Herb Crepes Filled With Tender Stem Brocolli And Gruyere Cheese

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Herb Pancakes Filled with Grilled Tenderstem Broccoli

A fragrant recipe for herb crepes filled with tender-stem broccoli and Gruyere Cheese with a delicious shallot confit.

Elegant and an impressive dinner party dish, the shallot confit can be made in advance leaving time for a pre dinner drink before impressing your guests with your kitchen flipping skills.

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 35 Minutes

What You’ll need:

For the Shallot Confit:

  • 400g peeled shallots
  • 100g butter

For the Pancakes:

  • 2 eggs
  • 100g flour
  • 150ml milk
  • 10g parsley
  • 10g chives
  • 10g chervil

For the Béchamel:

  • 50g butter
  • 50g flour
  • 500ml milk
  • 1 Shallot
  • 2 cloves
  • 50g Dijon mustard
  • 50g Gruyere cheese – grated
  • 250g Tenderstem broccoli
  • 50g Gruyère cheese – grated
  • Baby watercress leaves

What to do:

  • To make the shallot confit, finely chop the shallots, place the butter into a pan and melt, then add the diced shallots. Season with sea salt and pepper and cook slowly on a low heat not allowing them to colour. Cook for 30 minutes until they are very tender.
  • Make your basic pancake batter well ahead of time by mixing the eggs with the milk then adding the flour and beating until velvety smooth. Add the chopped herbs and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Then make your pancakes.

  • In a hot non stick pan add a small knob of butter and once melted add enough batter for one pancake. Cook for 2 minutes on each side. Allow 2 per person.
  • Keep these in between layers of greaseproof paper until required.

To make basic Béchamel sauce:

  • Cut the shallot in half and then stick the bay leaf to one half of the shallot with the cloves. Place the milk and shallot in a pan and warm up. Make a roux with butter and flour, add your hot milk to the roux and beat with a whisk until nice and smooth. Season with salt and pepper then add ½ the cheese and the mustard to finish. Leave in the pan until required.

For the filling:

  • Blanch the Tenderstem in boiling salted water for 2 minutes and then refresh by placing in ice cold water. Allow to drain on kitchen paper.
  • In a clean bowl add ½ the shallot confit and 1/3 of the béchamel sauce. Now add the drained Tenderstem, check the seasoning and adjust if necessary. You can if you like chargrill the Tenderstem to give an extra dimension of taste.
  • Roll each piece of Tenderstem, along with the sauce and shallots into a pancake and place in to an oven proof dish ready to warm up. Cook at 180°C for 8-10 minutes, checking they are hot on the inside.

To serve, remove the hot pancakes from the dish and place 2 per person in the centre of hot plates. Pour the remaining sauce over the pancakes then add the remaining shallot confit. Garnish with grated gruyère and baby watercress leaf.

Courtesy of UK Shallots

For more savoury pancake recipes why not try the rustic flavours of parma ham and maple crepes

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