Dinner Tonight--Egg Crepes

Are you tired of cooking the same old thing? Are you looking for something different? Just a few simple ingredients can create a delicious meal, and these crepe-like eggs rolled around a cheesy filling make a perfect Lenten supper. This dish is very low in carbohydrates and gluten free. Next time you are wondering what to cook, why not give this dish a try?

Baked Egg Crepes
Inspired by a recipe by Giada De Laurentis
Makes 6  8-inch crepes
Serves 2


3 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups whole milk ricotta
2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese
Unsalted butter for frying pan, baking dish and for dotting crepes, about 3 Tablespoons
1/2 cup marinara sauce

Beat the eggs, milk and salt and pepper in  a bowl.  Heat an 8" nonstick skillet over medium-low heat, and brush skillet with butter.

Pour about 3 Tablespoons of the egg mixture into the pan, quickly swirling to coat the bottom. Cook until the egg crepe is set, about 1 minute.  Turn crepe with small spatula or your fingers, and continue to cook for about 30 seconds.  Slide cooked crepe onto plate. Continue making and stacking crepes one at a time until the egg mixture is used, adding butter to pan as necessary.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Butter a baking dish large enough to hold all of the crepes without them being squashed together. Mix grated cheese and salt and pepper to taste into ricotta.  Arrange 1 egg crepe on work surface. Place 1/4 cup ricotta mixture in the center of the crepe. Roll up the crepe and place, seam side down, in baking dish.  Repeat with the remaining crepes and cheese. Dot surface with butter and cover with foil. Bake for about 15 minutes until heated through.

Before serving, remove foil, and spoon some marinara sauce over crepes.  Sprinkle with additional grated cheese if you like.  Serve with a green salad and crusty bread.

Marcella's Noci in Camicia

I've just finished reading a post by Rachel Roddy of rachel eats in which she recounts her discovery of walnut pesto. She describes it as "...a soft delicate nutty paste of walnuts, olive oil, butter and aged parmesan..." How delicious does that sound? I was surprised I'd never heard of this, but I could literally taste this combination in my head. Rachel paints a beautiful picture with her words, but it was more than that.

I realized that I have been using this combination for years. In Marcella's Italian Kitchen, the authority on Italian cooking, Marcella Hazan, recalls the platter of walnuts with slivers of tender, young Parmesan being passed around the table while waiting for the first course to arrive. This combination, she says, never seems to pall especially with a glass of crisp white wine.

It occurred to her to bind the two ingredients, butter and Parmesan, sheathing the walnut halves with the mixture. Brilliant. The perfect bite with an apertif before dinner. I like Prosecco with these.

Noci in Camicia   by Marcella Hazan

1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon butter, softened to room temperature
1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil
1/4 pound shelled walnut halves

In a bowl combine all the ingredients, except for the walnuts, until they are thoroughly amalgamated into a smooth paste.

Scoop up some of the cheese and butter mixture with your fingertips and apply it to the walnuts, sheathing each half only partially, leaving about one-third exposed.  Place on a dish without overlapping them and refrigerate until ready to serve--1-2hours.

Serves 6

N.B.  If you don't have fresh basil, don't let that stop you from making these.  They are fine without it.  Also, I have sandwiched some of the butter mixture between two walnut halves if I could not find decent sized halves.