Feta cheese & cherry tomato Breton galette

By French Cooking for Dummies Posted in Brunch, Cheap, Crepes, French classics, Main dishes / 8 Comments »

Galettes are from France’s western region Brittany but there is no rule saying they can’t be accommodated Mediterranean style! This spring version uses ham, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese and the flavorful « herbes de Provence ».

Quick tip: When using tomatoes as a crepe or galette stuffing, you should always cook them before in a frying pan so the water they contain doesn’t soak your crepe.

Preparation time : 10 mn (+ at least 2 h in the fridge)

Ingredients (for 12 to 15 galettes)

5 cups of buckwheat flour
4 cups of water (more or less)
1 egg
1 pinch of salt
butter

Garniture (per galette)

6 cherry tomatoes (incl. 1 for decoration)
1/8 lbs (55 gr/2 oz) of Feta cheese
1 slice of ham
1 tablespoon of herbes de Provence (rosemary, marjoram, basil, bay leaf, thyme) (Click here to buy Herbes de Provence)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Salt and pepper

Instructions

1/ Blend flour, egg and salt.

2/ Gradually add water. Stir energetically until smooth. (It has to be liquid)

3/ Leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

4/ Heat a large frying pan (diameter of at least 15 inches is best) over medium high heat. Melt butter. (Be careful not to put too much butter, your crepes would be too greasy and not easy to cook) (Click here to buy crepes cooking material).

5/ Pour about 1/4 cup of mixture in the pan making a circle. Then tilt the pan with a circular motion so the mixture fills the pan evenly. (Note: galettes are supposed to be thin, if you make them like pancakes, it won’t be good at all)

6/ Cook galette for about 2mn or until borders peel off and bottom is slightly brown. Turn and cook the other side (1mn should be enough).

7/ Make all galettes at once, you’ll go faster serving your guests later.

Garniture

8/ Heat olive oil in a small frying pan over medium heat.

9/ Slice cherry tomatoes in half and pour them into the pan. Add herbes de Provence mix.

10/ Take most of the tomato juice off the pan. Scrub Feta cheese (keeping some aside for decoration), add to the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and take off heat.

11/ Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Heat galette quickly on one side (10 sec), then turn it to the other side.

12/ Add cheese tomato mixture, then top with ham. Close borders. Leave on heat for two more minutes.

13/ Serve it topped with a cherry tomato cut in half. Sprinkle with Feta cheese scrubs and herbes de Provence. (It’s best eaten warm, tell your guests to start eating as soon as they’re served to enjoy all the flavors while it’s hot.)

If you’re looking for new flavors, check out the most traditional galette recipe: La Complète!

Feta Cheese & Cherry Tomato Breton Galette on Foodista

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Ham and cheese crepe / Galette complète

By French Cooking for Dummies Posted in Appetizers, Cheap, Crepes, Easy, French classics, Main dishes, Starters / 6 Comments »

On Frebruary 2nd Candlemas is celebrated in many parts of the world eating pancakes. In France, we eat crepes. There already is a sweet crepes recipe on this site, Candlemas is the perfect occasion to share with you the most famous galette (crepe made with buckweat flour) : la complète. Very simple; ham, cheese and egg… but you can always add it mushrooms, tomatoes or all kinds of cheese. You can basically put whatever dish you want in a galette, it goes from the simplest ham & cheese to more elaborated ones with scallops, salmon or duck! Galettes are from Brittany (north-western France) and were originally a dish made by poor families to replace bread. They wrapped inside all the leftovers. The original recipe only counts with buckwheat flour, salt and water. I usually add it an egg, it makes it easier to prepare ;-)

Preparation time : 10 mn (+ at least 2 h in the fridge)

Ingredients (for 12 to 15 galettes)

5 cups of buckwheat flour
4 cups of water (more or less)
1 egg
1 pinch of salt
butter

Garniture (per galette)

1 egg
1/8 lbs (55 gr/2 oz) of grated cheese
1 slice of ham

Instructions

1/ Blend flour, egg and salt.

2/ Gradually add water. Stir energetically until smooth. (It has to be liquid)

3/ Leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

4/ Heat a large frying pan (diameter of at least 15 inches is best)  over medium high heat. Melt butter. (Be careful not to put too much butter, your crepes would be too greasy and not easy to cook) (Click here to buy crepes cooking material).

5/ Pour about 1/4 cup of mixture in the pan making a circle. Then tilt the pan with a circular motion so the mixture fills the pan evenly.
(Note: galettes are supposed to be thin, if you make them like pancakes, it won’t be good at all)

6/ Cook galette for about 2mn or until borders peel off and bottom is slightly brown. Turn and cook the other side (1mn should be enough).

7/ Make all galettes at once, you’ll go faster serving your guests later.

8/  Melt butter in a frying pan over medium high heat. Heat galette quickly on one side (10 sec), then turn it to the other side.

9/ Add egg and grated cheese. When egg is cooked and cheese melted, add ham, salt and pepper and close borders.

10/ Serve it and repeat for the next guest! It’s best eaten warm, so don’t wait for everyone to be served in order to start enjoying!

As I said before, you can put whatever ingredient you want in a galette. Just remember to adapt your ingredients cooking time. In that one, you can add mushrooms. If you cook them appart before (with some garlic and parsley for example), then you add them at the end. But if you add them rare, better putting them at the begining… Nothing very complicated ;-)

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Crepes

By French Cooking for Dummies Posted in Cheap, Crepes, Desserts, Easy, French classics / 11 Comments »
Crepes can be considered as the French version of pancakes, the most famous being Crepes Suzette served with an orange and alcohol ‘flambé’ sauce. The main difference is that originally crepes are a main dish. In Brittany (North West of France, where I and the crepes are from ;-) , they’re usually made with 2 different types of flour. Sweet ones (dessert or breakfast) are made with ‘froment’ flour (white), on the contrary, the ones used as a main dish are made with a black flour called ’sarrazin’(buckweat flour) and usually stuffed with ham, cheese, eggs, mushrooms or anything else! I you ever visit Brittany, don’t leave before trying one of these in a local Crêperie. And if you’re coming to Paris, be aware that what street vendors sell you for crepes have nothing in common with the original taste of it!….One hint : the Breton neighborood of Paris is situated around the Montparnasse Station, there you’ll find plenty of good crêperies.

Preparation Time : 5 mn (+ at least 20mn in the fridge)

Ingredients (for 15 to 20 crepes):

7/8 lbs (400g) of all purpose flour
4 eggs
1 3/4 cup (475ml) of milk
1/2 oz of vanilla flavoured sugar
1 pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of rhum (or cointreau for example)
1 small piece of butter

Instructions:

1/ Blend flour, eggs, sugar and salt.

2/ Gradually add milk. Stir well until smooth. Add alcohol.

3/ Leave in the fridge for at least 20 mn.

4/ Heat a frying pan over medium high heat. Melt butter. (Be careful not to put too much butter, your crepes would be too greasy and not easy to cook).

5/ Pour about 1/4 cup of mixture in the pan making a circle. Then tilt the pan with a circular motion so the mixture fills the pan evenly. (Click here to buy crepes cooking material)
Note: crepes are supposed to be really thin, if you make them like pancakes, it won’t be good at all. (If you’re having a hard time filling the pan, you may consider adding a little milk so your mixture is more liquid).

6/ Cook crepe for about 2mn or until borders peel off and bottom is slightly brown. Turn and cook the other side (1mn should be enough).

7/ Eat it warm with marmelade, chocolate, sugar, applesauce or whatever sweet thing you have in your kitchen!

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