One of the most popular Parisian street foods are crêpes. You can buy them filled with just about any sweet filling, including fruit preserves and chocolate. But savory crêpes, also popular in France though much less known outside of the country, actually have a different name; they are called galettes. Thinner and larger than crêpes, they are made with buckwheat flour, a soft flour with an earthy flavor. The region of Brittany is very famous for its galettes, which can be filled with any number of savory fillings.
Eggs, thinly sliced meats, fish, cheese, and vegetable all make delicious fillings. My favorite, by far, is the combination of ham and eggs. Savory crêpes can be enjoyed for lunch or dinner, but they are especially nice for an elegant breakfast. With Mother's day this weekend, a breakfast of galettes would be a wonderful way to celebrate mom with some French flair. If you know how to make pancakes and fry eggs, making these breakfast bundles is not difficult at all.
Mother's Day
Mothers Day
An Easy-to-Make Meal Perfect for Mother's Day
Since Mother's Day is a day when mom is celebrated and pampered, it would be counter-intuitive to expect her to cook. On the other hand, putting too much burden on the other members of the family (dad and the kids) would also be ill-advised.
There is the classic New Yorker's solution of serving lox, bagels, and cream cheese or avoiding cooking entirely by visiting a restaurant, but a home cooked meal makes such a personal statement.
The key is to prepare a simple meal so you don't spend more time in the kitchen than with her. That and flowers tells her, "I love you."
Mother's Day Brunch
Twice a year, (on Mothers Day and on her birthday July 7th), my mother used to pull out her favorite phrase and say, “Attention must be paid.”
Translation? She wanted to be celebrated, and that meant The Hotel Bel Air, Sunday best, family only, no friends or ‘strangers’ pulling focus on her closeup.
Her use of the phrase drove me crazy, because of course Linda Loman’s lament was about aging and the lack of human kindness shown her salesman husband Willie, not my glamorous complicated mother on the palm-laden patio holding court.
But champagne in hand surrounded by at least two of her children with at least two of her grandchildren in tow, she got what she needed....a toast, “ To the Queen of the Day.”
Attention had been paid. Deep down I knew what Mom meant. And she knew I knew.
Spice Cakes and Stews
My mother was not Donna Reed or Jane Wyatt. What’s worse, in an era when father knew best, she was a single mother. To support us, she trained race horses. Since none of them ever won, we moved a lot. The two constants through all of this shifting and moving were my mother’s stews and spice cakes. In both cases, she was proud of never having used a recipe. In the case of the stews, memory tells me she could have used a cookbook. The cakes were a different story.
Although they looked like no other cake I’ve ever seen – for some unknown reason, she baked them in metal ice cube trays rather then cake pans – their taste haunts me to this day. They were a wonderful mixture of exotic spices, sugar, and ordinary flour cooked into light golden brown loafs. I enjoyed these odd concoctions in private, but was not happy with them in public, whenever they showed up in my school lunch. Luckily, I was never at any school long enough to really be embarrassed by them.
Just Make Mom Mascarpone, Nutella, and Fresh Berry Toasts
Mother's Day is this Sunday, which means you're either taking Mom out for brunch or making her brunch at home. Last year I provided a week's worth of recipes for Mother's Day brunch and had planned on doing the same this year. I have decided against it.
Instead, I'm going to provide you with one recipe, one sublimely simple yet decadent recipe, for Mascarpone, Nutella, and Fresh Berry Toasts. Crunchy Italian toast is slathered with creamy Nutella and rich mascarpone cheese then topped with sweet, sliced fresh strawberries.
When I posted on Facebook that I was creating Mother's Day brunch recipes and that one included Nutella and mascarpone, my dear friend Kate of Kate in the Kitchen, replied, "Well, what else do you need???" Exactly.
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