I kept forgetting about those potato bouchées, I think we tend to forget good old recipes in our search to find new ones, but this one is too good to forget. So as we continue on a vegetarian journey for a little while, I wanted to feature a delicious recipe that has been quite popular among non vegetarians as well. The combination of melting mozzarella and fragrant herbs with this soft potato mixture is a delight.

Potatoes are one of the ingredients I am not using very often but I have decided to incorporate them more in my diet especially since I have been on a vegetarian trend, I will probably go back to consuming fish at some point but for the time being mangeons sain!

I used purple potatoes, I figured the purple would look great on my blue plate, but it seems like they lost their vibrant color in the cooking process, therefore the “purple” is barely noticeable on the picture. You can use any other type of potatoes, purple potatoes contain more starch therefore tend to be slightly sweeter.

I served these potato bouchées with a grilled fennel, and red onion salad that was incredibly delicious. I will post the recipe soon because they were a match from heaven.

Ingredients for about 10 bouchées

• 5 medium sized potatoes, cooked and peeled
• 2 tbs parsley, chopped
• 2 tbs chives, chopped
• 2 tbs basil, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 200 g mozzarella, diced
• salt and pepper

For the yogurt dipping sauce

• 200 g small plain yogurt
• 1 shallot
• 1 tbs mint, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Roughly mash cooked potatoes, and mix herbs, mozzarella, salt and pepper and form some small patties about 4 inches diameter. Heat a non-heating pan or a grill pan. Cook patties until golden brown on each side and serve with yogurt-mint sauce.

For the dipping sauce, mix all ingredients together.

My grandma used to make this crescia when we were kids (my cousins and I) since we were all living together as in a traditional Italian family, and we were just going crazy for it, it was called la crescia colle patate (in dialect it’s more like la crescia col patet). I remember her bending and in sweat, flipping the crescia back and forth on top of the grill on burning coals, she was already old but working so hard to make us happy. We had a fireplace in the attic we would use to grill meat, roast chestnuts, and grill crescia, when my grandma was in the mood for it. The wooden flavor would make anything taste wonderful.

Crescia is a word used in my parents region to call some types of focaccia or piadine, it’s basically a local word. Piadine are from Romagna region and are famous all over Italy, and of course in most of all in the neighboring regions of Romagna. They’re flat types of bread very thin and that are stuffed with various cheeses, greens such as spinach or kale, prosciutto, lonza or any other local product.

I don’t want to confuse you between a crescia and a piadina, but they’re two cousins, and if you ever end up in Romagna you might run into piadina and a meet a crescia if you arrive in Urbino, la città di Raffaello. In Romagna, piadina is a street food, and you can find many restaurants where they’re served with so many side dishes that you can stuff your own piadina with whatever you want.

Crescie on the other hand are usually grilled and originated in Marche and Umbria regions. There are different recipes for crescia, most of them do not have potatoes in the dough, but mainly flour, eggs, lard, water, salt and pepper. My grandma version has potatoes and no lard.

My grandma made this crescia with a potato base and made it a little thicker than regular piadina, and it was our treat. It is hard to translate something so typical and precise into another language, most of the time there is no translation for it because it does not exist anywhere else. I was trying to find some equivalent in English and could not find it.

When the crescia gets cold, it gets a little rubbery, so you need to eat it hot. The base is somehow a gnocchi dough base with a little more flour. Since I don’t have a fireplace, I cooked this in a skillet and it worked quite well.

I used dandelions in this recipe, my grandma used white cabbage, you can also use spinach or any green you like and any Italian cheese such as pecorino, or any sharp cheese. If you have a wood fire place where you can grill food, please try to make a crescia, it’s heavenly.

Ingredients for 6 crescie

• 4 large potatoes, boiled
• 2 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 mozzarelle di bufala (or pecorino, etc…), sliced
• Prosciutto or any other cold cuts (optional)
• salt
• olive oil

For the greens

• 1 bunch dandelions or any other greens
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 1 rosemary sprig, roughly cut
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the greens

If using dandelions, previously cook in salted water for about 5-7 minutes, than drain, let it cool and squeeze excess water. Heat olive oil in a pan, add garlic and rosemary, stir to get the flavors out without burning the garlic. Add the greens and saute for a while. Adjust with salt and pepper.

For the crescia

Boil potatoes in water until cooked allt he way through. Let them cool and peel.

In a bowl, mash potatoes into a thin purée, add egg and flour and mix to form a smooth and solid dough.

In a wooden working surface, divide the dough in 6 equal portions and roll each of them into a round flat circles about 3 mm thick.

Heat a large non stick pan or a grill, then cook crescia until both sides are golden brown, maybe a few minutes, depending on how think your dough is.

Remove from grill, drizzle with olive oil, coarse salt and stuff with greens, cheese and prosciutto.

Don’t you love when your refrigerator is filled with vegetables? You open the door and all you can see is a bundle of colors. Unfortunately, today, I only had a bunch of broccoli left with a red bell pepper. The good thing is that tomorrow I am going food shopping with a friend of mine to the Berkeley Bowl! I am already excited about it. It will be her first trip there, I cannot wait to see her when she sees the fruits and vegetable section. Some girls enjoy going to the SPA or get a manicure, and I get the same excitement when I go to the Berkeley Bowl. How weird is that?

Since I only had broccoli and bell pepper, I figured I would combine the two. I love those galettes dearly. They’re tender, melt in your mouth and so light!  You can use any vegetables you like and substitute mozzarella with gorgonzola cheese as well. The vegetables just needs to have some consistency so you can mash them in a puree, so it’s better not to use any leafy vegetable. I mixed a little chopped spinach with it, but more would not have worked because of the liquid they tend to produce. Those galettes are a good way to have your kids eat veggies, in case you have fussy ones. They won’t feel they’re eating vegetables, and the melting mozzarella in the middle is a selling point!

I did not add too many ingredients to the galettes and lose the broccoli flavor, since the harissa sauce will enhance them. Harissa is a hot Middle Eastern sauce, served with couscous. You can buy it in tubes and delay it in water. I like to make mine with red bell peppers.

You can serve those with a light salad, and you’re all set for lunch.

Ingredients for 2

For the galettes

• 1/2 head of broccoli
• 6 tbs pre cooked oats or regular oats soaked in hot water
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 2 handful chopped frozen spinach (optional)
• a few basil leaves 
• 1 fresh mozzarella ball, cut in small squares
• 1 tbs plain breadcrumbs
• salt and pepper

For the harissa sauce

• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• tabasco
• 2 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the galettes

Heat olive oil and brown shallots, add broccoli cut in small florets, salt and pepper. When broccoli are cookded mash them with a potato masher. Add defrost spinach and add to the broccoli. Add basil and garlic. 

Add enough water to the oats to form a thick paste. Add to the broccoli, and mix well. 

Take a small quantity in your hand and place a piece of mozzarella in the middle, close the ball well so that the mozzarella will not leek when in the oven and make a patty about 2 inches wide. Dip each side of the patty in bread crumbs. Cook in a pre heated oven at 375F for about 15-20 minutes, or until both sides are golden.

For the harissa sauce

Broil red bell pepper in the oven until the skin get charred. Remove from the oven, let cool. When cooled, remove the skin, and the seeds and cut in pieces. In a mixer, add red pepper and all other ingredients and mix to a smooth texture. Adjust with salt and pepper and serve with galettes.