February 24, 2020

SPINACH AND RICOTTA STUFFED PANCAKES revisited

 
I first posted about these in 2013 which you can see here
This year I made them again, but with a change to the recipe.
 
 
 
This time I made my own pancakes but I confess - I used a packet of pancake mix. 
Totally unforgivable considering how easy pancakes are to make from scratch but there happened to be a packet of pancake mix in the cupboard so I used it.  As to why it was there.....I picked it up by mistake when I was in a hurry one time thinking it was crumble mix.  (Also unforgivable but hey ho.)
 
The other item you will notice is the little cartons of Béchamel sauce.  We get these in France because sometimes we need just a small quantity of it for something.  Making a small quantity from scratch is - well, more trouble - and they're very good for that.  We brought them back to the UK at the end of our stay in France last year and they needed using up.  We used two for this recipe.
 

The dish was the right size for six pancakes so I divided my filling mixture evenly using these little plastic bowls.  They come in a set of six from the children's section in Ikea and I find them ideal for measuring out ingredients when baking. 

 
I even weighed each one and although it might seem like a bit of a faff it was quicker than guessing how much to put into each pancake then teeming and ladling to make them all equal.  Each portion was about 100g. 
 

 
Having tipped half of the jar of sauce into the dish I arranged the pancakes snugly on top and covered with the rest of the jar of sauce.
 

 
On went the Béchamel sauce and a good sprinkling of grated Cheddar.  A totally yummy dinner made from scratch (but using cheat's ingredients) and yet again I wondered why I only make pancakes once a year!
 
Ingredients
 
250g bag spinach
250g tub ricotta cheese
1 pack of six unsweetened pancakes (or make six of your own!)
1 500g jar tomato sauce for pasta
about a pint of Béchamel or cheese sauce for topping (home made or shop bought)
cheddar cheese for grating on top
 
Method
 
Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180° fan / gas mk 6.
 
Empty the bag of spinach into a large colander and stand it in the sink.  Pour boiling water over it straight from the kettle to wilt it then refresh under cold running water straight from the tap.  Squeeze as much liquid as possible from the spinach and put it in a medium bowl.  Add the ricotta and mix together.
 
Spread half of the jar of tomato sauce into the base of a lasagne dish and spread out evenly.
 
Take roughly a sixth of the spinach mixture and spread it over one pancake.  Roll up and place it, join underneath, on top of the tomato sauce.  Repeat with the remaining pancakes.
 
Pour the remaining sauce from the jar evenly over the pancakes.  Cover with the Béchamel or cheese sauce and sprinkle some grated cheese on top.
 
Bake for 40-50 minutes.  Serve with salad and crusty bread.
 
Serves 4. 

2 comments:

  1. That's a perfect use of cheat's ingredients and a great idea for pancake day. (I'd started cooking a veg curry before I remembered it was pancake day and so we had pancakes stuffed with veg curry. Not exactly an authentic dish). I think small packs of sauces are ideal since I hate waste, I can't fit any more part-used packs in the freezer and I'm too busy to make basic sauces from scratch.

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    Replies
    1. Phil, veg curry stuffed pancakes sound rather good to me!

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