What do you do when you’re surrounded by a big pile of lusciously caramelized, completely bursting-with-flavor roasted vegetables? You make a new and exciting dinner of roasted vegetable crepes to shock your loved ones. And then cross your fingers. It also doesn’t hurt to have 911 ready should anyone faint.
It isn’t that I rarely prepare new and exciting dishes for my loves, I merely haven’t prepared savory crepes for dinner since…since…since a very, very, very long time. Roughly 19 years. Okay, maybe 20. Sometime between Hunky Hubby and I moving into our home and my giving birth to our first born beauty.
Although I have no idea what took me so long, these roasted vegetable crepes were worth the wait for Hubby and a pallet awakening for my Beauties who LOVE sweet crepes and now have an appreciation for savory.
Feeling inspired by the trifecta of vegetables that I roasted last night, the big bucket of basil on the deck, and a chunk of Asiago cheese burning a hole in the fridge, it was time to create something uniquely rich and inviting. These roasted vegetable crepes fit the bill topped with Asiago cream sauce and baked to a light golden hue.
Point of clarification: the Asiago sauce isn’t a sauce in the traditional saucy sense. (Cheesy phrasing, I know. Get it? Cheesy? Ha!). This Asiago cream sauce has more semblance of a topping; a savory, slightly robust frosting. I happened to have aged Asiago in the fridge so the sauce was a bit pungent -in a good way. The pungency perked up the flavor of the roasted vegetables wrapped in a basil crepe. A mirage of flavors yet they all balanced.
Now let’s talk crepe. The batter for these crepes is prepared in a blender and my tossing in 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh basil leaves resulted in their light green hue. These crepes can be prepared in advance, which is always helpful, and brought to room temperature before filling. On their own the crepes were delicious and if roasted vegetables is not you filling of choice, go ahead and get creative. The roasted vegetables of my choice included red bell peppers from my dear ol’ dad, the last Roma tomatoes picked from the vine as well as the last few zucchini of the season. Being an onion lover, I decided to roast a few to add to the mix simply because I believe nearly everything savory tastes better with onion. It’s the Slav in me, what can I say.
If you’re looking for an impressive vegetarian meal, do give these roasted vegetable crepes a try. Just don’t wait as long as I did. 😉
- Basil Crepe ingredients:
- 1 cup 1% milk
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons water
- ½ cup all-purpose flour, divided
- ¼ cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ½ teaspoon granulated garlic
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped (roughly 10 leaves)
- Roasted vegetables: 2 medium zucchini, 4 large red bell peppers, 3 medium onions and as many roasted tomatoes as you like.
- Asiago Creme Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 cup skim milk or 1%
- 2 tablespoons reduced fat cream cheese
- 1 cup shredded Asiago cheese (or substitute with Parmesan)
- To prepare the crepes, process all ingredients in a blender or food processor until well blended (30-60 seconds). Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes. After refrigerating, stir remaining ¼ cup all-purpose flour into batter or pulse for a few seconds to blend.
- Heat a lightly greased 8 inch skillet over medium heat.
- Pour ⅓ cup batter into pan and tilt to distribute evenly.Cook 20 seconds, flip and cook another 20 seconds or until set. Repeat with the remaining batter. (Do ahead: place a piece of wax paper or parchment between the crepes and refrigerate up to a day in advance. Bring to room temperature before filling.)
- To prepare the Asiago cream sauce, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour, mixing well for 30-60 seconds. Gradually add milk, stirring with a wire whisk continually until the mixture is well blended. Cook 8 minutes, stirring constantly, or until mixture is thick and bubbly. Stir in cream cheese until blended. Stir in Asiago, mixing until cheese is melts and the sauce is smooth.
- Assembly: spread 1-2 teaspoons of the sauce down the center of a crepe; arrange roasted vegetables on top of the sauce and roll up. Repeat until all crepes are used and place in baking dish, seam side down. Spread remaining sauce over the top of the crepes and bake at 400F for 20 minutes.
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