A crêpe recipe for the most reliable (relentless) winter crop

Rainbow chard, egg and parmesan spelt crêpes. Plus, how come there's always chard to pick?

I got in a right old pickle about this one. Is it a crêpe or a galette? Should it have dairy or not? Will I unwittingly offend all right-thinking Bretons as I manhandle their traditions to suit my vegetable gluts? Because this dish is inspired by a galette Breton. Or a crêpe Breton depending on your point of view. Apparently, it’s all about eggs. Or lack of. A crêpe is generally a light, lacy affair, enriched with eggs and milk and often filled with sweet things. The Breton version, often (but not always) called a galette, is made with buckwheat flour and water, or sometimes milk at a push. It’s usually a savoury dish. My version is neither though, since it uses spelt flour instead of buckwheat, and milk but no eggs. Sorry France. If you saw my chard glut, you’d understand.

But it’s all getting a bit Elizabeth David, so let’s get back to the vegetables. Because this robust savoury crêpe, complete with a nutty, toasted flavour imparted by the spelt, is a wonderful vehicle for all sorts of winter harvests.

If you have any harvests that is. In all honesty, I don’t have much in the garden anymore. My radicchio failed. The mustard leaves (mizuna, pak choi et al) all got slugged. The kalettes are stubbornly refusing to flower, stuck in state of semi-sprouting and showing no sign of progress. But the cavolo nero is doing ok.  And there is chard. There is always chard.

This recipe uses plenty of it. But it is very adaptable to whatever harvests you have managed to wrestle from the slugs and protect from the rain. For example, once you’ve made the recipe below, try:

• Replacing the chard with spinach and the parmesan with feta

• Swapping the chard for wilted cabbage ribbons, mixed with lardons

• Mixing the crème fraîche layer with cheddar and piling buttered leeks on top

• Replacing the crème fraîche layer with slices of brie and topping with fried apples

• Mixing fried mushrooms into the crème fraîche layer then adding wilted kale on top in place of chard.

I could go on, but it’s making me hungry, so let’s cook.

Rainbow chard and parmesan crêpe

Brunch, lunch, simple supper, there is no mealtime that won’t welcome this pleasingly neat and simple dish. Feel free to use other greens in place of chard – kale, cabbage or spinach would all do nicely.

Serves 2