Truffled pancakes stuffed with hake

This recipe is a guaranteed success. This Nadal meal with friends encouraged me with something different and he liked it beautifully, everything ended. It was a food test and I’m sure a great option for New Years Eve or Reyes dinner.

The black truffle Tuber Melanosporum , is one of my favorite truffles and one of the most aromatic in the Iberian Peninsula. This mushroom is special because it brings not only aroma and flavor to the dish but also new sensations as it is not a product that is eaten every day. And speaking of sensations, I tell you that when the container arrived and I opened it, the kitchen was flooded with the unmistakable aroma of black truffle. Its perfume can be very intense and with a sweet point that not everyone likes, but in small doses I assure you that it is a delicacy. Immediately I thought of making a flavored oil because the last one I drew in the Empanadas course (I think it was Guillermo’s turn) and right now I don’t have left … me and my jars with oils, so I never have a place in the fridge.

Last year for my birthday they gave me a black truffle or black diamond as the chefs call it, and I made the most of it: truffled eggs, rice, pasta, flavored oil … This time I looked for a recipe that highlighted the flavor of the truffle already At the same time you will find Galician flavors, a symbiosis between Galician, French and Aragonese cuisine. I had it to publish this Christmas but I have prepared it again at Mónica and Nacho’s house, improving the pancakes for a meal with 10 people, and for the first time they have given me opinions beyond ” yum, cruch, rich rich “. I hope you like it, the ingredients and the good company make this delicious recipe … the best. And be careful who you serve it, they say is an aphrodisiac.

Preparation of the pancakes

1. Grate half the truffle to add it to the crêpe base cream. We reserve.
2. The crêpe pasta-cream is quite easy to prepare. In a bowl, pour the milk, the whole wheat flour, the black truffle zest, a pinch of salt, the butter in the ointment, the eggs and the coriander leaves. Mix everything with the mixer without lumps. Let it rest for an hour so that it finishes thickening although the cream must be loose.
3. Spread a little butter in a hot nonstick skillet . An easy trick is to break some butter into a stick, wrap one end in aluminum foil to hold it, and spread the pan on the other. Spread the entire pan in this way until the butter is melted, it should not be very greasy but we should not fall short either.
4. The first pancake is for testing (I eat it at the moment), it is the most greasy because the frying pan picks up the temperature point and the degree of fat of the butter, the second usually comes out perfect.
5. When the skillet is hot, add the cream so that it covers the entire bottom, only just so that they are fine. I use a 22 cm deep frying pan and cream the size of a ladle, as you see in the attached photo (do not pour too much because otherwise they will be very fat). We lift, tilt and turn the pan so that the cream is spread over the entire bottom.
6. The pancake will start to cook instantly, we will have it for 15-20 seconds at medium temperature and when the edges start to fold up (because they are toasted) it is the right time to turn it with the fork. When you turn it over if the tone of the toast is not golden it will be for lack of egg, you can take advantage to add another to the cream. Brown on both sides and stack on a large plate. We continue making the crêpes until the cream is finished. If the fork is not good for you, you can use the trick of turning the pancake with a plate as if it were a potato omelette. As you get more practical, it will no longer be necessary.

Once cold, they can be kept in the fridge or even frozen, although only if there are leftovers that usually do not happen at home … hehe. And there you have them as appetizing as the photo. This recipe makes about 15 pancakes, it all depends on the size of the pan and the thickness of the pancake. We reserve for later filling.

Preparation of the filling

1. Finely chop the onions, the garlic clove and the leeks. We reserve.
2. We put a splash of olive oil in a pan. Heat over medium heat and fry the onion first for about 10-12 minutes over medium heat, when we see that it changes to a tan color add the garlic clove and the leek. Remove with a wooden spoon, bringing all the flavors together and mixing the ingredients. The process will take us about 20 minutes over low heat.
3. We clean the hake well from possible bones and cut into small pieces. We only want the meat of the hake, the skin and the head we can save to prepare a broth.
4. Add the hake to the vegetables and put everything together, cook 5 minutes more and season to taste. There is no need to cook the fish much. Let it temper and reserve to fill the crêpes.

Veloutte preparation

Velouté is a mother sauce that can be used as a base for other sauces in French cuisine. The word velouté means velvety and its name comes from the final texture that is light to silky on the palate. The elaboration starts from a roux (butter and flour in a sauce in equal parts) that is mixed with a broth. The velouté is similar to the bechamel that I have already explained in other recipes, although we substitute the milk for broth using the roux (the step where we mix the flour with the butter) that binds the final sauce.

1. Its preparation is similar to bechamel . We sift the flour with a strainer, if you use fine Maizena type corn flour it will not be necessary. It is very important so that there are no lumps later.
2. We put in a saucepan to heat over half a liter of seafood broth for 4-5 minutes to then speed up the sauce preparation process.
3. In another saucepan we introduce the butter and heat it over low heat until it melts, it has to turn a hazelnut color and it will remove a little foam that we can remove if we want. Then we add the sifted flour ( Roux,  is the name of this step or mixture of flour and butter) that will help us bind the velouté, we let it mix until they form small golden-hued doughs. If the flour is raw, the velouté will taste a lot like flour and it is not what we want.
4. In the previous step I used butter, but if we want we can use butter and olive oil to equal measures. The oil gives it a special touch. You can try to see if you like it.
5. Mix the flour with the butter very well with a wooden spoon until it is like a ball.
6. We put the seafood broth in the saucepan with the flour and butter. Add salt, ground white pepper to taste and a little ground nutmeg.
7. Stir continuously with a rod (5-6 minutes). We are controlling the temperature, in this step it is best to leave it to a minimum. There will be a homogeneous mixture and most importantly, without lumps. If you have not controlled this sauce and you have lumps, you can fix it with a touch of a mixer. So it will be perfect for you.

Final preparation and assembly of the plate

1. We already have all the ingredients ready for final assembly, the freshly made velouté, the crêpes and the warm filling. When the filling is warm we put a little of the filling in each pancake and roll up as if they were cannelloni as you see in the photos.
2. We place in a baking dish, if you want to add enough cream-velouté better in a wide pan. 10 perfectly filled pancakes enter the tray.
3. Pour the velouté over the crêpes and put in the oven for 5 minutes at 180º in the gratin position. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the rest of the freshly grated black truffle, to preserve all its properties and aroma.
4. We present a crepe per person, I assure you that you do not stay hungry although you will surely repeat … hehe

Be sure to enjoy all the recipes for fish and seafood that we have on the blog, I assure you that you will find a lot of ideas to make yours much happier.