Thin savory buckwheat crepes, filled with homemade Gruyere, Vermont ham and fresh scallions from the garden. Definitely one of the best things I brought back from Quebec.
I recently took a trip to Quebec, and brought back some buckwheat (sarrasin) flour from the Gelinas farm in Yamachiche. We drove through Yamachiche rather quickly, because I was really looking for fromageries, but it is a nice town. Wikipedia says that the name "came from the Native American (possibly Cree) words iyamitaw (meaning "much") and achichki (meaning "mud")." It's farm country, and the Gelinas family were early settlers. I don't know whether they brought the sarrasin over from France, or it came later, but this region (Mauricie) is a center of production.
Breaking news: I just found out that the 32nd annual Festival de la Galette de Sarrasin will be held from October 1-10 in Louiseville, just down the road from Yamachiche. I'm going.
My recipe for these Galettes is modified from the ultra-simple one on the bag, which is also the one they will have at the festival (buckwheat flour, water, and baking soda). That one worries me a little. So I've made it somewhat more reliably crepe-like by adding egg, flour and milk. However, the traditional (at least in Quebec) recipe proves that those avoiding gluten and/or dairy can still have galettes.
I also just opened an 8-month-old wheel of my own Gruyere, which has been aging down in the cave. This is perhaps my best cheese yet, which I always say, but it's really excellent this time. The cheese is slightly tangy, like Comte, and has that very slight crystalline quality that comes with age. Despite that, it is not too intense; a perfect foil for the buckwheat's nutty flavor.
Galettes de Sarrasin
Ingredients
Galettes:
2/3 cup buckwheat flour
1 egg
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
Fillings:
Thinly-sliced Gruyere
Thinly-sliced Vermont Ham, or other lean ham
Slivered scallions
Process
Combine all galette ingredients in food processor bowl with blade attached. Process very well, about 1 1/2 minutes.
Heat a steel crepe pan, put in a teaspoon of salted butter, then pour enough batter in to cover 2/3 of the pan. Tilt the pan and rotate to distribute the batter, making sure to get it around the edge (or the edge will be too thin to easily turn the crepes).
Cook until browned on one side, flip, and then immediately place some cheese, then ham, in the center of the crepe. Top with the slivered scallions, then fold the sides in toward the center, and lift out of the pan, to the plate.
Eat these right away.......
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In other news, our puppy Heidi is teething, which I think has her sort of freaked out. I found her mouthing a baby tooth which had fallen out, took it away from her, and put it in an envelope in the file cabinet. I told her that the tooth fairy would bring her lots of kibble tonight while she was asleep (no kidding).
So she tried to get some rest:
But she just couldn't get to sleep....tossing and turning...
Gorgeous, as usual. Any chance we'll get to see pics of the cave one day?
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