The spinach crepes with ricotta and béchamel are a simple yet tasty first course! We have already seen together how to make spinach crepes, a really easy preparation that won me over at first taste!
The vegan spinach crepes are soft crepes that can be enjoyed in many ways. For example, instead of bread, stuffed like wraps. Or stuffed and rolled like cannelloni and baked.
The Popeye crepes (this is the name I gave them to convince my nephew Tommy to eat them!) are perfect for getting kids to eat spinach!
Given the success at home, I thought of stuffing the spinach crepes and baking them au gratin. The result was amazing! A wholesome, tasty, and different dish from the usual, perfect also for a Sunday lunch!
The spinach crepes are egg-free and milk-free to be enjoyed even by those with intolerances. For the filling, I chose to use ricotta and mozzarella (lactose-free just to keep on topic), cooked ham, and smoked provola.
Of course, we can fill the crepes in thousands of ways, just follow your own tastes, and the result will be a successful first course!
Other delicious recipes you might be interested in!
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: about 4 people
- Cooking methods: Stovetop, Electric oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 5.3 oz frozen spinach
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (or Type 00)
- 1.4 cups water (APPROXIMATELY, the dose may vary depending on the liquids retained by the spinach)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- A few drops lemon juice (not essential)
- 1 pinch salt
- 8.8 oz ricotta (lactose-free for those intolerant)
- 1 mozzarella (lactose-free for those intolerant, drained weight 3.5 oz)
- 3.5 oz smoked provola
- 3.5 oz cooked ham
- as needed grated Parmesan cheese
- 7 oz béchamel (APPROXIMATELY. Lactose-free for those intolerant)
- as needed black peppercorn (only if desired)
- as needed salt
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
Tools
- Food Processor
- Pan
- Sieve
- Spatula
- Baking Dish
Steps
Let’s start by preparing the lactose-free green spinach crepes!
I used frozen spinach, but we can also prepare the crepes with raw baby spinach (see at the end of the recipe).
Fill a saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Then add the frozen spinach and boil them.
After about 10 minutes, the spinach is cooked! Drain and then squeeze WELL until all the absorbed water is lost.
This step is very important. The spinach must be completely dry otherwise the amount of water used for the batter may vary.
If you prefer, you can help yourself by placing the cooked spinach in a clean tea towel, closing it, and then squeezing it well!
At this point, put the spinach in a food processor.
Add all the flour as well. Pour the water, but not all of it, set aside 100 grams to use ONLY if necessary.
Surely you’re wondering “why didn’t you use the same cooking water from the spinach“?
For a purely aesthetic fixation of mine! Being very dark, I preferred to use clean water to prevent the crepes from having too dark a color!
This way, the batter had a nice light color, and even the spinach crepes weren’t too dark. However, nothing stops you from using the same cooking water 😉
Pour a tablespoon of olive oil, a pinch of salt, and a few drops of lemon juice, which is not necessary, into the food processor.
Now, just turn on the blender and make it all into a smooth, homogeneous batter that’s not too liquid.
Mine had a consistency that I found perfect, and I didn’t use the remaining 100 grams of water.
The amount of water, as mentioned above, varies depending on how much liquid the spinach has lost.
The drier they are, the less water may be needed, so adjust by eye if you need to add more.
The correction can also be done during the process, i.e., when pouring the ladle into the pan.
If you find it’s too liquid, just add a little more flour. If it’s too dense, you can add more water.
Once the optimal batter consistency is reached, it’s time to cook! Use a strictly non-stick pan of 6-7 inches.
Important advice, before pouring the batter, you must ALWAYS grease the bottom of the pan with a little oil and remove the excess with kitchen paper.
Take a ladle of batter, pour it all in the center, and quickly level the surface with the back of a spoon.
Cook the crepe on very low heat for about two minutes, and then gently flip the crepe over to the other side and continue cooking.
As the spinach crepes are ready, arrange them on a clean tea towel and cover them with aluminum foil to create the right humidity.
Or, as I do, you can put them under a cake dome so the crepes will stay nice and soft.
Continue in the same way (always greasing the pan first) until you run out of batter.
With these quantities, you can obtain about ten crepes, but the number varies depending on the thickness of each and the diameter of the pan used.
Once you’ve cooked all the spinach crepes, it’s time to fill them and bake them au gratin!
Since these Popeye crepes (I called them that to get my nephew Tommy to eat them!) are egg-free and milk-free, I chose to fill them this way.
Ricotta, mozzarella, and lactose-free béchamel, cooked ham, and smoked provola.
Let’s start by lining a baking dish with parchment paper and placing a couple of tablespoons of béchamel on the bottom.
In a bowl, put the well-drained ricotta, add finely chopped fresh parsley, pepper, and mix.
On a work surface, place a spinach crepe, fill with the ricotta cream, and place a slice of cooked ham on top.
Finish with a teaspoon of béchamel, fold the crepe into a handkerchief shape, and place it in the baking dish.
Also place a layer of béchamel on the closed crepe halfway, then fold it again into a handkerchief shape. The béchamel will act as a glue and prevent the crepe from opening (an old grandmother’s tip!).
Continue in the same way until you’ve filled all the crepes, and place them, if possible not on top of each other, in the baking dish.
Cover the crepes with the remaining béchamel and a generous handful of grated Parmesan cheese.
Cut the mozzarella and smoked provola into chunks and distribute them over the crepes.
Gratin the crepes in a preheated oven at 350°F static mode for about 25 minutes, ventilated mode for about 20.
As soon as the surface becomes nicely golden, take them out and serve the super cheesy spinach crepes!
I hope you enjoyed this easy and tasty recipe! Let me know in the comments if you try it 😘
A useful tip: Since spinach crepes have a fairly delicate consistency, it is preferable to place them in the baking dish side by side and not on top of each other (as I did!!) so that when you arrange them on the plate, you can remove them from the pan without risking breaking them 😉
With the indicated quantities, you can obtain about 8-10 crepes.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
I am gluten intolerant, can I use other types of flours to make the crepes and which ones?
To make spinach crepes, you can also use other flours, such as whole wheat, or in the case of gluten intolerance, for example, chickpea flour. The only thing to know is that the amount of water indicated in the recipe may change because it will have a different degree of liquid absorption. Therefore, I recommend pouring the water little by little until you get the optimal consistency to then cook the crepes in the pan.
Can I make the crepes with raw spinach?
Yes, in this case, we should wash the baby spinach, drain it well, and put it in the mixer. Add flour, water (NOT ALL OF IT), oil, salt, and lemon drops. Blend everything until you get a mixture with the consistency you prefer. Add more water only if necessary. Once the batter is ready, proceed with cooking as indicated above.
A tip: if you’ve obtained a very liquid batter, you’ll get crepes with a much thinner thickness than mine. Be careful during cooking not to burn them because the thinner they are, the higher the risk!How many days do crepes keep in the refrigerator?
The crepes (not filled) can be stored in the fridge for about 2 days or placed in the freezer, in an airtight container, for about 3 months. They can be easily prepared the day before and filled and cooked the next day. We can also consume half of them as wraps, instead of bread, and fill the other half and bake them.
Regarding storage in the freezer:
We can store them without being filled or after filling, but it would be preferable to freeze them without filling to prevent them from breaking during cooking. To defrost the crepes, just leave them at room temperature.For a vegetarian version, what filling do you recommend?
Instead of cooked ham, you can use vegetables of your choice (e.g., zucchini, eggplant, peppers, mushrooms) that should be cooked first in the pan.
What can I use instead of ricotta?
You can replace ricotta with crescenza, stracchino, or sweet gorgonzola. Or opt for a filling based on minced meat or sausage, or just vegetables enriched with cheese and béchamel. Or cooked ham, mushrooms, and mozzarella, or cooked ham and mozzarella without mushrooms, broccoli, and sausage, etc.
