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Ficelle Picarde

A ficelle picarde is a savoury crepe, from, yep you’ve guessed it, the Picardie region. This a great way to use your crepe batter when everyone has had their fill of sweet crepes ! There are a lot of similar recipes in France that use a béchamel sauce but the real Ficelle Picarde doesn’t. I discovered this recipe when living in Picardie 🙂

Ingredients :

  • 6 crepes (pancakes), you’ll find the recipe here
  • 6 slices of ham
  • 500g button mushrooms
  • 400g shallots
  • 25g crème fraîche
  • 3 tablespoons wine (if you do not wish to use wine you can use some chicken stock instead)
  • 50g grated emmenthal (or any hard cheese)
  • Salt & pepper

 

Methods : 

  1. Make a duxelles* – clean and chop the mushrooms and the shallots very finely
  2. Melt the butter in the pan, add the shallots and sauté for 5 minutes until soft
  3. Add the mushrooms and cook over allow to cook for at least 20 minutes until all the liquid has evaporated
  4. Pour in the white wine and continue to reduce until the liquid evaporates again
  5. Remove from heat and add 2 tablespoons of the crème fraîche
  6. Season with salt & pepper
  7. Put a slice of ham on each crepe and then place 2 tablespoons of the duxelles mixture down the middle of the crepe
  8. Roll the crepe and place in an oven proof dish
  9. Repeat with the over crepes and place them all side by side in the dish
  10. Spoon the remaining crème fraîche over the crepes and top with the grated cheese
  11. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 200°C 
  12. Serve hot with a green salad

 

 

 

*Duxelles is a very finely chopped mixture of mushrooms and shallots that are sautéed in butter and reduced to a paste. Famous chef François Pierre La Varenne, chef for the Marquis d’Uxelles created this preparation in his honour in the seventeenth century.




Crepes

French crepes are thin and delicate pancakes and can be filled with anything you like – nutella, jam, cream, sugar, fruit … 

This recipe can be used immediately after making it. It doesn’t contain sugar because it really is sweet enough when you add your toppings! (This batter can also be used for savoury recipes – coming soon!)

For 600ml of batter (double the ingredients for 1.2 litres)

Ingredients :

  • 160g plain flour
  • 2 eggs
  • A good pinch of salt
  • 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (or melted butter)
  • 330ml of milk

Method :

  1. In a large bowl, beat eggs and milk together with an electric mixer
  2.  Beat in flour and salt until smooth; stir in oil (or butter if using)
  3. Heat a lightly frying pan
  4. When hot use a ladle to pour the batter onto the pan
  5. Tip and rotate pan to spread batter as thinly as possible
  6. Brown on both sides and serve

You can add flavours to your crepe mixture such as  a few drops of orange blossom water (my favourite!), rum or orange rind etc