Mushroom stuffed crepes evoke memories of pasta-centric family meals. This meal relies heavily on Jamie Oliver’s Mushroom Cannelloni but with the twist of substituting savory crepes for pasta.
This isn’t as far fetched as you might think. When I was in college (back in the stone age 80s) my friend Sandy made crepes for her manicotti recipe. In the years since I’ve had manicotti with the familiar pasta tubes but only the one time with crepes, or crespelle in Italian. (Watch Lidia Bastianich make them here.)
That’s gonna change.
Jamie Oliver’s recipe calls for cannelloni; a pasta that’s more or less interchangeable with manicotti. Some sources on the web claim manicotti was developed by Italian Americans.
When we lived in Spain, they sold cannelloni in sheets. They are square, about the size of a wonton wrapper, but dried like lasagna noodles. I liked to stuff them with various leftovers.
Unfortunately, I was unable to find cannelloni or manicotti locally, and the lasagna was the narrow kind, rather than sheets. Thus, the crepes.
I used my go to crepe recipe but cut the sugar in half. Feel free to use your own reliable crepe recipe if you prefer.
Other than making the crepes, this is a relatively simple recipe as far as food preparation goes. The vegetables for the filling are chopped in a food processor and sauteed on the stove. I used chopped frozen spinach from the freezer. It only needs to be thawed and squeezed. The sauce is a standard medium white sauce.
This is an excellent recipe for company. All the components are made separately. It’s your choice whether to have one larger kitchen session or break it up over a day or two if you have a tight schedule. I prepared mine over the course of a day. Crepes and filling in the morning, white sauce and assembly before popping in the oven in the evening.
Don’t overlook the possibilities of doubling or tripling the recipe for “feeding the freezer” or giving to a neighbor. Once the crepes and filling are ready to go, it only takes a little more time to make a second (or third) batch.
It’s Potluck Week at I Heart Cooking Clubs. I chose this recipe made for the Comfort Foods week earlier in the month. Be sure to drop by to see what my fellow bloggers made from our favorite chefs.
Nice recipe! I like crepes instead of manicotti for dishes like this, so you’re speaking my language. Really nice — thanks.
Whenever I make something with crepes I always end up asking myself, “Why don’t I do this more often?” Thanks!
I find the process pictures most interesting. The crepe is a welcoming alternative to pasta. On the other hand, you can easily roll out a sheet of pasta, in any shape by hand, for the cannelloni you need.
I considered making pasta, but decided against it. My rolling skillz are less than optimal, hahaha.
Oh, yes! I love the idea of using crepes and I’d say that everyone else loves it just as much! You are so right about this being the perfect dish to entertain with. It’s got a little bit of everything, plus it looks so comforting.