The Ficelle Picard is a savory rolled and stuffed crêpes from the Picardy region in Northern France.
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📕 What is it?
A creamy luscious savory crêpes recipe called crêpes ficellle Picarde.
This recipe was originally developed in the 50s in Amiens (Picardie, North of France) by a cook named Marcel Lefèvre.
To date, it has been a hit in the region and it has gained popularity in France over the past decades.
Although the recipes principle is quite simple it is still very much unknown globally, I believe it should receive recognition for its velvet glamorous flavors and textures.
If you ever get to visit the Picardi region to visit the cathedral of Beauvais or Amiens, this is the first dish that needs to be tried and tasted!
🔪 How is it made?
To prepare the dish a crepe is cooked, stuffed with the mushroom onion mix, and covered with Bechamel sauce and cheese.
The recipe is calling to finish the dish au gratin, but as you all know I am pretty much unable to do that without an oven in my house.
So I ask you all to not omit that final step because the crispy sauce cheese mix on top enhances the texture 100 times more and because it is very much worth it!
Our family recipe involves a creamy Bechamel sauce, which (after researching online) isn't used in the original recipe, instead, they used cream.
I have tried the cream version before but it wasn't satisfactory, in fact, I thought it to be too heavy at the end, so I decided to stick to our family recipe.
More Savory French Crêpes Recipes
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
For the Crêpes:
- 200 g All-purpose Flour
- 300 ml Milk
- pinch Salt
- 1 Tablespoon Oil
- 1 Egg
- Butter for frying
For the Filling:
- 1 Onion - chop
- 250 g Mushrooms
- pinch Salt and Pepper
- Oil
- 5 Ham Slices
For the Bechamel Sauce:
- 30 g Butter
- 3 Tablespoon All-purpose Flour
- 250 ml Milk
- pinch Salt and Pepper
- Nutmeg
To Garnish:
- Emmentaler Cheese Grated
- Chives
Instructions
- You will start by mixing all the above mentioned ingredients for the Crêpes to a smooth liquidy dough. Leave it standing in a cool place for 30 minutes.
- In the meanwhile chop the Onion and Mushrooms fine and fry the onions on slow heat first alone till translucent, throw in the Mushrooms right after that and cook it all till the water from the mushrooms dissolved and the mixture well cooked is. Season it and keep aside.
- Now you'll have to cook the béchamel sauce by adding the butter to a pot to melt.
- Mixing in the flour, stirring continuously.
- Quickly, pour in little by little the milk and continue whisking the whole mix on the heat till it all thickens to a smooth sauce.
- Keep it aside on a warming plate because we will need it warm later on.
- Take out your crêpes dough and heat up a frying pan with little Oil. Add to the hot pan 1 big Ladle of dough and quickly turn the pan around so that the dough evenly spreads. Cook the crêpes each side 2-5 minutes till it slightly reaches a slight golden color, take it out and keep aside. Do that with the rest of the dough and cook 4 more crêpes batches.
- To assemble the Crêpes Ficelle picarde, place the crêpes open, add a ham slice on top and top it all with the mushroom onion mix. Now roll the crêpes gently in and do that with all the other crêpes.
- The last step, to finnish the recipe, involves covering the crêpes with the hot Bechamel sauce first and garnishing with the grated cheese and chives at the end.
- You can finnish it off au gratin (optional)
- Voila la Crêpes Ficelle Picarde!
First had these on a visit to northern France a few years ago in a small country restaurant cooked by a lovely man no longer with us. Happy memories. Thank you
Having just lost my grandmother, Helene, your post touched me deeply. The hardest part about being an expat is not being able to be there with those we love for so many important life events, including when they pass away. Your recipe and story pay great tribute to the grandmother you love and the legacy she leaves behind. Thank you so much for sharing them.