What is the Chandeleur?
The Chandeleur is also called the Celebration of the Candles. It is celebrated 40 days after Christmas to honor the presentation of Baby Jesus to the temple as well as the purification of Mary. It is always celebrated on February 2nd.
With Chandeleur, the period of Carnavals also starts and will finish on Fat Tuesday. I was raised in the South of France and Carnaval is a big tradition for us. On week-ends, we go to villages where they have carnavals and dress up in our favorite costumes, in the same spirit as Halloween for the Americans.
On February 2nd, we traditionally eat crêpes so let me share with you my recipe! Become French for the day and cook some yummy crêpes for the family.
Crepe recipe from the Ginette Mathiot book.
That book was offered to me by my Parisian co-workers when I moved to the US. The English version is I Know How To Cook, a MUST HAVE cooking book for anybody who wants to learn traditional French cuisine.
Ingredients
For 4 persons
500 g flour (4 cups and two extra tablespoons)
1 liter milk (1 quart)
4 eggs
2 tablespoon of canola oil
2 pinches of salt
For flavor: vanilla, fleur d’oranger, rum etc, your pick
Directions
- Pass the flour through a sieve and put in a mixing bowl
- Create a little hole in the flour and break the eggs in that hole
- Add the oil, the salt, and a little bit of milk
- Whisk together
- Gradually add in the milk,stirring to combine.
- Add the flavor you picked.
- Put it away for one hour, the batter needs to rest. I like to sieve the batter to make it even smoother.
- Before cooking, add a little bit of milk to the batter and whisk it gently
- Heat a crêpe pan over medium heat
- Add some butter or oil to the pan. Have some melter butter or oil ready in a bowl for the next crepes. We usually cut a potato, plant it on a fork and dip it in the butter/oil and use it to grease the pan.
- Pour or scoop a little bit of the the batter onto the pan.
- Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.
- Cook each crêpe until the bottom is light brown and flip it or turn it to cook it on the other side.
Eat the crêpes cold with whipping cream, nutella, jam, sugar, agave nectar etc. Your choice!
A Chandeleur ritual
To have prosperity all year, when you cook your first crêpe, hold the pan with your right hand and hold a coin in your left hand.
Related posts:
Best crêperies in Paris
