Chef Bertrand Larcher’s asparagus galette recipe

Chef Bertrand Larcher, whose Breizh Café brand promotes his native Breton cuisine across France and Japan, shares one of his delicious recipes…

Asparagus galette with mangetout and smoked duck breast from Cherrueix

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes plus 3 minutes per galette

FOR EACH GALETTE

150g (5oz / 2⁄3 cup) buckwheat galette batter

30g (1oz / 1⁄4 cup) grated Gruyère

2 tsp lightly salted butter

60g (2 1⁄4 oz) mangetout and asparagus

25g (1oz / 1 small slice) smoked duck breast

A little chopped parsley

Fleur de sel & freshly ground black pepper

THE FILLING

120g (4oz / approx 7 spears) white asparagus

120g (4oz / approx 7 spears) green asparagus

120 g (4oz / 2 cups) mangetout

✽Drizzle of olive oil 1 smoked duck breast, from Cherrueix (or any other good smoked duck breast), sliced Fleur de sel

✽ Peel and trim the asparagus. Snap the mangetout. Blanch the asparagus and peas in salted, boiling water for 1 minute. Drain. Sauté in a dry frying pan (skillet) until tender but still al dente. Drizzle with olive oil.

✽ Heat the billig [or a large, non-stick frying pan], sear the slices of smoked duck and set aside.

✽ Pour the batter onto the heated billig [or into a large, non-stick frying pan]. Swirl with a wooden spreader. Cook the galette until golden brown. Sprinkle with the grated Gruyère.

✽ Let the cheese melt, then fold the galette and turn it over. Spread with butter and transfer to a serving plate.

✽ Top the galette with the sautéed vegetables and the seared slices of duck. Add a few grains of fleur de sel [Normandy sea salt], some freshly ground pepper and a sprinkling of chopped parsley. »
[mrb]

For the galette batter:

Makes about 24 galettes

1kg (2lb 2oz / 5 1⁄2 cups) organic stone-ground buckwheat flour.

If you are using an electric billig [the flat stone used to make galettes – you can use a large non-stick frying pan instead], replace 10-20% (at the very most) of the buckwheat flour with plain (all-purpose) flour.

1 litre (2 pints / 4 1⁄4 cups) + 500ml (1 pint / 2 cups) filtered water 30g (1oz / 2 1⁄2 tbsp) coarse grey sea salt

✽ Combine the buckwheat flour, salt and 1 litre (2 pints /4 cups) of water. Mix until smooth. Work the batter by hand, beating in as much air as possible. Bubbles should appear on the surface.

✽ Stir in any optional ingredient, mix well and chill overnight, or for at least 3 hours.

✽ The next day, add the remaining 500ml of water. Ideally, the batter should be brought to room temperature by taking it out of the refrigerator at least an hour before making the galettes.

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Hungry for more? The book Crêpes and Galettes from the Breizh Café by Bertrand Larcher with photos by Marie Pierre Morel is published by Jacqui Small and is available on Amazon.