Crespelle with Asparagus

Ingredients

Servings 4

Crespelle

•     2 tbsp butter melted
•     1 1/3 cups flour
•     1 ½ cups milk
•     2 eggs
•     1 pinch salt

Layering/Filling

•     20 to 24 asparagus cleaned
•     1 tbsp onion chopped
•     2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
•     60 ml – ¼ cup white wine
•     Salt and Pepper to taste
•     3 cups béchamel sauce see recipe below
•     3.5 oz. Stracchino cheese roughly chopped
•     3.5 oz. Parmigiano Reggiano finely grated

Instructions

Crespelle

1.     Put all the ingredients in an electric mixer and blend for a couple of minutes until your batter is smooth.
2.     Let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
3.     Take a non stick frying pan and put it on the fire. When hot add ¼ tsp of butter and a ladle of batter by swirling the pan so the batter coats the base of the pan. You don’t want to make the coating too thin. About 2 mm – 0.08 inches thick will work nicely. When the surface of the crespella dries up, it is time to flip it over. Do so by using a plastic spatula to loosen its sides first and then flip it over. Cook it for a minute more, then remove it from the pan and keep it aside. Repeat this till your batter is over.
4.     As soon as the crespelle are cool, you can assemble.

Filling

1.     Prepare the béchamel sauce following my tutorial. Keep it aside.
2.     Steam or poach the asparagus. Make sure they are cooked through, but still firm.
3.     Cut out the tips and reserve them.
4.     Roughly slice the rest of the asparagus.
5.     Sauté the chopped onion in a pan with the extra virgin olive oil. Add the asparagus slices and stir.
6.     Add the white wine and increase the flame to burn off the alcohol. Season with salt and pepper to taste and put the fire off.
7.     Blend the asparagus slices and add them to the béchamel sauce.

Layering

1.     Now you are all set to start assembling your “cake”. Put a little béchamel and asparagus sauce to the bottom of a round oven proof dish. Put a crespella, cover it with béchamel and asparagus sauce, some asparagus tips, chopped Stracchino and finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Add another layer of crespella and repeat the layers until you run out of crespelle. Finish off with some béchamel and asparagus sauce and Parmigiano Reggiano.
2.     Bake the “cake” in a pre heated oven at 180°C – 355°F for 15 minutes, then grill for 5 minutes or until the top gets golden brown.
3.     Let it set for 5 minutes before slicing it. Decorate with asparagus tips and serve warm.

Béchamel sauce

  Ingredients:

• 4 cups milk, hot
• 3.5 oz. butter
• 3.5 oz. flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 pinch nutmeg

Directions

1. Put the butter in a non stick pot and let it melt.
2. Add the flour and whisk constantly until well incorporated: this is the “roux”.  Let it cook for a minute or two.
3. Now start adding hot milk little by little, while mixing continuously.  Do not add the next batch until the milk is well incorporated.
4. Keep doing so until all the milk is incorporated.  Add salt and nutmeg and cook it on a low flame for 10 minutes or until it thickens.  When ready, cover it to prevent a film to appear on the surface.