This is the recipe from Episode 0 of the 'How to eat alone,' podcast. Listen to the podcast here.
I'd like to introduce you to a pancake that changed my perspective about being alone. A few years ago, I went on a disastrous romantic weekend with a thoroughly unsuitable human. One of the most frustrating parts of this trip was that we didn’t eat particularly well because he didn’t care about food, something which I found really frustrating. But, there was one place that he took me to which served galette de sarrasins... and it was a brilliant lunch! Galettes de Sarrasin, are square shaped, crispy, buckwheat pancakes and they can be filled with something savoury or sweet.
That galette meal wasn’t just memorable because it was the only good meal we ate during that entire long weekend, but we were sitting opposite a lovely French lady. She was sitting alone on that rainy Friday lunchtime with a glass of red wine in hand, eating her galette. She wasn’t reading a book, she wasn’t on her phone, she wasn’t chatting to the waiters - she was just eating. She was alone but she looked very content and I realised that she was in much better company than I found myself in that moment. That realisation changed the way that I saw my own solitude and I have appreciated so much more ever since.
Here's how to make galette de sarassin for one person...
Time: 20 minutes
Makes: Enough for one person, or enough for two pancakes (which I would personally eat for dinner by myself). If you're not that hungry, you can make one pancake and keep the batter for another time as it will keep for up to 3 days.
Faff Level: 7/10
Plant Based Diets: To make this vegan, use 60g of aquafaba instead of the egg and use a plant based milk.
Ingredients:
1 egg
50 g buckwheat
150 g of your choice of milk, I use oat milk
A very hot, well oiled pan
Toppings of your choice - I sliced half an apple, toasted a handful of walnuts and added a generous dollop of goat cheese.
Directions:
1. Whisk all the ingredients together until you have a smooth liquid with no lumps of flour.
2. Spoon the mixture into in a well oiled, really hot pan. What’s important here is that the batter is spread thin. If it’s not thin enough, it wont fold over and you wont get that nice, square shape.
3. Fry for 1-2 minutes either side then transfer it to a baking dish or oven proof plate.
4. Fill the centre of the galette with a filling of your choice - you can crack an egg in, or add mushrooms or cheese or spinach. I had a galette with apple slices, walnuts, honey and goat’s cheese, which was a pretty glorious combination.
5. Once your fillings are in the middle of the galette, fold the edges of the galette into the centre to make a square shaped pancake - the pancake will be square and you’ll just see the filling peeking out from the middle.
6. Pop the dish in an oven set to around 200 degrees celsius for 10 - 12 minutes, or until the pancake starts to crisp on top.
7. Eat hot!
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