French Buckwheat Crepes with ham and cheese are easy to make at home, and are delicious. It is important to prepare the Buckwheat crepes batter (gluten free) the day before, or at least 2 hours before cooking.
Family and friends have told me this is as good as the “Galettes Bretonnes” you can find in Brittany, in western France.
French Buckwheat Crepes with ham and cheese
Ingredients
Buckwheat Crepes (for 12 galettes)
- 250 g buckwheat flour sifted
- 350 ml water
- 350 ml milk
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2 eggs
- 50 g melted butter
Filling (4 servings)
- 8 slices ham
- 120 g grated cheese (Emmental, Gouda, Gruyere…)
- Some butter
Instructions
- Mix buckwheat flour with salt, milk, water, and eggs together. Add melted butter and whisk until you get a smooth batter. Cover with plastic and and let rest for at least 2 hours. When you are ready to cook the crepes, stir the batter before frying each crepe.
- Heat a lightly buttered nonstick skillet over medium high heat.
- Add 1/4 cupful batter to skillet and immediately tilt to fully cover the bottom of the pan with a thin layer. Cook for a few seconds until the surface isn’t liquid.
- Without flipping the crepe, place a slice of ham in the center and sprinkle a little cheese.
- A few seconds later, as the cheese is melting and the crepe seems to be ready, carefully lift one side with a spatula and fold it.
- Fold the other sides to make a square.
- Remove the crepe from the pan and serve quickly.
- You can add more grated cheese over the top.
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This post was posted in Main Dish
Beef And Feta Pasta Dinner
Pasta and ground beef is nothing new, but when you add feta cheese, onion and fresh dill to it, it takes your pasta to a whole different level. Enjoy this Beef And Feta Pasta Dinner!
Beef And Feta Pasta Dinner
You might seriously consider making a double batch of this Beef and feta pasta dinner because your family will definitely ask you for more.
Ingredients
- 4 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion
- 1 lb ground beef
- 500 g pasta uncooked
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 200 g feta cheese
Instructions
- Peel and chop the onion.
- Coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil. Add onion and sauté until softened and brown, stirring once in a while.
- While the onion is cooking, cook pasta, according to the package directions. Drain pasta and set aside.
- Fully cook the ground beef. Drain grease. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Use your hands or the tines of a fork to crumble the feta cheese.
- Add onion, ground beef and crumbled feta to cooked pasta. Shower on a generous dusting of fresh dill and using two spoons, toss the pasta well.
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This post was posted in Main Dish
Quiche With Mushrooms
French open-faced pie from puff pastry with buttery mushroom filling. To save time, I use canned sliced mushrooms. But you can use fresh ones as well.
Quiche With Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 1 sheet all butter puff pastry
- 15 g butter (or olive oil)
- 1 onion
- 250 g canned sliced mushrooms (drained)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 3 eggs
- 150 ml heavy cream( 35%)
- 5-6 thin slices hard cheese
- fresh parsley
- pinch nutmeg (optional)
Instructions
- Peel and cut the onion. In a medium skillet, heat oil or butter until hot, add onion and sauté for about 3 minutes. Add sliced mushrooms and sauté for another 7-8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lay the puff pastry on a parchment paper and transfer it onto a baking sheet. Prick all over with a fork.
- Evenly spoon the mushrooms mix on top.
- In a bowl, whisk together eggs and cream. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over the mushrooms.
- Place the cheese slices all over the pie. Sprinkle with nutmeg.
- Bake on the bottom rack for about 35 minutes, until golden.
- Garnish with herbs before serving.
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This post was posted in Main Dish, Puff Pastry
Turkey Potato Casserole
“Without the potato, the balance of European power might never tilted north”. (Michael Pollan)
Turkey Potato Casserole is very personal, everyone makes theirs differently. I make my Turkey Potato Casserole with shredded potato.
Turkey Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 large onion
- 1 1/2 pound lean ground turkey
- 6 medium russet potatoes
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 3 eggs
- 3 Tbsp water
- 1 cup cheddar cheese shredded
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Dice onion as finely as you can.
- Mix together ground turkey with onion, add salt ant pepper to taste.
- Place the turkey mix in an even layer on the bottom of a 9×13 inches baking dish.
- Peel and shred potatoes.
- Spread the shredded potatoes evenly over turkey.
- In a small bowl, whisk together sour cream, eggs and water. Add 1/2 tsp of salt.
- Evenly pour the egg mixture over casserole and sprinkle with cheddar cheese.
- Bake uncovered for 55 minutes, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.
- Serve it hot with sour cream and cilantro.
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This post was posted in Main Dish
Ham And Cheese Quiche
The Quiche is a French open faced pie. Amazing dish which can be served with tossed salad, roasted potatoes, bouillon ( broth ) or just by itself.
Ham and cheese quiche
Ingredients
- 1 sheet all butter puff pastry
- 3 eggs
- 150 ml cream
- 150 g ham
- 70 g shredded cheese
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- On parchment paper, roll puff pastry out to larger than the size of your baking dish circle. Transfer to a pie plate. Using a fork, prick the surface of the dough to keep it from puffing up.
- Pop in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until the crust starts to turn light gold. Remove the pastry from the oven, pressing the center down with a fork, if it puffed up a bit.
- Cut ham into small cubes and spread on top of the dough.
- Sprinkle with shredded cheese.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, salt and pepper. Pour evenly over the cheese layer.
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a tooth pick comes clean.
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Course: Main Dish
This post was posted in Main Dish, Puff Pastry
Juicy French Style Pork Tenderloin
I lived in France more than 10 years. My husband is French but neither he or his parents have heard of this dish. The French don’t even suspect that this dish is called French style meat, but Russians eat this meat and know that it truly is “French style meat”.
Juicy French Style Pork Tenderloin
The main ingredients in this dish are meat, mayonnaise, cheese and onion, lots of onion.
Ingredients
- 6 pork tenderloin chops
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1-2 onion
- 200 g cheese shredded
- 5-6 Tbsp mayonnaise
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 380 degrees F. Line medium baking dish with aluminum foil.
- Place each piece of meat between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound with the flat side of meat tenderizer until about 1/4 inch thick. Season both sides with salt and pepper.
- Lay the meat out on the baking dish. Peel and cut the onion (half-moon). Arrange the onion on top of the pork. Sprinkle with shredded cheese. Spread mayonnaise all over the meat.
- Bake for about 40 minutes until golden brown.
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This post was posted in Main Dish
Lemon Rosemary Salmon
Tasty, simple and beautiful looking dish for everyday or special occasions.
Lemon Rosemary Salmon
Ingredients
- 4 salmon fillets remove bone and skin
- 1 large lemon thinly sliced
- 8 spring fresh rosemary washed
- 8 Tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tsp paprika
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Add 4 Tbsp of olive oil to baking dish. Place one slice of lemon and one rosemary spring under each salmon fillet.
- Add salt, pepper and paprika evenly over salmon and place one slice of lemon and one rosemary spring on top of salmon.
- Drizzle 4 Tbsp of olive oil over salmon.
- Bake 25 minutes until salmon is flaky.
- Place salmon on serving platter and enjoy.
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This post was posted in Main Dish
Potato Pancakes (Draniki)
One of my husband’s favorite food is draniki. Russian style potato pancakes. Perfect for breakfast or branch. I’ve seen draniki recipes that use mashed potato also, but I personally prefer my potato to be coarsely grated, because then you have more crispy ends. Traditionally draniki are served with sour cream, but you can also serve them with ketchup or cottage cheese.
Potato Pancakes (Draniki)
You will need some extra olive oil, draniki absorb oil very fast.
Ingredients
- 6 medium potatoes washed
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 50 ml buttermilk
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 50 g all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup olive oil (plus extra)
- 1/2 cup sour cream (optional)
- fresh herbs (optional)
Instructions
- Peel and grate potatoes. Squeeze grated potatoes with hands, extracting as much liquid as possible.
- In a large bowl beet eggs, baking soda and buttermilk, add grated potatoes, salt, pepper and flour, mix well.
- In a large iron skillet heat the olive oil until hot. Place the tablespoons of batter in the pan and flatten with spoon.
- Reduce heat to medium and cook until the bottom is golden brown.Turn over and cook on the other side.
- Garnish with fresh herbs and serve them hot with sour cream.
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This post was posted in Main Dish
Beef Rice Pilaf With Dry Barberry Berries
This is very delicious and flavorful rice. Perfect for special dinner with friends or just for your family. It may seem a little time consuming, but it’s worth it.
Beef Rice Pilaf With Dry Barberry Berries
It is very important to put the raw garlic on top of the rice before covering everything with water.
Ingredients
- 2 cups rice Uncle Ben’s Long Grain White Rice
- 2 lb beef boneless stew beef
- 4 large carrots
- 2 onion
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 head garlic
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 5 Tbsp barberry dry berries
- 1 Tbsp freshly ground black pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 Tbsp salt
- 4 cups water hot
Instructions
- Soak and rinse the rice, at least 2-3 times, then drain.
- Cut beef into 1 inch pieces.
- Peel and cut the carrots into thick matchsticks.
- Peel and dice onion.
- Heat the olive oil in an enameled cast iron dutch oven over a medium heat, add beef.
- Cook beef for one hour on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.
- When the beef is fully cooked add onion and soften, stirring regularly for about 3 minutes.
- Add carrots, spices, salt, pepper, bay leaf and dry berries. Cook for another 2 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Layer the soaked rice over the top of the beef and vegetables. Peel some of the skin off the garlic head and slice the top off, exposing the garlic cloves. Put raw garlic head on top of the rice.
- Carefully pour hot water over wooden spoon to ensure even distribution over rice. Do not stir.
- Cover with lid. When it starts boiling, remove the lid to let the water almost evaporate.
- Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook until the rice is tender and the rest of the liquid has been absorbed, about 15 minutes.
- Mix the ingredients as you serve the pilaf on a platter. Garnish with garlic head.
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This post was posted in Main Dish
Pork Schnitzel
Schnitzel is the German word for “cutlet”, which is usually made with veal and is thinly pounded, breaded and fried in oil. I make my Schnitzel with pork and it tastes just amazing, soft inside and crispy outside.
Pork Schnitzel
The trick to a tender, juicy schnitzel is not cutting the meat super thin, but rather using a meat tenderizer to pound the meat down to a 1/4 inch thickness.
Ingredients
- 2 lb pork tenderloin
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 lemon thinly sliced
Instructions
- Cut the meat into 6 equal pieces. Place each piece between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound with the flat side of meat tenderizer, until about 1/4 inch thick.
- You will need four large dinner plates: In the first plate, combine together flour, salt and pepper. Whisk eggs and milk in the second plate. In your third plate stir together paprika with bread crumbs. And one empty plate.
- Dip each piece of meat one by one into the egg mixture.
- Then dip into flour.
- And again into egg mixture.
- Then into bread crumbs.
- Place your coated schnitzel on the plate number four.
- Pour oil into a large skillet about 1/2 inch. Heat the oil over medium heat.
- Once the oil is hot, carefully lay in each prepared schnitzel, cooking one at a time. Cook on each side for about 3 minutes. Turn it over to brown the other side.
- Transfer to paper towel. Repeat with remaining pork slices.
- Garnish with lemon slices and parsley.
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This post was posted in Main Dish