Chandeleur VS Setsubun

In France, on February 2nd, it’s Chandeleur. A quick search on the internet told me that it’s Candlemas, a Christian celebration, 40 days after Christmas, the presentation of Jesus to the temple (thanks Wikipedia for enlightening my ignorance), but for me Chandeleur was just the day we ate crepes. A most awaited time as for some obscure reason my mum wouldn’t flip crepes often and we would for sure have some on February 2nd!!! One of my mother traditional savory filling was béchamel and ham, while I did like it then, I now barely prepare béchamel. A. doesn’t like it and I find it a bit heavy unless it is to eat with leeks or mushrooms only. My crepes filling is usually very simple: spinach, mushrooms, ham or prosciutto, eggs, cheese. Usually no more than two at the time, we are eating crepes not a kind of “put it all”… and it’s s good excuse to have a few crepes with different filling combinations!!!

To be honest, I care a lot less now of Chandeleur, because, as you may know if you follow me on Instagram, I flip crepes more often then I don’t! Crepes are my quick fix for a snack treat and A. loves them. And once in a while we also have savory crepes, or more precisely galettes, because I cannot help but love buckwheat crepes. I like them simple, with some vegetables and eggs, or ham and melted cheese. So over time I realize I have been skipping Chandeleur quite often, but who cares? As soon as you have a good crepe basic recipe you can make them anytime and realize how easy it is! You can easily change the wheat flour by 2/3 of buckwheat in my recipe to make galettes, you can even increase more the percentage of buckwheat, but don’t forget that with wheat comes gluten and with gluten comes consistency and firmness, so going gluten free means more cooking time before flipping and extreme carefulness in handling.

I don’t have a shallow crepes pan so I simply flip them in a large non sticky frypan slightly greased with butter, and it works perfectly well, no need to clutter the kitchen with this kind of goodies!

Have a good crepes flipping if you are planning to make some! I made some last week so I’ll pass today! Oh! And this year Setsubun 節分 is on February 2nd (it usually is on 3rd or 4th)… a celebration to welcome the new season (spring) that I love very much. I prefer by far traditions that are linked to seasons cycles or natural events rather than religions, so let’s throw beans to chase the evil out and hope for a quiet and peaceful home and year for everyone.

February 1, 2021

Crêpes

It’s been a few years now that on Saturday afternoon I make crepes. Our Saturday from November to April, when not working, are filled with many activities, gardening in the morning and playing tennis or going for a hike or bicycle ride in the afternoon. The rest of the year we also go to the beach swimming and bodyboarding…

Around 17:00 is always a time we get hungry and since we dine late a little snack is never bad. I found that crepes were actually the fastest thing I could make in small quantity. Crepes look tedious to make and I had this image that should be made in large quantity but actually it is not the case. We usually have 2 crepes each, that we eat in the kitchen while chatting and having tea. I found a perfect recipe that makes just the right amount of dough for 4-5 crepes and we fill them with chocolate, almond butter, or just lemon juice and a bit of sugar. Here is my recipe, and it’s so simple and quick that I’m sure you’ll start making crepes often!!

Crêpes (4 pieces)

– a handful of white flour

– one egg

– 1 tsp of sugar

– 350ml of milk

In a bowl mix the flour, the sugar and the egg, add the milk slowly while stirring. You should easily obtain a smooth and rather liquid mixture.

In a greased heated pan pour a thin layer of mix and cook until you can flip it easily. Flip and add filling of your choice, fold in four and enjoy!!!

April 24, 2019

Mini corn crepes

In a constant search for better quality and better taste I have almost completely stopped buying processed food. Only when we are in a rush/have forgotten do I buy bread at the combini, otherwise I prepare something: pancakes, scones, crepes, bread, or A. stops at the nearby bread artisan to buy some sordough bread. Of course it requires organization and a bit of effort in the morning but it is also very gratifying to eat freshly made food. And getting used to prepare quickly the routine gets easier and faster, mire accurate too. And it helps for fixing anything not only for breakfast but also lunch, dinner… so when my mum sent me some vegan spread (some kind of salty porridge, I’ll try to make someday) and we are waiting for dinner to be ready, it took me only 5min to prepare a corn flour dough and make some mini thick crepes to try the spread. I used 100g of corn flour, works as well with chickpea flour or whatever you like, 1 egg and s bit of water. The dough must be thick but not too much. Then in a heated pan greased with olive oil I made small crepes (3-4cm diameter) with one tbs of dough each. Flip when almost dry on top. Serve with the topping of your choice.

January 18, 2017

Isumi pork 🐷 → Isumi ham

The city of Isumi has a special pork meat called Isumi pork (いすみ豚), what is special about it I can’t really say now but it is for sure delicious, very tender and juicy. But since they grow pork in the area, we were thinking it’s really a pity they don’t make ham (it’s really hard to find good ham in Japan in particular in supermarket in Ohara), until our friend S. visited us yesterday and arrived with some fresh ham, from Isumi!!! Super nice ham!!! So we decided to go and check out the place where to get some, a small meat shop near the railway and Ohara station. They have smoked ham and pepper ham. We tried both and both are amazing! Apparently the pork farm is apparently in Otaki. We will probably go and check what they have soon. In the mean time, we are really happy to have found some really nice ham and had some for breakfast with eggs and buckwheat crepes!!

April 10, 2016

Mushroom and chard millefeuille

No news from the TPS yesterday? Well, it seems that we’ve lost the connection with the Parisian sister… As for the Tokyoite sister I’ve been really busy with my day job, working late and whole Saturday spent at the university. I’ve had also a number of work dinners to attend. Hopefully yesterday we managed to take some time to see friends and go to the opening of the Foujita exhibition at the Tamenaga gallery (they have two drawings of cats that are sumptuous and one beautiful water painting) , and I could finally spend some time in my kitchen.

I had in my fridge this beautiful chard and some lovely kind of oyster mushroom, and I was thinking of making ravioli with it. So I slightly cooked them together in a bit if olive oil and salt, and blend half of it to obtain a creamy green paste. Then we went out, and came back right for tea time, so I made us a little cake and used up all my eggs… oups! How would I make fresh pasta without an egg? Well I decided to change my recipe into some kind of millefeuille of little chestnut flour and flour crepes. So using a mix of chestnut flour, wheat flour, water and a bit of olive oil and I made about 10 little crepes. On each I spread some green paste and layered them, I topped the whole with some mushrooms and added the remaining veggies that I didn’t blend. Add some fleur de sel and some grinned black pepper. Simply yummy, but I still want to eat ravioli…

November 9, 2015

Chickpea and flax seeds thick crepe

There is an infinity of variations with crepes and pancakes, by changing the flour, adding baking soda or not, milk, egg, seeds… I love to play with all these possibilities and create something different each time. This time I grilled some eggplant and sweet pepper, so I decided to bake a big thick crepe made of chickpea flour and added some flax seeds in. For the crepe just chickpea flour, water, olive oil and salt is ok, for a less dense one adding an egg is good also. I baked it at low heat under cover and served with olive oil and pepper.

August 22, 2015

Crepes!!!

22:00, I’m just from work and from my pilates class, my husband won’t be back from work before 22:30. Just enough to time to prepare crepes!!! I couldn’t resist walking in the cold wind thinking about warn buckwheat crepes!!!

So here I am, cooking some. The filling will be simple: butter, cheese, eggs, or leek, and to finish dark chocolate or butter and honey (delicious honey made by my uncle in Salon de Provence).

How did you eat yours?

Buckwheat crepes or “galettes” are a traditional Brittany dish and I have this in my blood from my grand-father!!!

Mix buckwheat flour with eggs, milk and a bit of water until obtaining a smooth., silky mixture. Cook on both sides in a buttered pan until golden. Eat right away!

February 2, 2015

Chandeleur

Today is French “crepe day” called Chandeleur. I’m not sure I’m gonna make any tonight because I’ll be back from work quite late tonight. Yet I cook crepes and pancakes very often recently and in many different versions: changing the flour type, egg/no egg, milk/water…
This recipe is one I like to prepare for myself when I manage to have lunch at home.
I use a mix of chesnut flour and of corn starch, some baking powder, one egg and a bit of water to make the dough for the pancake. I baked it in olive oil in a small fry-pan on one side only, thick enough and covered the top side with 1/2 fresh mozarella, 1/2 fresh large very riped tomato. Seasonned with thyme, salt and pepper. And ready to eat in less then 10min!

February 2, 2015