Savory crepes with pumpkin and ricotta cheese

• 30 minutes to prepare • 120 minutes to cook • Serves 4

 

 

Oh Crêpe VI

Crisp winter evenings are best spent at home with family and friends.
I love to prepare different foods, snacks and cheese platters.
Collecting and mixing winter flavors products is for me a way to celebrate the season.

That’s how I came up with a recipe for savory pumpkin crepes. I think they make a perfect side dish for a cold weather dinner, but they are also perfect for lunch, a picnic, or as a snack during a game night. Paired with other seasonal flavors like walnuts, goat brie, and candied oranges you easily create a warm and inviting table.

 
Ready?



Here's what you will need for the 4-serving recipe:

 

For 5 crepes:
160 g flour 00
2 eggs, lightly beaten
500 ml milk

For the filling:
500 g pumpkin
200 g ricotta cheese
EVO oil
dry rosemary

 
For the bechamel sauce:
200 ml milk
20 g butter
20 g flour 00
30 g grated Parmesan cheese
salt

1. Make the crepes: place the eggs in a mixing bowl, and add the flour
2. Add half of the milk and whisk until your mixture is lump free. Keep adding milk slowly until all the lumps have disappeared, then add remainder of milk, and mix through
3. Leave to stand for 30 minutes, then strain the mix through a sieve to make them completely lump free
4. Heat a 20-cm non stick crepe pan over medium-high heat and wipe it lightly with butter. Using a ladle, pour 1/2 of a ladle full into the top edge of the pan, and quickly tilt your pan around so the batter covers the entire pan. Keep swirling it around until the mixture stops running
5. Cook for 1 minute. When the sides of the crepe will start to color and will lift away from the side of the pan, slide a long plastic icing spatula under the center of crepe, and flip the crepe. Cook for a further 30 seconds, until lightly colored
6. Repeat with butter and remaining batter. Then, keep crepes aside to cool down
7. Preheat oven to 200°C fan forced, and line a baking dish with baking paper.
8. Spread the pumpkin in the lined baking dish, coat with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and dry rosemary, and cook in the oven for about 25 minutes or until soft. Take the pumpkin out of the oven and set aside, keep the oven set to 200°C
9. Meanwhile, prepare bechamel sauce: melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour.
   Whisk until smooth then slowly pour in the milk, a little at a time. Whisk continuously until the sauce is thick then turn down the heat, add the salt and allow to simmer, stirring, until the sauce is thick and cooked through (this takes around 5 minutes on a gentle heat). Once the sauce is cooked, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the Parmesan cheese
10. Preheat oven to 200°C fan forced
11. Place one ladle of bechamel sauce on the bottom of a a large baking dish
12. Lay each crepe flat on a plate, spread with some pumpkin and sprinkle each of them with 2 tablespoons of bechamel sauce, 1 tablespoon of ricotta, some Parmesan and crushed pepper. Roll into a tight wrap and place them next to each other in a baking dish. Repeat with 4 more crepes
13. Spread the remaining bechamel sauce over the crepes. Sprinkle over some more Parmesan cheese
14. Bake for 20 minutes, 15 minutes sealed with aluminum foil, and the last 5 minutes without it
15. Let it cool down for 5 minutes and bring it to your gluttonous table!

In the following, Nutrition Facts of this dish are indicated. Data is provided per serving.