying out while you work, put them on a plate in a 300° oven covered with a large lid.
Serve the crepes hot with a bit of butter and sugar or use them in a recipe for stuffed crepes.
In the US we tend to associate pancakes with breakfast but many cultures eat a variety of griddle cakes as a main meal. I came across the idea of scallion pancakes (for which I gladly credit Mark Bittman of the New York Times even though I completely changed his recipe) while looking for something to do with the abundance of these lovely onions from our garden. While Bittman used Chinese scallion cakes as a point of departure, I prepared a riff on Afghan scallion dumplings called aushak. These are easy to make and nicely filling. Do note, though, that they are decidedly and, perhaps shockingly to some, green.
Serves 2
Break up the ground meat into a non-stick skillet and brown over medium heat. Remove to a strainer to drain. Wipe out the skillet.
Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Wash and trim the scallions then separate the white parts from the green. Coarsely chop three quarters of the greens and finely chop the rest. Mince the white parts and set them aside.
Add the larger portion of scallion greens to the water and cook about 5 minutes or until tender. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid. Puree the cooked scallions in food processor, adding just enough of the cooking liquid to allow the machine to do its work. Add the egg, 1 tablespoon of oil, and 1 tablespoon of yoghurt to the scallion puree and pulse to combine. Set aside.
Heat a bit of oil in the skillet and fry the seeds until fragrant. Add the minced white parts of the scallions, the garlic, and ginger. Sauté until softened. Sprinkle on the ground spices and cook for another minute or so. Return the meat to the pan and mix with the onion mixture. Stir in the tomato sauce and ½ cup of the scallion cooking liquid. Turn the heat down and simmer gently while you prepare the pancakes, adding a bit of the cooking liquid if the meat dries out.
Prepare a griddle or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Combine the flours and baking powder in a medium bowl along with ¼ teaspoon of salt. Mix in the scallion puree and, if needed, enough of the cooking liquid to make a smooth batter. Lightly oil the hot griddle and make four medium-sized pancakes out of the batter. Turn when bubbles appear on the top. They should be nicely brown on both sides.
While the pancakes are cooking, stir ½ cup of yoghurt into the meat sauce and heat gently to warm through. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Serve the pancakes hot with the meat sauce and perhaps a dollop of yoghurt.
When I was a child and we still spoke predominantly French at home we called French toast crêpes doré, “golden pancakes” (we called any pancakes crêpes). My paternal grandmother in New England called them toast doré, “toast” being a perfectly good French Canadian word in that part of the country. Only later did I learn that the correct name was pain doré, “golden bread,” and that in France and Louisiana they are called pain perdu or “lost bread” referring to the custom of making them with stale, or lost, bread. I got to thinking one day about the possibility of pancakes being used in place of bread for French toast, real crêpes doré. An online search turned up no recipes for crêpes doré but I did come across one for crêpes sucrée, doré de Bretagne, “Breton sweet golden crepes.” (Perhaps it is coincidence but my grandmother’s family has Breton roots.) But, alas, “golden” refers to the amount of egg in the pancakes, not to their being dipped in egg. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and create real crêpes doré, and to make them gluten-free using buckwheat flour. To make them light and fluffy I leavened them with yeast, similar to blini, rather than baking powder. And I used buttermilk to give the flavor a bit more depth. The results were even better than I expected!
A note on the flour: I combined ordinary stone-ground buckwheat flour from Hodgson Mill with the lighter white buckwheat flour from Bouchard Family Farms in Maine. The latter is only sold in New England and parts of upstate New York—it is available online but at an outrageous price—so if you can not get it either use all ordinary buckwheat flour or a 50/50 mix of buckwheat and all-purpose flour if gluten is not an issue.
Serves 2
Put one half of the water into a small warmed bowl and stir in the sugar and yeast. Cover with a kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place to proof for about 10 minutes.
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Stir in the yeast mixture and one of the eggs. Slowly add the remaining water until the batter is a good consistency (I know that is rather vague but I don’t know how else to describe it). Cover with a kitchen towel and set aside to rise for 10 to 20 minutes. In a separate shallow bowl beat the two remaining eggs with the milk and vanilla.
Heat a griddle or large frying pan over medium-high until droplets of water sizzle across the surface. Working in batches if necessary make two large pancakes with the batter (or four if that is easier). Turn when the surface is covered with bubbles and begins to dry a bit, about 2 minutes, and cook for about the same time on the other side. Add a bit more oil between batches if needed. Set aside to cool for a couple of minutes.
Carefully dip each pancake—they are quite delicate and tear easily—in the egg mixture, covering each side well, return to the griddle, and cook for about 1 minute per side. To serve, dust generously with powdered sugar and top with a pat of butter.
