Le FARCOU
Farcçous - French Chard Fritters
With crisp, dark-golden edges and a tender, savory, bright-green interior, these chard fritters are a perfect example of the French culinary ability to transform a few humble ingredients into something greater than the sum of their parts.
Farcçous, the French word for chard, come from Aveyron, an unsung region in south-central France that is as famous for its emigrants as its rugged landscape. In the 19th century, poverty forced waves of Aveyronnais to move to Paris, where they worked menial jobs, hauling coal to private apartments. Coal delivery gave way to coal shops, where customers sometimes sipped a glass of wine while placing an order. Eventually, these shops evolved into cafes. Even today, Aveyron is synonymous with Parisian cafe— in fact, storied establishments like Brasserie Lipp, Les Deux Magots, and Cafe de Flore all have roots in the region.
Ingredients
200 ml whole milk
155 g all-purpose self-raising flour or wholemeal self-raising flour if you prefer
3 large eggs
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, split, sprout removed from the center, and coarsely chopped
Leaves from 10 parsley springs
Fresh chives, 10x stalks chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper, 1 tsp of each.
5 large or 10 small Swiss chard leaves, or 200g of the green leaves with the center white rib removed (washed and dried)
2 tbsp of olive oil + a little bit for cooking
70g of grated parmesan
Method
Serving:
Traditionally, farcçous are served with a salad as a main course, but you could serve fewer per portion as a starter or omit the salad and serve them as a side dish. If you want to serve the farcçous as an hors d'oeuvre, you might want to include a dipping sauce or topping of creme fraîche, or plain yogurt. You might also think about drizzling them with a little basil or parsley coulis they don't really need the coulis, but it's a good combination.
Storing:
The mixture can be made in advance, just store it in the fridge.
You can make the farcçous a few hours ahead, keep them covered at room temperature, and reheat them in a conventional oven or microwave before serving. Or you can pack them airtight (make sure to separate them with small squares of wax or parchment paper) and freeze them, then reheat as needed.
Alternative Greens:
Feel free to use a combination of chard leaves, spinach, dandelion greens, nettles, or other leafy greens. Also, don't throw away the chard stems –they make a delicious soupe puréed with potato and onion or au gratin with a bechamel.
With crisp, dark-golden edges and a tender, savory, bright-green interior, these chard fritters are a perfect example of the French culinary ability to transform a few humble ingredients into something greater than the sum of their parts.
Farcçous, the French word for chard, come from Aveyron, an unsung region in south-central France that is as famous for its emigrants as its rugged landscape. In the 19th century, poverty forced waves of Aveyronnais to move to Paris, where they worked menial jobs, hauling coal to private apartments. Coal delivery gave way to coal shops, where customers sometimes sipped a glass of wine while placing an order. Eventually, these shops evolved into cafes. Even today, Aveyron is synonymous with Parisian cafe— in fact, storied establishments like Brasserie Lipp, Les Deux Magots, and Cafe de Flore all have roots in the region.
Ingredients
200 ml whole milk
155 g all-purpose self-raising flour or wholemeal self-raising flour if you prefer
3 large eggs
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, split, sprout removed from the center, and coarsely chopped
Leaves from 10 parsley springs
Fresh chives, 10x stalks chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper, 1 tsp of each.
5 large or 10 small Swiss chard leaves, or 200g of the green leaves with the center white rib removed (washed and dried)
2 tbsp of olive oil + a little bit for cooking
70g of grated parmesan
Method
- Preheat the oven to 175C.
- Line a baking sheet with foil, and line a plate with paper towels.
- Put everything except the Swiss chard and oil in a blender or food processor, making sure you season the mix generously with salt and pepper, and whir until the batter is smooth. (If your machine won't handle this quantity, work in batches.)
- Little by little, add the chard to the mix and whir to incorporate it. There's no need to pulverize the chard — having some strands are nice.
- Pour 2 tsp of oil into a large skillet and place the skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot (you can test it with a drop of batter - it should sizzle and fry immediately), spoon in a 1/4 cup batter for each fritter. Don't crowd the pan: depending on the size of the pan, 3 or 4 fritters is the maximum per batch.
- Cook the fritters for about 2-3 minutes, until the underside is nicely browned and the edges are browned and curled. Flip the fritters over and cook for another 2 minutes or so. Transfer the fritters to the paper-towel-lined plate, cover with more towels, and pat off the excess oil. Place them on the foil-lined baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while you continue to make fritters, adding more oil to the pan as needed.
Serving:
Traditionally, farcçous are served with a salad as a main course, but you could serve fewer per portion as a starter or omit the salad and serve them as a side dish. If you want to serve the farcçous as an hors d'oeuvre, you might want to include a dipping sauce or topping of creme fraîche, or plain yogurt. You might also think about drizzling them with a little basil or parsley coulis they don't really need the coulis, but it's a good combination.
Storing:
The mixture can be made in advance, just store it in the fridge.
You can make the farcçous a few hours ahead, keep them covered at room temperature, and reheat them in a conventional oven or microwave before serving. Or you can pack them airtight (make sure to separate them with small squares of wax or parchment paper) and freeze them, then reheat as needed.
Alternative Greens:
Feel free to use a combination of chard leaves, spinach, dandelion greens, nettles, or other leafy greens. Also, don't throw away the chard stems –they make a delicious soupe puréed with potato and onion or au gratin with a bechamel.