Ricotta Cheese Crepes with Zucchini

 Every Tuesday night, my two best friends and I take turns cooking dinner. This week was my turn, and as I flipped through my favorite cookbook for inspiration, I found this recipe.

The batter is fairly simple (eggs, flour, milk) seasoned with thyme and parsley. The cookbook also suggested marjoram, but I didn't have any and figured that if I bought I would never use it again.

I don't have a special crepe maker, so I just use a frying pan. The trick is to make sure your pan is already hot and seasoned with butter. Then wait until the edges of the crepe start to curl up. Then it's time to flip. After a few false starts, I got the hang of flipping.

And ended up with a plate full of beautiful crepes!

The filling is made by sautéing zucchini, then adding ricotta, nutmeg, and pepper and simmering for a few minutes. The recipe also calls for zucchini flowers and pine nuts, which I omitted because I couldn't find pine nuts at the store, and I'm pretty sure they didn't have zucchini flowers. 

The crepes are then folded, covered with light cream and cheese, and baked in the oven. 

 The finished product:

They were enjoyed! They have the benefit of looking pretty fancy, but not requiring that much work. In fact, I made them in a groggy daze, having just woken up from a nap, and they turned out alright!

These would also be good to try with a different kind of cheese in place of ricotta. I am not the biggest ricotta fan myself. I would also add a bit more Parmesan to the top before baking.

For dessert, we ate leftover jellybean pancakes!

Ricotta Cheese Crepes with Zucchini Adapted from Simply Delicious Vegetarian cookbook Makes 10 crepes - serves 4-5 people Crepes: 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups milk 4 eggs 1.5 tablespoons finely chopped thyme 1.5 tablespoons finely chopped parsley 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 tablespoon butter Filling: 10 oz zucchini, cut into rounds 2 tablespoons butter 1 2/3 cups ricotta cheese 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 cup light cream 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese Mix all crepe ingredients together, excluding the butter Melt the butter in a medium sized frying pan and cook the crepes over medium heat. Use just enough batter to cover the bottom of the pan. Flip when edges begin to curl.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees and butter a large baking dish Saute zucchini in butter in frying pan for 10 minutes. Add ricotta, nutmeg, salt, and pepper to zucchini and simmer for 3 minutes.  Place about 3 tablespoons of filling in each crepe and fold twice to make triangles.  Arrange in prepared dish and pour cream over top. Sprinkle with Parmesan.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake for additional 8-10 minutes.