Ficelle Picarde

Savoury crêpes rolled round mushrooms and ham, baked under cream, where the mushrooms are cooked until the pan is dry.

Pork, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains gruyère whose rennet the source does not name, pork.

Ingredients

For the rolls

• 8 crêpes, as on their own page, made without sugar
• 400 g button mushrooms, chopped small
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 40 g butter
• 300 ml béchamel, as on its own page, made thick
• 8 thin slices cooked ham
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• salt and pepper

To finish

• 200 ml crème fraîche
• 80 g gruyère, grated
• 20 g butter

Method

1. THE MUSHROOMS ARE COOKED UNTIL THE PAN IS DRY, and that is most of this dish. Chopped mushrooms release a great deal of water; it has to be driven off in the pan, not in the oven. Any left behind thins the béchamel, runs out of the ends of the rolls and turns the whole dish into crêpes floating in grey liquid. Keep going past the point where they look done -- eight minutes after the liquid appears, until you can hear them frying again.
2. THE BÉCHAMEL IS MADE THICK ON PURPOSE. Thicker than you would sauce anything with, because the crème fraîche poured over the top loosens everything as it bakes. A pouring béchamel here gives a dish with no filling left inside the crêpes.
3. THE CRÊPES ARE MADE WITHOUT SUGAR. The crêpe page is written for sweet ones; leave the sugar out and add a good pinch of salt, or the whole dish is faintly of pudding.
4. AND THEY ARE ROLLED, NOT FOLDED, with the ham INSIDE the crêpe rather than under it. A ham layer on the outside goes leathery and curls away from the cream.
5. Crêpes made as on their own page, without sugar, and set aside. They can be made the day before.
6. Béchamel made as on its own page, with 400 ml of milk instead of 600 so it is thick. Covered with cling on the surface.
7. Butter in a wide pan. Shallots softened 3 minutes.
8. Mushrooms in over a HIGH heat. They will release liquid after 3 or 4 minutes.
9. Cooked on 8 to 10 minutes more until THE PAN IS DRY and they are frying rather than stewing. Seasoned, parsley stirred through.
10. The mushrooms folded into about two thirds of the thick béchamel to make a stiff filling. Cooled 10 minutes.
11. Each crêpe laid out, a slice of ham on it, a line of filling along the middle, and rolled up firmly into a cylinder.
12. The rolls laid seam down in a buttered dish, just touching.
13. The remaining béchamel thinned with half the crème fraîche and spooned over, then the rest of the crème fraîche poured across, the gruyère scattered and the butter dotted.
14. Baked at 200C for 20 to 25 minutes until blistered and bubbling. Rested 5 minutes before serving.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under France · All recipes