Tags
Books, Cape Town, Cape Town Cooks, Chefs, Cooks, Crêpes, Food Blogs, Light meals, News, Photography, recipes, Ricotta, spinach, starter, Travel, Writing
The spinach in my garden is still producing new leaves, just the thing I want for what I am planning. The spinach together with the gorgeous fresh ricotta, herbs and seasoning, will make a rather nice filling for some posh crêpes
Fresh Ricotta & Spinach Crêpes
Serves 4 as a main meal or 8 as a starter
Crêpe batter
500 ml milk
170 g plain flour
4 eggs
100 g butter
Filling
1½ tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
400 g baby spinach
200 g ricotta
60 g parmesan cheese finely grated, a bit extra for scattering
1 tsp. finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Prepare the batter: I find a food processor works well for this purpose. Put milk, flour, eggs and a pinch of salt in a food processor, mix until well combined.
In an 18cm non-stick pan, heat about 5 g of butter over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, place 2 tablespoons of the batter in the middle of the pan, swirling to spread batter thinly and evenly. Cook crêpe until just set which should take about 1 ½ minutes, turn and cook the other side for about 30 seconds or until golden brown. Transfer crêpe to a plate and repeat the process with the rest of the batter. You should end up with about 20 crêpes.
For the filling: heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over high heat, add garlic and sauté for a few seconds then add the spinach, and a pinch of salt, stir until the spinach has wilted. Transfer spinach to a bowl, leave to cool slightly then add the ricotta, parmesan, thyme, season to taste. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 200C
Working one crêpes at a time, fill with 2 tablespoons of ricotta and spinach filling. Fold crêpes in half, then in half again to form a cone shape. Place the crepe on a paper lined oven tray and repeat the process with the remaining crêpes and filling. Bake until heated through and the edges start to crisp; this should take about 10-15 minutes.
Serve scattered with parmesan and an accompaniment of well seasoned and finely diced ripe tomatoes tossed in olive oil.
Clifton Kitchen - Cooking Through The Seasons 