Rapini, Egg, and Cheese Crespelles

So what do you do when it is the end of the pay period, a couple of days before grocery shopping, and all that is left in the fridge is the rapini that your husband picked up because it was a buck, some eggs and milk, an almost ready to throw away bag of shredded mozarella, and a severely shortened hunk of parmesan reggiano? Well, after rummaging through the pantry and seeing that I had plenty of flour left, this is what I came up with!

If you are not terrible fond of bitter foods, blanch the rapini before sauteing. In this recipe I chose not to blanch the rapini because I wanted to contrast the sweetness of the onions with the bitterness of the greens.

Ingredients:

Crespelles:

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup plus 2 TB flour
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Stick of butter

Filling:

• 2 TB butter
• 1/2 onion
• 3 large cloves of garlic
• 2 TB olive oil
• Large bunch rapini, around 1 LB, chopped
  
• balsamic vinegar to taste
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 4 eggs, cooked and scrambled
• Mozarella cheese to sprinkle
• Parmesan Reggiano to sprinkle

Directions:

• Melt butter for filling in a large saute pan, turn heat to low.
• Slice onion thinly and add to pan, put on lid for a few minutes to let onions steam and soften, then remove lid, continue to cook onions on low heat until they turn a lighten golden brown--this may take a while.

• Meanwhile make the crespelle batter
• pour milk into a large mixing bowl.
• Sift flour into the milk, whisking constantly.
• Whisk in eggs, one at a time.
• Add salt and whisk.
• Put batter aside.

• Check onions, if they are browned, add the garlic, turn the heat up to medium, and stir for a couple of minutes.
• Add olive oil and stir for another minute.
• Add a dash of red pepper flakes.
• Add chopped rapini.
• Put lid back on to allow broccoli rabe to cook down.

• Meanwhile, melt a tsp of butter on a griddle at medium high heat.
• Dip into the crespelle batter with a ladle and pour onto hot griddle, swirling the griddle with your other hand, until the batter covers the whole griddle.
• Let cook for a couple of minutes until the crespelle starts to pull away from the pan and is a golden brown on the bottom, flip and cook for a couple of minutes on the other side.
• Remove to a plate, and repeat. I came out with five dinner plate sized crespelles.

• Dash balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper on top of the greens and allow to cook for a few more minutes.
• Meanwhile scramble four eggs.
  
• Divide greens into four piles and eggs into four piles and distribute filling evenly into each crespelle, sprinkle with cheese, and roll into a wrap.
• Cut each in half and serve with toast.

And lunch the next day

And one more left over crespelle . . .

Inspired by the sopapillas at the local Tex-Mex places, I reheated mine later, by lightly frying it in vegetable oil to give it a crisper texture. Cut it into four pie shaped pieces, sifted a little powdered sugar and cinnamon on top, and drizzled on honey--topped with whipped cream.