This recipe come from the city of Antrodoco, within the central Italian area of Lazio. Central Italy famously makes use of crepes for dishes that will name for pasta sheets in different areas (such because the crepe-based lasagna from Abruzzo). Stracci resemble cannelloni, being baked tubes of stuffed “pasta,” however substituting delicate, fluffy crepes for the standard sheets of contemporary egg pasta.
Stracci di Antrodoco is far simpler and sooner to make than cannelloni or lasagna, however is correct up there when it comes to taste! In case you’re searching for a mind-blowing baked pasta (okay, “pasta”) with little or no fuss, you’re in the suitable place.
Stracci vs. Cannelloni vs. Manicotti
As famous above, Stracci di Antrodoco is sort of much like cannelloni, the most important distinction being using crepes as a substitute of pasta. Curiously, we’ve heard from many Italian-Individuals who’re aware of the American dish “manicotti” being cooked with crepes as a substitute of pasta.
Though cannelloni is the clear ancestor of most manicotti recipes, we have now a pet concept that many households who emigrated from central Italy have been extra impressed by stracci when making their very own manicotti recipes, therefore the presence of crepes in lots of New World variations.
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STRACCI DI ANTRODOCO RECIPE
For this recipe, you will have:
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3 massive eggs
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Salt
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1 cup (240 ml) water
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6 tablespoons (45 g) all-purpose flour
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2 tablespoons (30 ml) extra-virgin olive oil, divided
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1 garlic clove, peeled
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14 ounces (400 g) canned entire peeled tomatoes
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3 to 4 contemporary basil leaves
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10 ounces (300 g) floor beef
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A pinch of contemporary black pepper
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A small pat of unsalted butter
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4 ounces (115 g) chopped mozzarella cheese
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Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, to style
Crack the eggs right into a mixing bowl. Add the water and a beneficiant pinch of salt, and whisk collectively. Regularly add the flour, one spoonful at a time, whereas persevering with to whisk.
As soon as the flour is evenly combined in, cowl the bowl and let the batter relaxation within the fridge for 30 to 45 minutes. In the meantime, you may put together the tomato sauce and meat stuffing.
In a small saucepan, place 1 tbsp. (15 ml) of olive oil and the garlic clove. Reserve about 3 spoonfuls of the puree from the canned tomatoes for later, and add the remaining into the saucepan, together with the basil and an enormous pinch of salt. Deliver the tomatoes to a mild simmer over medium/low warmth.
Partially cowl the saucepan and let the tomatoes simmer for 15 to twenty minutes, at which level they need to soften and you’ll simply crush them with a fork. Salt the sauce once more to style, take away and discard the garlic clove, flip off the warmth and put aside for later.
Whereas the tomato sauce cooks, put together the meat stuffing. Warmth 1 tbsp. (15 ml) of olive oil in a medium pan over medium/excessive warmth. Add the bottom beef and break it up right into a crumble with a picket spoon. When the meat is totally browned, season it to style with salt and pepper, and stir within the tomato puree you reserved from the can. Let the meat prepare dinner a couple of minutes longer for the surplus moisture to thicken, then flip off the warmth and put aside.
After the egg batter has rested, you may prepare dinner the crepes. Soften a really small pat of butter in a small non-stick pan (the flat backside needs to be about 6 to 7 inches, or 15 to 18 cm, in diameter). Brush the butter within the pan to evenly coat the underside.
Ladle simply sufficient batter into the pan so to swirl it round and evenly coat the underside in a skinny layer. Examine the underside of the crepe with a spatula after a minute or two. As soon as the underside begins to show golden, flip the crepe and prepare dinner the opposite aspect till golden as effectively. Take away the crepe to a plate and proceed till you’ve cooked the entire batter. You’ll need about 12 crepes whole to fill a 9 x 13 inch (23 x 33 cm) baking dish, though having some extras isn’t a nasty factor.
Preheat the oven to 400° F (205° C).
Unfold a really skinny layer of tomato sauce within the backside of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish, or comparable. Take one crepe and unfold about 2 tbsp. of floor meat in a line alongside the middle. High the meat with a beneficiant sprinkle of Parmigiano and some items of mozzarella cheese. Roll the crepe up into a good tube across the stuffing and place it into the underside of the baking dish.
Repeat to stuff and organize sufficient crepes to cowl the underside of the dish in a single, strong layer. The rolls will be organized in any orientation you discover handy, so long as they fill the dish.
Unfold the remaining tomato sauce evenly over the crepes to cowl the dish from edge to edge, adopted by a really beneficiant grating of Parmigiano cheese over all.
Bake for 10 to fifteen minutes, till the cheese on high has melted and is starting to crisp. Let cool for five minutes earlier than serving.
