Lunch
Ham and leek buckwheat crêpes with salad
Tender buckwheat crêpes filled with sweet leeks, ham and melted Cheddar, with a crisp lemon-dressed salad.
Free guide: thirty gluten-free dinners, with the shopping lists
Two filled crêpes each, with a generous crunchy salad, make a substantial savoury lunch. The buckwheat crêpes provide the starchy part of the meal, so there is no need for a separate accompaniment.
Use buckwheat flour labelled gluten-free and plain cooked ham with suitable ingredients. This recipe is in development and has not been kitchen-tested.
The recipe
Ham and leek buckwheat crêpes with salad
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Total*
- 60 min
- Makes
- 2 servings
*Estimated development timings. Rest the batter for 15 minutes while cooking the leeks and preparing the salad; this overlaps the stated time. No standing time is needed after baking.
Ingredients
Tick things off as you go.
For the crêpes
For the filling
For the salad
Equipment
- Use a mixing bowl, whisk, measuring jug and kitchen scales.
- Use a non-stick crêpe pan with a flat cooking surface about 22 cm across and a wide spatula.
- Use a medium saucepan with a lid and a wooden spoon.
- Use a shallow ovenproof dish approximately 30 × 20 cm, baking paper and foil.
- Use a chopping board, knife, grater, salad bowl and small dressing bowl.
- The method needs one hob ring used sequentially and one middle oven shelf.
- A clean digital food thermometer can check the centre of the filling.
Let’s make it.
- 01
Mix the batter
Whisk the buckwheat flour, salt, egg and half the milk into a smooth paste. Gradually whisk in the remaining milk and 10 ml of the olive oil. Leave for 15 minutes while you prepare the filling and salad. The rested batter should pour freely, with no dry pockets of flour.
- 02
Soften the leeks
Put 10 ml of the olive oil, the leeks and 30 ml of the water into the saucepan. Cover and cook over a medium-low heat for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and cook for another 4 minutes, until the leeks are soft when pressed with a spoon and no water pools in the bottom. Stir in the black pepper and take off the heat. Keep the ham and cheese refrigerated until assembly.
- 03
Prepare the salad and oven
Heat the oven to 200°C / 180°C fan and line the ovenproof dish with baking paper. Put the lettuce, cucumber and carrot into the salad bowl and refrigerate. Whisk the lemon juice with the remaining 15 ml of dressing oil in a separate bowl until cloudy. Leave the salad undressed so the leaves stay crisp.
- 04
Cook the crêpes
Stir the batter. If it falls in thick ribbons rather than a thin stream, add the reserved water 5 ml at a time, using no more than 30 ml. Heat the crêpe pan over a medium heat and brush with a little of the allocated 10 ml oil. Pour in a quarter of the batter and immediately tilt to cover the base. Cook for about 2 minutes, until the surface is set and the edges lift easily. Turn and cook for about 1 minute, until lightly browned underneath with no wet batter. Transfer to a plate and repeat to make four, stirring the batter and lightly oiling the pan between crêpes.
- 05
Fill and bake
Divide the leeks, cold cooked ham and Cheddar equally between the four crêpes, placing the filling across the middle of each. Fold the sides over the filling and arrange seam-side down in the dish without stacking. Cover loosely with foil and bake for 12–15 minutes, until the cheese has melted and the filling is steaming hot in the centre. If using a thermometer, check that the middle reaches 75°C for 30 seconds; continue baking if needed.
- 06
Dress and serve
Whisk the dressing again, then toss it through the salad until the vegetables are lightly coated and the leaves remain crisp. Serve two hot filled crêpes per person with half the salad, straight away.
Ingredient checks
The ingredient list is the combined requirement for two complete lunches. Olive oil totals 45 ml and water totals a maximum of 60 ml; their allocations are included once, not additional quantities. Vegetable weights are prepared weights. No pantry deductions have been assumed; subtract only amounts actually available when making a shopping list. Use gluten-free-labelled buckwheat flour and check the current labels of ham, cheese, milk, oil and pepper for gluten-free suitability and relevant allergens. Choose plain ham without an unchecked glaze or breadcrumb coating. Wash hands, equipment and worktops, use clean cloths, and keep flour, utensils and ingredients away from wheat flour and crumbs when preparing food for someone with coeliac disease. Keep cooked ham and washed salad separate from raw egg and batter, and wash hands after handling the egg. No specific product brand has been verified.
Allergens: Contains eggs in the batter and milk in the milk and Cheddar.; The specified ingredients do not intentionally include celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, fish, lupin, molluscs, mustard, tree nuts, peanuts, sesame, soya or sulphites; packaged products and substitutions can change this assessment.; Check the ham label particularly for mustard, milk, soya, sulphites and gluten-containing coatings or flavourings, and check all precautionary allergen statements.; Buckwheat is naturally gluten-free but can be contaminated during processing; use flour labelled gluten-free and prevent cross-contact in the kitchen..
Make it work for you
Replace the Cheddar with 60 g of grated Gruyère, checking the label; both contain milk.
Replace the ham with 160 g of plain cooked chicken checked gluten-free, cut into small pieces, and follow the same heating checks.
Safely handled leftover ham can replace the packaged ham by weight if it was refrigerated within two hours of cooking, is within 48 hours of its original cooking time and has not already been reheated; baking the filled crêpes counts as its one reheating.
Replace the lettuce with 80 g of washed and dried baby spinach without changing the dressing quantities.
For another day
If using freshly opened ready-to-eat ham, cool spare filled crêpes in small portions and refrigerate within one to two hours at 0–5°C; eat within 48 hours or the ham's shorter stated storage limit.
Reheat stored crêpes only once, until steaming hot throughout; check the centre rather than judging by the browned surface.
If the filling used leftover cooked ham or chicken, serve the reheated crêpes immediately and do not keep them for another reheating.
Keep undressed salad and dressing separately in the fridge and use within 24 hours for best texture; dressed salad is best eaten straight away.
Unfilled cooked crêpes can be cooled promptly and frozen with baking paper between them in a sealed container. Defrost in the fridge and use within 24 hours of fully thawing; freezing quality has not been tested.
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