Ficelle Picarde or Ham crepes. French recipe

How to make Ficelle Picarde . Like many other dishes that have achieved traditional status within a country, today’s recipe has its own history.

Ficelle picarde , literally translated from the French chain picardy , is a typical dish from the neighboring country, France. It is a dish typical of the Picarde area, in the north of the country, where its name is supposed to come from, it seems that its origin is in Amiens, in the Commerce hotel in 1950, as an invention of the chef who carried the cooks on the occasion of a fair that was held in the city. Even so, it is not without legend and there are those who think that its origin is rather at the time of King Louis XIV.

This French specialty is very simple to prepare, it is based on a crepe that is filled with ham and duxelles , which is covered with creme freiche and grated cheese . Duxelles is a cream based on mushrooms that are confit with chives and crushed. As an example of its use in gastronomy, in addition to this picarde ficelle , we have the Wellington sirloin , where it is used as part of the napado to cover the meat.

In addition to the preparation of the filling, we have to make a crepe that serves as a base. The ingredients cannot be more basic, milk, eggs, flour and water. After letting the dough rest for the flour to open, we prepare pancakes the size we like best, perfect for filling or eating alone.

On the blog you will find popular dishes of French cuisine. Lots of ideas like quiche lorreine , vichyssoise , onion soup , Ficelle Picardeo or tartiflette , which are sure to succeed at home. If you look at its sweet recipes , the undisputed brioche is one of the kings along with the classic  crême brûlee . I leave you with this simple and very easy to prepare recipe. In addition to being light and very tasty, it will allow us to eat vegetables in a different and original way.

Preparation of the cream and the filling of the Ficelle Picarde

1. We start preparing the pasta for the pancakes, for this in a bowl we beat the 3 eggs with the milk, the water and a pinch of salt.
2. Add the flour and let the mixture sit for about 30 minutes so that the flour “opens”.
3. While the dough rests we begin to prepare the filling. Peel the chives and cut them into small cubes.
4. In a wide frying pan, heat one or two tablespoons of butter and add the chives. Cook over low heat until it begins to soften, about 15 or 20 minutes.
5. While the onion is sautéing we clean the ground mushrooms and peel them by removing the outer skin that covers them.
6. So we can skip the step of washing them excessively, so they will not absorb water.
7. Chop the mushrooms as small as possible and add them to the pan when we see that the chives are ready.
8. When the mushrooms have been cooking for 6 or 7 minutes, add a splash of white wine and continue cooking for 5 more minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add 3 tablespoons of creme freiche or fresh cream.
9. Season with salt and pepper, mix well and reserve.
10. At this point we have two options, we can crush the mushroom mixture with the blender or keep the sauce with the vegetable cubes.
11. This is why it is so important that we have cut the chives and the mushrooms as small as possible.

Preparation of Ficelle Picarde or Ham Crepes

1. We prepare the pancakes with the dough that we already have resting. In a hot frying pan we spread butter or olive oil in a very small amount, just so that the surface is greased.
2. Pour a saucepan of pancake liquid into the pan and turn it to cover the entire bottom with a thin layer of dough.
3. We cook at medium high temperature, until we see small bubbles form on its upper face. Turn the crepe over and continue cooking on the new face for 1 or 2 more minutes.
4. We preheat the oven to 220º C for 10 minutes (before gratinating the ficelle picarde).
5. When we have all the pancakes ready we proceed to the assembly. We spread a crepe on a tray and place a slice of cooked ham.
6. On top of the ham we add a portion of mushroom filling. We close the crepe forming a small package as can be seen in the photographic step by step.
7. We place the rolls on a baking sheet smeared with butter. Cover with the rest of the creme fraiche.
8. Sprinkle with plenty of grated Gruyère cheese.
9. Gratin for about 10 minutes with the oven at 220ºC.

We serve this very warm French dish, accompanied by a salad. Little more do we need to enjoy this healthy and very tasty recipe.

Be sure to enjoy all the recipes with meat that we have on the blog. You can see all the photos of the step by step  in the next album .