Italian Kitchen Secrets

This is an healthy recipe really easy and quick, averything depend on the seasoning you choose.

The rough taste of buckwheat is, according to me, great with honey or maple syrup but if you want you can indulge in chocolate too of course!

Buckwheat is gluten free and it's used a lot in the north of Italy, especially in a mountain zone of Lombardia called Valtellina.

I've not tried yet but I think a savoury version (no sugar and a pinch of salt added) could be great with sour cream and bacon would be great.

And I was talking of healthy things uh!?

Here the recipe for 10 small pancakes or 5 big.

1 cup buckwheat flour

2 eggs

1 cup milk (any kind: cow, rice, soy...)

1/4 cup raw sugar or white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

oil or butter to grease the pan

Mix eggs with sugar untill smooth then add, little by little, flour and baking powder then milk untill you have a perfect mix with no lumps.

Let it rest for about 20 minutes, grease and heat a pan then start making pancakes.

Serve them hot with the seasoning of your choice.

This is a great recipe I took from my mother.

It's quite particular, made with ingredients typical from North of Italy (speck ham, buckwheat, cabbage).

The result is great and quite refined even if the basic ingredients come from farmer's cooking.

For 6 serves you need:

for pancakes:

1 1/2 cups milk

2 1/2 oz. buckwheat flour

2 1/2 oz. all purpose flour

salt

1 egg

1 oz. butter

oil to cook pancakes

For the stuffing:

10 oz. cabbage washed and cutted in little pieces

3 1/2 oz. speck ham

1 1/2 oz. grated pecorino cheese

for the bechamel/ white sauce:

1 oz. butter

1 1/2 oz. all purpose flour

1 1/4 cups milk

grated nutmeg

1 oz. grated pecorino cheese

Melt butter and mix to it all the ingredients to make pancakes.

Beat well to avoid lumps.

Cook very thin pancakes (crepes) in a pan of about 10 inches diameter.

With this quantity you should obtain 6 pancakes.

In a pan sautee chopped cabbage with a little salt, pepper and butter plus 2 water's spoons untill they're soft.

Make white sauce putting in a pan butter and flour, mixing and cooking utill you have a golden mixture then add milk little by little then nutmeg and pecorino cheese.

Cook and mix untill bechamel becomes dense (about 10 minutes).

Put in each pancakes some sauteed cabbage, some speck ham chopped in pieces, some white sauce and a little grated pecorino cheese.

Close the crepes the way you prefer and put them in a oven-proof dish.

Cover with the rest of cabbage, bechamel and grated pecorino cheese.

Put in the oven at medium heat untill you have a golden crust on top.

Serve hot!.