Italian Pancakes/Crespelle Stuffed with Meat Sauce

Somewhere in a box in the crawl space upstairs are the journals that hold my inner thoughts of a year living in Italy, including recipes that I wrote down when I lived there 10 years ago.   In one of those journals is the wonderful recipe for making crespelle (Italian crepes) stuffed with meat and mozzarella and tomato sauce, then topped with béchamel sauce.  My friend Annamaria would make these  for the midday Sunday meal quite often.   In the heat of a July or August Saturday, or the cold dreary rainy days of December, she worked to hard to prepare this delicious meal to feed her family and the many friends that were welcomed to their dinner table.  Just as she seasoned the foods she prepared, she seasoned my soul  as I sat in her kitchen in my season in Campagnia.
http://www.italyguides.it/us/campania/campania_italy.htm

I had a longing for this dish recently and in the last few days of holidays before heading back to work (the restaurant when I work was closed for the month of January) I was keen to have some friends over and make this tasty dish.  While Annamaria’s recipe is going to take some searching to find, I have used the Crespelle recipe from Marcella Hazan’s, The Classic Italian Cookbook, that has been on my cookbook shelf for almost 40 years.  The tomato sauce and meat sauce are what I have come up with to be somewhat close to my friend’s recipe.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/dining/10hazan.html

Crespelle:
1 cup milk        2 eggs
¾ cup all purpose flour - a generous ¾ cup
¼  teaspoon salt
For cooking the crespelle - 1 - 2 tablespoons butter

- put the milk in a bowl and gradually add the flour, using a whisk or folk and blend it evenly
- add the eggs and salt, beating them so they are thoroughly incorporated into the mixture.
- put ½ teaspoon of butter in a heavy 8 inch skillet or a crepe pan and melt the butter, over medium heat and then rotate the pan so the bottom is evenly coated.
- pour about 2 tablespoons of batter into the pan and again rotate the pan to spread the batter thinly over the bottom of the pan.
- cook until the pancake has set and turned golden brown on one side.  Lift it gently with a spatula and flip it over and brown lightly on the other side.  
- transfer it to a platter and you can stack the rest of the pancakes/crepes on top of each other.
- put a little more butter in the pan and start the process again until you have used all the batter.
- this will make about 6 - 8 crepes/pancakes.

Tomato Sauce:
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion (½ medium onion)
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
Sea salt to taste
Ground pepper to taste
1 tablespoon dry oregano
½ cup red wine
1 large tin of diced Roma tomatoes (with the juice)
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

- heat a heavy pan, add oil, add the onion and  saute  for 5 minutes over medium heat
- add the garlic,  carrots and season with salt and pepper.  Cook for 6 minutes.  Try not to brown the vegetables
- add the oregano and stir in
- add the tinned tomatoes and the balsamic vinegar and bring it to a boil
- add the red wine
- once the sauce is simmering, reduce it to a lower heat and let it cook for about 20 - 30 minutes until the liquid is reduced and it is a thick sauce.


Meat Mixture:
500 grams of lean ground beef
½ onion finely chopped
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon dry oregano
¼ teaspoon of smoked paprika
1 cup of the tomato sauce
½ cup red wine - optional.

- put a touch of olive oil in your hot fry pan and add the ground beef crumbling it as you put it in the pan
- be sure to use a fork of spatula to break the meat apart so as it cooks it is very crumbly and not in any chunks
-as it begins to cook add the chopped onion and season with your sea salt and pepper (maybe ½ teaspoon of sea salt and about the same of pepper)
- once the meat and onions are cooked add the balsamic, the smoked paprika and the oregano.
- If you like you can add ½ cup of red wine
- add the cup of tomato sauce and bring the whole mixture to a bubbling point.
- reduce the heat and let it gently simmer for about 20 minutes until it is quite a nice thick sauce and not too runny.


Bechamel Sauce:
2 cups of milk
4 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
Dash of nutmeg
1 bay leaf

- in a small sauce pan heat the milk almost to boiling then remove from the heat
- in another medium size sauce pan melt the butter and then slowly add the flour, constantly stirring it so it is smooth.  A wood spoon works well for this.
- Cook over medium heat and once the roux (butter/flour mixture) starts to bubble let it cook for about 2 minutes, stirring it constantly but do not let it brown.
- turn the heat off under the roux and slowly add 2 tablespoons of hot milk and mix it until it is smooth and then slowly add the hot milk, a little a time, stirring all the time.
- once all the milk is in and blended smoothly, add the salt and nutmeg and the bay leaf and return the mixture to a low - medium low heat.
- cook the sauce until it is as thick as heavy cream.
- make this just before you are ready to put it onto the stuffed crespelle.
- remove the bay leaf when your sauce is done.

1 Cup of Grated Mozzarella


To Assemble:
Heat your oven to 400F

Take a 9x13 baking dish and brush lightly with butter or oil.  Then spread about ½ cup of the tomato sauce so you have a light coating on the bottom of the pan.

Add ½ cup of grated cheese to the meat sauce and mix in.

Divide  your meat mixture into the equal amounts for the number of crepes you have.

Put a portion of the meat mixture into the middle of the pancake and fold up one end, fold in the two sides and then roll it firmly over.  Place the stuffed crespelle fold side down in the pan.   Continue until all crespelle are stuffed and placed in your baking pan. 

Spread the rest of the tomato sauce over the top of the crespelle and then top with the béchamel sauce. 

Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake it for 30 minutes.  Take the foil off and add the rest of the grated mozzarella and continue to bake it for another 15 - 20 minutes until the cheese is just getting golden in colour.

Serve with crisp greens and your favorite dressing.
Finish dinner with Tiramisu!