Andi, the_intuitive_cook shares with us her delicious vegetarian recipe for National Vegetarian Week. We’re certainly going to give it a try… it looks delicious!
My kids will eat anything that involves the word pancake and this Crepes Vegetable Lasagne is packed full with greens perfect for vegetarian week. The crêpes recipe is a secret family recipe that was passed on to us from a French au pair. It is absolutely foolproof and you can eat them either sweet or savoury! Or, like our family does, have the savoury version first and have a sweet one for dessert!
Ingredients Serves 4
Crêpes (makes one green batch and one normal)
2 X 250 g flour
2 x 500 ml milk
2 x 1 tbsp soft butter
2 x 1/2 teaspoon salt
A little butter for the pan
A good handful of spinach
Pumpkin filling:
1/2 Butternut Squash
3 tbsp olive oil
Pepper and salt to taste
2 sprigs of fresh basil
Spinach filling:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion
1 garlic clove
600g spinach
175 g parmesan cheese
250 g ricotta
Generous grating of nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
Zest of one lemon
Method
Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
White Crêpes – Start by making the crêpes mixture. Either with a hand mixer or in a food processor, combine 250g flour, 500 ml milk, 1 tablespoon of butter and 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Set aside.
Green Crêpes – You do need a blender or food processor for this step. Repeat the same as for white crêpes, add one big handful of spinach to the mix at the end and blend until you get a smooth, consistency and an even green colour.
Heat a coated pan on medium heat with a small knob of butter. Once melted, add approximately 1/4 of a cup (remember, they are crêpes, not thick, fluffy pancakes) crêpes mixture.You need to gently shake the pan in a circular motion to evenly distribute the mixture. Try to bake them as thin as possible. IMPORTANT: The first crepes always goes wrong, so don’t worry if this happens here. Give it to the kids to try, they will love it. From here on, don’t add any more butter to the pan. Just bake away until you have 5 pancakes from each colour. If you feel after a few pancakes that you need to add a little butter to the pan, please do, although usually you don’t need to. Set pancakes aside.
Butternut squash: Cut butternut squash in thin discs. Quarter these and put on a baking tray. Drizzle 3 tbsp olive oil on top, season with some sea salt and mix until the slices are evenly coated. Bake in the oven for about 40 – 45 minutes or until soft and golden, but not too brown. You will have to turn them halfway through.
Spinach Filling: Finely dice the onion and add the garlic. Heat pan with the olive oil, add onions and let them soften for 5 minutes. Now add garlic and let cook for another minute. Add Spinach and cook until wilted. Season with a good grating of nutmeg, salt and pepper. Put spinach in a colander and drain very well. Squeeze out any leftovers moisture. Add spinach to a bowl and add zest of one lemon. Grate parmesan and add one big handful together with the ricotta to the spinach and mix. Time to assemble your lasagne. Line a baking tray with a baking sheet, put the first normal Crêpes on the sheet. Top with a few pieces of the roasted butternut squash, a few basil leaves and sprinkle with some parmesan. Now put a green crêpes on top and add some of the spinach mixture. Make sure it’s evenly distributed and don’t put too much on. Don’t sprinkle this one with extra parmesan, as the spinach mixture already has enough cheese. Keep on alternating pancake colours and toppings, until your stash is the hight you want. I did 5 green and 5 normal ones. Put in the oven for about 20 mins or until cheese has molten. Take out and let sit for a few minutes to make cutting easier. Transfer to a plate and enjoy with a big leafy salad! TIP: If you have younger kids or fussy kids that don’t like spinach, you could always make a kiddy stack with ham and cheese out of the leftover pancakes (the mixture will make a few more than you need), or add some carrots and peas. Let your imagination run wild.
