Galettes or crepes au sarasin are made from buckwheat. Buckwheat has no gluten, this dish is a great way for gluten intolerant and coeliac people to enjoy a crepe party!
Ingredients
500 g buckwheat flour
2 eggs
1/2 tbsp of salt
50 g butter (the butter will allow the dough not to stick during cooking, if not using, you will have to use some when cooking)
about 800 mL water
Method
Place the buckwheat flour and salt in a bowl, make a “well” (a hole in the middle)
Add 1/3 to half of the water and mix with a whisk. Then add the rest of the water and mix. Add the eggs and mix until the preparation is smooth. Add the butter if using.
Mix the ingredient, you will have a thick but very fluid batter. Allow to rest for a couple hours at least.
To cook, heat up a large nonstick pan (the lower the sides, the better), pour a ladle of the preparation in the pan (you may need to adjust the amount as it depends on the size of your pan). Handle the pan to cover the bottom of the fry-pan. Cook until the galette is fully dry on top. At this stage you can choose to turn the galette over and fill it or stack it on a pile and prepare several more for use later when you will place them on they uncooked side.
When cooking the filling, place it in the middle of the galette the filling ingredients are added and the four “corners” of the crepes pulled and folded towards the middle to contain the filling (you end up with a square shape galette).
The recipe for this cherry tomatoes and mozzarella risotto is from Marcus Wareing in his book “One Perfect Ingredient”. The photo above is also from that publication but I can tell you, it looks exactly like in the photo.
Ingredients:
1 head of garlic
30 cherry tomatoes
About 150 g of mozzarella divided in 20 mini-balls
A handful of fresh, young marjoram sprigs. Use other herbs such as basic if you prefer (this is a comment of mine)
825 ml of good stock (the recipe says chicken or vegetable stock, clear stock is better but I made it with ham hock stock in the past, it was amazing)
175 mL of tomatoes juice (I use a can of cherry tomatoes)
100 g unsalted butter, diced
400 g arborio rice
100 ml dry white wine
2 tbsp tomato puree
75 g Parmesan cheese, grated
sea salt flakes and freshly grounded black pepper.
Method:
Place the garlic cloves skin on (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT) in a shallow roasting tray with olive oil, salt and dry herbs, put under the grill for 20 min or until soft in the middle. You can also do them in a small frypan on very low heat. The inside will be melted (and even if you don’t like garlic, you will love this version of it, trust me!).
Put the tomatoes in another roasting tray, again toss with olive oil and rock salt and place in the oven. Roast for 15 minutes.
Season the mozzarella balls with salt, dried basil, pepper and lemon juice; put aside.
Mix broth and tomato paste and tomato juice, heat on low temperature. Keep warm.
Melt half the butter in a thick based and deep pan. Add the rice and stir for 2 minutes.
Add the white wine. Turn the heat down. Add the broth in small portions: let the rice absorb it and stir after each addition. Cook for 15-20 minutes stirring between additions.
When the rice is almost al-dente , stir in the remaining butter and the parmesan. Remove from the heat and stir in gently the mozzarella balls and roasted tomatoes and roasted garlic. Add a splash of the roasted tomatoes juice is any.
This chestnut soup comes directly from my kitchen bench! The hero of the dish is the chestnut. I am giving the recipe as I made it. You may choose to omit the potato, I don’t think it is necessary.
Ingredients:
1 kg fresh chestnuts whole
1 parsnip
1 medium potato
2 pears
1 cube good quality chicken stock
1 small onion
Salt
Method:
To peel the chestnuts, incise the chestnuts on one side, place in a saucepan in cold water. Brig to the boil. Remove from the fire and peel both skins which should remove quite easily.
Cut onion finely, in a large pot, melt about one teaspoon of butter and slowly melt the onion in it (it takes 5-10 minutes). Toss regularly.
In the meanwhile, peel the vegetables and peel and core the pears.
Add to the pot, the vegetables, pears, chestnuts, stock cube, salt and add water to cover well.
Cook until the vegetables are done.
Remove a few whole chestnuts or large pieces to use for plating (it add a little crunch).
Blend the rest. You may have to add some water if your chestnut soup is too thick.
Summer is lasting much longer than normally and this weather is perfect for small and large salads of many kinds for lunches or dinner and for savory and sweet tarts. This week, I will focus more on the salads. Why so? Simply because I need to think of taking more photos of my tarts, especially the savoury ones which do not have much “kitchen bench time” and disappear by the time of think of the photo.
In savoury salads, I like to think of two types:
the simple salad made of one element;
the “composed salad”, which in French refers to a salad made of an assortment of ingredients. Those can be cold or cold and warm.
Sweet salads will be for another post.
Savoury simple salads
Guess what? Those I make all the time, yet I don’t have any photos of them! The lettuce salad is the most frequent one. It is one of the first “recipe” I learnt as a child from maybe the age of 6-7, Mum may correct me in a comment if I am wrong! We were making the vinaigrette under instructions from Mum: ” a little mound of salt in the serving spoon, cover slightly with ground pepper, fill the spoon with homemade red wine vinegar, mix and pour at the bottom of the salad bowl, add 2-4 spoons of oil”.
The amount of oil depends on the type of lettuce, some require more than others.
And if you are wondering if the children like it, yes they love the salads! I have had some of my kid’s friends for meals, some of them have not had much exposure to salads before and are a bit sceptic, but often end up liking it a lot after a few trials.
The other classic “simple salad” which in summer are so good are the tomato salad and the carrot salad. Both are nicer prepared a bit before the meal and the vinaigrette mixed through as this will release the flavours. We used to fight to have the juice of the tomato salad when I grew up and this is starting in my own house too! The grated carrot salad is nice with some mustard added to the vinaigrette (the vinegar is then reduced).
Composed savoury salads
The possibilities are endless. I like to look at what I have in the fridge/freezer and fruit bowl, think of what herbs I have in the garden and get going. There can be different elements requiring cooking independently, but generally nothing to technical.
My key rules are:
Use ingredients which blend well together
Adapt the seasoning to the ingredients
Be creative!
Before you get going, you need to decide if the salad will be a side or entree of lower nutritious intake or the main part of a meal. If it is to be the main dish of your meal, ensure you have included carbohydrate and/or proteins or you will be hungry again after an hour time!
Here below are a few ideas, follow (click click!) to get to the recipes (not available for all).
Green and more green: lettuce, flat beans, basil.
Black lentils, calamari and radishes (also served with carrot salad)
My friend Neil’s mixed salad:
Wao! This salad was awesome! Now hold on, it contained:
lettuce
mint
chives
barbecued asparagus
orange quarters (skins removed)
cherry tomatoes
apple very thinly sliced
coriander
lime and lemon rind (look at the bottom of the page for the special equipment)
See, this is a great example that you can be creative, but remember to stop! There were many ingredients here, although not in big quantity each. The main ingredient was the lettuce. The salad was a side to a Moroccan lamb pizza. The seasoning was based on lime.
Kipflers potatoes and fresh prawns warm salad
I have to do it again to have a photo. This is a main obviously. Kipfler potatoes are those long potatoes, they are a bit more expensive as others but so perfect for salads. Boil them in their skins in salted water, remove the skin and cut in slices. The prawns are just cooked in salt water. The seasoning is a mayonnaise.
Roasted Potatoes, corn, beans, tomatoes salad
This is the perfect kids salad, all they love in one dish! Potatoes are steamed then sliced and grilled in oil&butter. The corn is boiled, the beans parboiled. The seasoning is a small filet of olive oil.
Wild rice, feta, roasted pumpkin salad
This wild rice, feta, roasted pumpkin salad is a killer! It is for a light meal. The seasoning is a tahini, lemon, honey mix. So good! You will find wild rice at the health food shops. I went to a “bulk health food shop”recently to get some quinoa and ended up with a few more bags, including the one with wild rice. The grain is so long! The consistency is a bit chewy (or maybe it needed more cooking) and the taste not very strong. It is a nice ingredient to use for a change.
Special kitchen utensils
The first kitchen utensil is for slicing tomatoes, widely used in France, hard to find in Australia.
This wild rice, feta, roasted pumpkin salad is a killer! It is for a light meal. The dressing is based on tahini and lemon.
Ingredients:
Serves 4
1 cup of wild rice
1/2 block of feta
1/2 butternut pumpkin
1 tablespoon of tahini
1 teaspoon of honey
1/2 lemon juice (up to the 1 full lemon juice if not very juicy)
Olive oil
2 spring onions
6 figs cut in quarters
Method:
Preheat oven to 200°C. Peel the pumpkin and cut into 1-2 cm length and wide cubes. Place in a roasting dish, add olive oil and salt. Put into the oven and roast until tender. Remove from the oven and allow to cool down.
In the meanwhile, bring to the boil a pan of salted water. When it is boiling, add the rice, reduce the heat to allow for a small boil. Wild rice will take about 20 minutes to cook and remain slightly firm.
Prepare the dressing: in a small bowl, place the tahini, lemon juice and honey together, add 2 tablespoon of olive oil, 3 tablespoon of water (to make it thinner), a touch of salt (not too much, the pumpkin, rice and feta are already bringing some salt). Mix well. Add a bit more water if very tick. This dressing is not so thin.
In a large salad bowl, place the pumpkin, the feta broken in small pieces, the rice and the spring onions. Mix slightly being careful not to break the pumpkin and feta. Add the figs.
Depending on who will be at the table you may pour the dressing on the salad or leave it for each to do so.
Easy and quick to make, the carrot salad is often forgotten. It is as well an entree as a side dish. For lunch, it can be eaten with a slice of bread and paté.
Ingredients:
1 carrot per person
1 Dijon mustard (either the plain or the wholegrain)
Salt, vinegar, olive oil
Method:
Peel and grate the carrots, place in a bowl.
In another bowl, prepare the seasonning. For 2 large carrots, place 1/2 teaspoon of mustard with 1/2 teaspoon of vinaigar at the bottom of the bowl, add 1/2 teaspoon of salt, some ground pepper and 3 tablespoons of oil. Mix well and transfer to the grated carrots. Turn over.
You can add sultanas or sliced almond to this carrot salad, it works really well.
A tomato salad is so beautiful and fresh! it can be served as an entree for lunch or a side for a meal. If the tomatoes were in the fridge, it is better if the salad is prepared early to allow the tomatoes to come back to room temperature.
I am yet to take a photo of it (even though we had a tomato salad as part of dinner).
You can choose to use cherry tomatoes and vary the colour of the tomatoes.
Ingredients:
Tomatoes, based on one tomato per person
Salt, pepper, red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar, olive oil
Method:
Rinse the tomatoes as necessary
Cut the tomatoes either in half-quarters or in thin (mm) slices. if you are in Europe (and maybe elsewhere, but not in Australia), you will find the tool below which does the cutting for you.
Vinaigrette: I use the same vinaigrette than for a green lettuce.
1/4 spoon of salt, slightly covered with ground pepper
1 spoon of red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar, mix with the salt and pepper.
Add 3 spoons of olive oil.
If you like it, cut some shallots in very small dices
The perfect green salad for a French person means a lettuce of some kind and this is it, nothing more! No extra olives, tomatoes, corn, fetta, or else or it becomes a “salad composée” (mixed salad). The main purpose of the green salad is to help digestion and lighten meals. On a diet perspective, it provides fibres and fill you up just enough so you don’t eat to much of other more calorific foods.
Preparing the lettuce
Salad needs to be washed or as it happened to a great uncle you may end up eating a slug (now this is a long time ago, during a meal in a very formal environment, he was told by his parents to be quiet, not make a fuss and finish his plate, ouch!). More seriously, often there is still some earth in them, you don’t want to eat that.
You need to be equipped with a salad spinner, there is no excuse for soggy salad, big no no! If you need to get one, take one without the holes at the bottom because you will always end up flooding your work bench. Buy a good quality one, the one I have below has been in my kitchen for 8 years probably now.
For the vinaigrette, for every day, I stick to the basic one. Best is to do it at the bottom of the bowl BEFORE placing the salad, which means that the salad will not lose its freshness by being mixed early. Mix the salad at the last minute.
The basic vinaigrette
Use your normal cutlery to measure quantities
1/4 spoon of salt, slightly covered with ground pepper
1 spoon of red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar
3 spoons of olive oil
optional: chives herb cut in 5 mm lengths or shallots (as presented below)
Mix the ingredient slightly. We are not trying here to make an emulsion.
Tip: make the vinaigrette at the bottom of the salad bowl BEFORE putting the lettuce in the bowl. This will allow it to sit for a while without getting mushy. Turn the salad only just before serving.
Some salads are nice with a seasoning containing a bit of mustard, use 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard. if you like raw garlic, you can also crash a clove of garlic and cut thinly.
This red onion pissalardiere is a variation from the traditional pissalardiere. The pissalardiere is a classic dish from southern France. The pissalardiere is something between a pizza and an onion tart. It is normally made with brown onion, this recipe is a variation and uses red onions.
Ingredients
2 to 3 large red onions
1 capsicum
1 puff pastry or pate brisee
Anchovies
Black olives
Method
Pre-heat oven at 180°C
Onions: chopped the onions finely then slowly cooked them and reduced them. Seasoned and add a splash of balsamic vinegar.
Capsicum: cut in long stripes and let to reduce very slowly in a frypan with a lid and 1/3 cup of water and a little salt until cooked. Add a bit of water if necessary.
Make sure you keep a watch on the above, they could burn easily, stir from time to time.
Prepare your puff pastry in the tart tin.
Place the onions at the bottom, then the capsicum. You can add a bit of nutmeg at this stage. Add a few anchovies. I added grated Grana Panado (this is what I had in the fridge) and a few black olives.
Bake on 180°C (160°C if fan forced) until the pastry is cooked.
This is an easy beetroot puree for a smashing result. You can use any soft-cheese really. I used cow cheese triangle because it is what I had in the fridge.
Ingredients
4 small to medium fresh beetroots
2 smiling cow cheese triangles
Salt&pepper
Method
Boil some water in a saucepan, add 1/s tbsp of rock salt. Peel the beetroot and cut into medium size chunks (it makes cooking quicker). When the water is boiling, place into the saucepan and cooked until tender when inserting a knife (about 30 min).
Transfer to a food processor, add 2 “vache qui rit”/”laughing cow” or similar soft cheese. I used these ones because they have been in the fridge, my daughters asked for them but now refuse to eat them. Turn the food processor on until very smooth. Adjust the salt. Transfer to a bowl.
