La Chandeleur- French Pancake Day

February 2nd is Candlemas- known in French as 'La Chandeleur' or 'la fete des crepes'. It falls on the 40th day after Christmas, and is richly endowed with traditions and superstitions.

For example, it is said that if you warm a coin on top of your pile of pancakes and then wrap it up and put it in your wardrobe - it will bring your family prosperity throughout the year. Shame I only read about that one after we had eaten our stack of pancakes.




It is also said that if it rains on Chandeleur, it will rain for 40 days afterwards. I can't really see that happening here in the South of France, and anyway luckily it was a bright and breezy day.

We spent the day hiking in the Calanques so were hungry for our pancakes by the evening.

The Calanques at Port Pin

I made one of my favourite pancake dishes - originally one of Raymond Blancs: Pancakes with Spinach, Mushroom and Emmental.

You need a bit of time for this- but it's worth it. There are four processes: making the pancakes, making the filling, making a cheese sauce - and baking it all in the oven.

For the pancakes you need:

100g plain flour
300 ml milk
2 tbsp oil
2 eggs (beaten)
salt

1. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl, make a well in the centre and pour in the milk and beaten eggs.
2. Mix well with a whisk and then add the oil. The mixture should resemble pouring cream.
3. Heat a drop of oil in a sturdy frying pan and fry ladlesful of the mixture, swirling to cover the bottom of the pan and turning over as soon as they start to brown underneath.
You should get at least 8 pancakes from this mix.

For the filling:

1. Wash a large bag of spinach thoroughly and pull off any coarse stalks.

A sinkful of spinach

2. Place the wet spinach in a large pan and wilt down quickly.
3. Drain, pressing hard with a large spoon to get most of the moisture out- then wrap your spinach in a teacloth and squeeze as hard as you can to get all the remaining moisture out.
4. Fry 50g of  chopped mushrooms in a little oil and then add to the spinach mix, working the two together well with a little cream or milk and seasoning with lots of salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Crepe and filling mixes at the ready

For the cheese sauce:

1. Melt a tablespoon of butter in a saucepan and add 1 tablespoon of flour.
2. Cook for a little while until it forms a soft ball, then add 350ml milk, lots of salt and pepper and a teaspoon of mustard.
3. Bring to the boil, whisking all the time until you have a thick white sauce.
4. Shoot in 200g grated emmental cheese and allow to melt.

Butter a gratin dish, rub it round with a cut clove of garlic and preheat your oven to 200 degrees.

Now, assemble your dish- a tablespoon or so of filling in each pancake, roll each one up and place in the gratin dish,

Lay the stuffed pancakes in a gratin dish

pour over the cheese sauce, sprinkle on a little more cheese and bake until golden and bubbling (about 20 minutes).

This needs nothing more than bread to mop it up, and a crisp white wine such as the lovely Cassis white wines we have here.

Pancakes with Mushroom, Spinach and Emmental

The leftovers were equally good next day with a salad.

As it was Pancake Day in France- and soon to be so in the UK- I thought I'd add here some of my other favourite pancake ideas to maybe inspire you to try something different.

Crispy pancake rolls are everyone's favourites - and we had ours this week served with a noodle and vegetable salad..

If you want to make your own pancake rolls, it is very simple and the recipe can be found here on the blog. http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.fr/2013/02/week-2-chinese-new-year-frugal-feast.html 

(I bought mine this time round!) I'm focussing on the salad though: a warm noodle dish, with lovely fresh salad ingredients from the market, like these wonderful radishes:

Radishes from the market

You will need egg noodles, peanut butter, chili sauce, peanuts, radishes, spring onions, peppers, carrots and lettuce.

Cook the noodles until tender, drain and whilst still warm, mix with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter, 2 of chili sauce, 3 finely chopped spring onions, 1 pepper (finely chopped), 4 big radishes (blitzed in the food processor) and 2 carrots (grated).

Noodle salad in preparation

Season well with soy sauce and then serve on a bed of lettuce, with the pancake rolls and a tablespoon each of blitzed peanuts and radishes as a garnish.

Crispy pancake roll salad

Some of my other favourite pancake recipes are here:

Sweet Maki Rolls

I had these sweet rolls in a sushi restaurant a few years ago (see pic)- and adapted the idea using sweet pancakes instead of bean curd ones. They make a fun dessert- especially served with chopsticks and little sweet dipping sauces. I make them when I have leftover rice pudding, as they are essentially rolled pancakes, filled with coconut rice pudding and fruit puree and served sliced sushi-style.

Pancakes:

50g plain flour

1 egg

150ml milk

1tbsp flavourless vegetable oil

pinch salt

1. Sift the flour and the salt, make a well in the centre , add the egg, milk and oil and whisk vigorously until the mixture resembles pouring cream.

2. If you can, leave the mixture to rest in the fridge for half an hour or so

3. Fry ladlesful of the mixture in a hot frying pan until you have a stack of 4-6 pancakes

Rice pudding:

50g short grain rice

200ml coconut milk

110ml milk

zest of one orange

2tsp sugar

1tsp vanilla essence

1. Place all the ingredients in a heavy bottomed saucepan and bring to the boil.

2. Stir well. turn down the heat and simmer for 45 minutes-1 hour until the liquid has all been absorbed.

3. Leave to cool with a lid on- to keep the mixture moist in the steam.

Now assemble your maki-

Lay a pancake on a flat surface, spread generously right to the edges with rice pudding, add a stripe of fruit puree down the centre (apple. blackcurrant, mango or raspberry- or a selection of colours to look pretty), roll up tightly, slice into rolls and serve standing to attention, with the cut side down.

Leftover puree makes pretty dipping sauces on the side - or go mad and have chocolate sauce or syrup or cream instead!

Full English Galette

Classic French savoury galettes are made with buckwheat flour- and topped with whatever you fancy. I've topped mine with scrambled egg, bacon lardons and tomatoes for a full English.

For the batter:

Sift together 50g of buckwheat flour, 100g of plain flour, a pinch of salt and a a tsp of baking powder into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add 1 beaten egg, 80g of melted butter or margarine and 185ml of milk. Mix well until you have a creamy batter.

Heat a frying pan with a spritz of oil and pour in a ladleful of the batter, spreading it out with the back of the ladle until it covers the bottom of the pan very thinly. These crepes should be lacy in texture.

Flip over with a palette knife and cook evenly on both sides.

Place your filling in the middle and fold the sides in to form a square.

But of course, sometimes pancakes are best just served with sugar and lemon!

And wouldn't you just know it - I forgot to put that coin on the top again! 

Week 46- Galette des Rois (and other pastries)

The 6th of January is Epiphany, the Feast of Kings. (When the magi came to give gifts to the infant Jesus). It's also the end of the Roman feasts of Saturnalia, and Twelth Night in the UK.

In France, it's the day when they eat a sweet confection of puff pastry and almond filling known as a Galette des Rois. Never ones to miss out on a good pudding when the opportunity arises, the French.

Hidden inside this pastry dessert is a feve (originally a broad bean, but now a little statuette or charm). Whoever finds the charm in their slice becomes king or queen for the day and wears a paper crown. Others in the household must do their bidding.

If they like, they can place the charm in the wine glass of another who can become their royal consort also for the day.

This year, I thought I would bake a galette for myself. (And I know where the little body is buried!)

So this week's blog is less adoration of the magi, and more adoration of the pastry.

I've made three courses, but with three different sorts of pastry or dough- so I wouldn't necessarily eat them as a menu, as that might be a carb too far.

First course is Peking duck with pancakes, main is Turkey and Leek Pie and dessert- well, it's the Galette des Rois of course. (See what I mean?) Heavy stuff.

The Galette uses puff pastry, the pie uses shortcrust pastry and the little duck pancakes use a simple flour, salt and hot water dough.

For the galette- I have cheated and used shop bought puff pastry. Most people do apparently, even chefs nowadays.

Cut out two circles from the pastry, using a dinner plate as your guide. Spread one with apricot jam., and place it on a well greased baking sheet or one lined with baking paper.

Spread with jam and frangipane filling

Next make the filling from 100g softened butter beaten with 100g of caster sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla essence, a teaspoon of almond essence,100g of ground almonds and 2 eggs (lightly beaten - save a tablespoon of egg for your egg wash) until light and creamy in colour. Spread the butter mixture over the jam (hide a charm inside if you want to) and place on the pastry lid.
Use a knife to 'knock' the edges of the pie and crimp the pie together according to your artistic skills. The important part is the decoration of the lid. Use a sharp knife to score patterns into the pastry- swirls, crescents, leaves, shells- whatever you can. The more ornate the better.

Brush with beaten egg for a good glaze - and bake at  190 degrees for 15-20 minutes until risen and deep golden in colour.

Galette des rois

Serve decorated with a crown.

More humble (but equally delicious in its own way) is my Turkey and Leek Pie. (This used up the last of the Christmas turkey and the bread sauce.) If you are baking it later in the year, use chicken if you prefer. I recommend the use of bread sauce in the filling though.

Here's how I make my sauce: 1 small onion finely chopped and softened in some oil, 2 cups of soft breadcrumbs, a good grating of nutmeg, 3 cloves, 1 teaspoon of mixed spice, 1/2 tsp salt and black pepper each, 1 tbsp of fresh parsley chopped fine and enough milk to mix.

Soften the onion in the pan, add the breadcrumbs, spices and seasonings and pour in milk until the mixture resembles thick porridge. Bring to the boil and add more milk as the bread swells and absorbs it. After a minute or two, turn off the heat and leave to infuse.

Now make your pastry shell. I like to make shortcrust pastry with half fat to flour- so 200g of plain flour, 100g of butter or marge, 1/2 tsp salt and cold water to mix.
Put the flour, salt and fat into the goblet of a food processor and pulse until it resembles breadcrumbs. Gradually trickle in some cold water until the mixture comes together and makes a ball. Turn out onto some cling film and put in the fridge to chill for half an hour minimum.

Meanwhile, soften a leek in some butter or oil.

Now take your chilled pastry, and line a flan dish with it. Cover with baking paper and baking beans and bake blind for 15 minutes at 190 degrees, until just starting to colour.

Line a dish with pastry

Bake it blind

Mix the meat with the bread sauce and leeks

Mix the leeks with your leftover turkey or chicken, and coat with the bread sauce. Fill the pie shell with the filling and place on a pastry lid (rolled from the offcuts). Decorate as you wish and brush with milk or beaten egg.

Fill the pie shell

Bake at 180 degrees until crisp and golden.

Turkey and Leek Pie

Also leftover from Christmas I had half a duck. I had intended to serve it at Christmas dinner, but we had so much else it seemed excessive- so I chilled it, and the next day shredded the meat and froze it ready for pancakes.
Shredding involves separating the meat into shreds using two forks- you can do the same with turkey or pork. (If you want to use these with pancakes, just sprinkle with a little Chinese 5 spice powder and toss..every bit as good as duck.)


So, I've defrosted the duck shreds, shredded some spring onions and sliced some cucumber into thin batons- as well as pouring out individual dishes of hoi sin sauce. Now for the pancakes.

I used to trek over to the Chinese supermarket in search of these until I realized how easy they are to make yourself.

Put 100g of plain flour and 1/2 tsp salt in a bowl. Pour on a splash of hot water and mix in, add more until you have a soft dough.

Roll into a sausage

Rol out discs thinly

Turn out onto a floured board and roll into a sausage.
Cut 1 cm discs from the sausage then roll each one out as thinly as you possibly can.
You can fry these in a tiny bit of sesame oil if you want, or steam them.

Give each of your guests 4 pancakes, some duck, some sauce and some shredded veg.
Assemble as you wish.

Peking Duck with pancakes

I hope you enjoy my tale of three pastries- Happy New Year and take care in 2014!

Week 34- Chicken or egg?

The old question- which came first?

Answer for today- both.

My menu this week features eggs to start, chicken for main course, then eggs again used in the pudding.

I'm starting with eggs florentine- a toasted English muffin topped with spinach, a poached egg and drizzled with hollandaise sauce- mmmm!




Next is a coq au vin done in white wine, with bacon.

To finish off, we have a cafe gourmand- but featuring little pancakes and sauces (with various leftover bits of pud added to them.)

First, make your hollandaise:  Melt 60g of unsalted butter in a pan or microwaveable dish.Take one egg yolk, the juice of half a squeezed lemon, a pinch of cayenne pepper if you have it and half a teaspoon of salt and put them in the goblet of the food processor or blender. Start the motor running and quickly but steadily trickle in the melted butter. Just watch the sauce emulsify. If it gets too thick, add a squeeze more lemon or a teaspoon of warm water.

Don't throw away your egg white- freeze it to use in meringues or cakes later.

To make eggs florentine- steam or microwave some spinach leaves, squeeze them quickly in a J cloth, then lay them on top of a toasted English muffin. Top with a softly poached egg and a good slather of the sauce.

Eggs Florentine

Now, it's the chicken's turn to star.

I like to make coq au vin in the slow cooker, gently casseroled for 6-7 hours- but you can achieve the same effect in a moderate oven for 2 hours or so in a casserole dish.

You need- 2 onions chopped, 150 g of smoked bacon lardons, 2 chicken thighs and 1 drumstick per person, 2 bay leaves, a good large wine glass of white wine, 1-2 cups of chicken stock. I like to add mushrooms too- but leave those out if you're not a fan.

Simply soften the onions in some oil, brown the chicken pieces and lardons in the same frying pan and place them in the crockpot. De-glaze the pan with the wine and pour over the meat. Add the stock and the bay leaves and leave to simmer away.

About half an hour from serving time, add some lightly browned mushrooms and taste the sauce- adding more salt or pepper if you want. Thicken if you need to with cornflour or gravy granules and serve with either mashed potatoes or potato gratin.

Coq au vin

Pudding is one of my favourites- cafe gourmand or a cup of coffee with lots of little bits of puds.

You can make this dessert with any leftover puds you have- cake, tarts, rice pudding, a bit of chocolate mousse, ice cream, sorbet, cheesecake, fruit salad etc 

The only requirement is that they should be cut or plated up in dainty fairy-sized portions.

In the photo I have some tiny little pancakes ( think making drop scones or fritters rather than pan-sized crepes), some slices of lemon tart, fruit tart and chocolate tart (recipes for lemon and summer fruit tart on the blog- look in the cloud at the top of the page to find them) and an artistic swirl of sauces- chocolate, caramel, strawberry - whatever you fancy or have to hand.

Cafe gourmand with pancakes

By the way, a quick and easy way to make tartlets for this dessert is as follows: with leftover pastry trimmings,line some little tartlet pans and bake blind for 10-15 minutes or so

until just golden and crisp on the bottom. Switch off the oven. Spoon in a tablespoon of chocolate spread, jam, lemon curd or jam and coconut combi as I have here:

Return the tarts to the warm oven until the jam/chocolate spread goes liquid and fills the tartlet case. Take out and cool. Voila!

Chocolate or jam tartlets

Of course you will have leftovers from this meal- hollandaise sauce ( too good to waste a drop) and chicken.

I used the hollandaise with salmon the next day, and also poured over broccoli- which was as scrumptious as over asparagus. It's lovely over new potatoes too.

Salmon and broccoli with hollandaise sauce

With the chicken I made one of my latest favourite recipes- pastotto!

This is like a risotto- but made with pasta. It's a delicious way to use up any leftovers and make them do another meal- great with fish, mushrooms and in this case chicken.

All you need is the right pasta- so use orzo or avoine as it is called in French- little rice shaped pasta pieces.

Soften 1 onion and some garlic in a frying pan, add the orzo and stir well to absorb the flavours. Then add a little white wine and stir until absorbed. Now add your leftover chicken sauce and stir in well. Allow to bubble away for 10 minutes or so, then stir well and add more stock or liquid as you need to. Taste the pasta from time to time, and when all the liquid has been absorbed and the grains are tender- serve. (I stirred through some rocket at the last minute.)

Chicken Pastotto

So, I hope I've solved the problem of what's for dinner tonight- now, what about that chicken and egg?

Week 33- Making Maki My Way

Sushi and Sashimi- restaurant version

Sushi is very trendy at the moment. It's healthy and pretty- and very tasty too.

I ate in a sushi restaurant in the summer and had some gorgeous dishes, as you can see here.

It occurs to me however that this delicacy is not just a classy-looking meal- it can be cheap too, especially if you use leftovers and less specialized ingredients.





For example, instead of nori seaweed sheets- how about wrapping in spinach leaves?

Or instead of sushi rice- leftover cooked rice, seasoned well?

And what about using smoked salmon trimmings instead of premium slices?

With this idea in mind, I've made a cheapskate's version of a Japanese meal- sole and salmon maki with miso soup to start, followed by mixed sushi and sashimi main dish and sweet maki rolls for pud.

In each case, you can contrast the restaurant dish with mine. I guarantee you two things- mine won't look so pretty but will cost a fraction of the price.

First of all, the sole and salmon maki.

I used fresh lemon sole (£1 each) , using 1 small fish (4 fillets) for two people. You can buy the fillets ready done of course but it's not that hard to do yourself, and much cheaper.

Lay the fish on a chopping board and make a long incision down to the bone, Then with sweeping strokes of your knife, gently cut the fillet away from the bones. Freeze the leftover fish skeletons in a plastic container for making stock or soups.

Filleting a lemon sole

Once you have your fillets, you are ready to assemble your maki rolls.

Lay spinach leaves on a rolling mat or tea towel (J cloths are good). Place your sole fillets on top. Lay a small slice of smoked salmon over the top, or use smoked salmon trimmings, and then roll up.

Now give each roll 1 minute at 650w in the microwave, slice and serve with a bowl of miso soup (1 tablespoon of miso paste dissolved in 500 ml of boiling water.)

Sole and salmon maki 

Restaurant version- £5.95

My version- 63p

The next course is easy too. Make 3 different sorts of yummy bits: I've copied the restaurant dish at the top of the page by doing some sushi rolls, and two different sorts of sashimi (rice topped with prawns or salmon).

This time, for the sushi rolls I have used nori sheets - (approximately 20 p each, but blow the expense for once!)

For the rice, I've used cooked short grain rice, mixed with a little rice wine vinegar and some dry sherry (or saki if you have it). Any sticky rice is good- leftover risotto would be interesting, sort of fusion sushi. Might give that one a try.

I used blanched red pepper slices, smoked salmon trimmings (£1.50 per pack in supermarkets) and cucumber to jazz up the fillings.

So, as before, lay the nori out on the mat or tea towel.

Brush with water to make it sticky and then work quickly before it curls up- spread over some rice, add some strips of cucumber, salmon or pepper (or tuna, or avocado or even cooked carrot if you have any of these to use up).

Ready, steady, roll - and slice.

Use the rest of the rice for the sashimi.

Line a small rectangular dish with cling film and oil it very lightly with vegetable oil.

Press the cooked and seasoned rice down into the dish and chill.

Using a sharp, wet knife- cut small oblongs of rice. Lift out the cling film and lay each of the pieces on your serving dish.

Top with a butterflied cooked prawn or slices of smoked salmon.

My sushi and sashimi- £1.25  for two

Now for the piece de resistance- the pudding!

In the restaurant, we had sweet maki rolls: bean curd pancakes, filled with sliced banana and topped with swirls of Nutella. My version uses up some leftover coconut rice pudding (remember I told you to put some aside last week), some stewed blackberry and maple syrup to garnish. Use your imagination, and your store cupboard to come up with any version you like.

Lay a crepe on your rolling mat: I've cheated and got one ready made here because I'm sure you don't need me to show you how to make a pancake. Warm is best though, as the crepe is more pliable when freshly cooked.

Spread on your rice pudding (or sliced banana and toffee sauce for a ban-ushi roll/ Nutella and cream cheese/ toffee apples/ anything you like in a pancake!), then some fruit.

Roll up, slice, stand on it's ends and garnish with syrup, sauce, cream, ice cream whatever you want!

It's a sweet maki- but maybe not as you know it, Jim!

Restaurant version- £6.50 - worth it though!

My version is a bit scruffy- but it was a first attempt.

My version- 30p- but a bit meagre

They look a bit underfilled with just maple syrup on the top- so a swirl of cream or chocolate sauce would have helped. I bet you could do better.

I look forward to seeing the photos!

どうぞめしあがれ (douzo meshiagare)