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Hey it’s Monday! Time for some Italian!
Yes, I made Italian. And yes, I used crepes as my pasta of choice. And yes, it is pretty amazing!
Isn’t this a pretty one?
I was reading Bev Cooks. which I follow. Religiously.
Guys if you don’t follow Bev, well you are missing out! This girl is good! Her food. Her writing. Her Pictures. They’re drool worthy.
Anyway, the other day she was saying that there is this Italian restaurant in her neck of the woods that serves Crepe Manicotti.
So that would mean creamy cheesy manicotti filling rolled in a crêpe and then smothered in a creamy tomato sauce. Then baked till everything was all ooey gooey and warm! Holy yum!
So since it’s Monday you’ll definitely want to make these. I mean they’re pretty simple to make and you could even buy store-bought crepes to make this a super fast weeknight meal. Score!
Spicy Italian Chicken Suasage, Spinach and Crepe Manicotti
Ingredients
- Crepes :, or 8 store-bought crepes
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup flour
- 3 tablespoons melted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Butter, for coating the pan
- Filling:
- 1 pound spicy italian chicken sausage, removed from casings
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 8 oz baby bella mushrooms, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 5 oz baby spinach
- 3/4 cup provolone cheese, shredded (you can also use ricotta cheese)
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
- 2 oz cans tomatoes, 14.5, I used san marzano
- 1/4 cup oil packed sun dried tomatoes, packed
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- To make the crepes in a blender, combine all of the ingredients and pulse for 10 seconds. Place the crepe batter in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. This allows the bubbles to subside so the crepes will be less likely to tear during cooking. The batter will keep for up to 48 hours.
- Heat a small non-stick pan. Add butter to coat. Pour 1 ounce of batter into the center of the pan and swirl to spread evenly. Cook for 30 seconds and flip. Cook for another 10 seconds and remove to the cutting board. Lay them out flat so they can cool. Continue until all batter is gone. After they have cooled you can stack them and store in sealable plastic bags in the refrigerator for several days. Makes about 20 crepes
- While the crepe batter rests make the filling. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Grease a 9x13 inch pryex dish, set aside
- Bring a large skillet to a medium-high heat. Add the ground chicken sausage to the pan and season with a good pinch of salt, pepper and crushed red pepper. Brown all over, about 7 minutes. Remove from the skillet and set aside.
- Back in the skillet, add a tablespoon of oil. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 3 minutes, or until they start to soften. Add the garlic and a pinch of salt. Sauté 30 more seconds. Add the spinach and toss to wilt, maybe 2 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine the chicken suasage, spinach and mushroom mixture with the provolone, mozzarella and parsley.
- In the meantime, pulse the tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes in a food processor until smooth. Transfer them to a small saucepan. Stir in the cream and lightly simmer. Season with a small pinch of salt and pepper.
- Pour about 1/2 cup of the creamy tomato sauce along the bottom of the baking dish.
- Working with one crepe at a time place 1/8 of the filling down the middle of the crepe and roll, arrange them in the dish. Repeat with seven more crepes or until the filling has all been used (I got 8 total crepes). Once all the crepes have been filled, pour a decent amount (you can decide) of the tomato sauce over the manicottis. Cover and bake 30 minutes.
- Let rest about 5 minutes.
- Serve garnished with parsley, and the remaining tomato sauce and freshly grated parmesan!
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
Inspired by Bev Cooks.
Enough talking. Let’s eat already!
Not sure if it was because I made it ahead or I put too much sauce but the crepes absorbed the liquid and weren’t substantial enough to hold up. Greatt flavor but when taking out of the pan, just a sloppy pile on the plate.
This is the best! Crepes always take a little time, but you can make them ahead. We have a deli in town and he gave me a pound of fresh made chicken sausage without the casings. Love the cream in the sauce. I always add a teaspoon of sugar to balance the acidity. Made this for company and will make again. Thanks for sharing
SO happy you love these!! Crepes truly are so good and that sausage sounds awesome!! Thanks Marilee!
Oh yum, that looks so good! I really want to try this recipe 🙂
Thank you! Let me know if you do and I hope you like them!
What an incredible recipe!
The instructions say pulse tomatoes and sun dried tomatoes in food processor. I don’t see sun dried tomatoes in the ingredients.. Can you tell me how much of the sun dried tomatoes you used?
Thanks!!
It’s is a 1/4 cup. So sorry about that! I fixed the recipe! I hope you enjoy these!
Tieghan,
This looks wonderful–and how clever of you and Bev to come up with an easy/simple way to get that tasty filling into the dish. [Manicotti and I are not really friends, too many rips in our past.]
Thanks!
this looks so yummy! Thanks for linking up to Tasteful Tuesdays at Nap-Time Creations! You are being featured at this weeks party. Your project has been pinned and shared on my facebook page. The new party will be live Monday evening.
http://www.nap-timecreations.com/2013/01/creamy-tomato-soup-good-for-valentines.html
This looks really good. I am going to pin it for later.
Oh I LOVE pasta, it’s my comfort food. This looks so, so good. I’ve never made manicotti so I can’t wait to taste it. Through your pictures, you almost can. I would love for you to share this at memoriesbythemile.com at my link party.
Wanda Ann @ Memories by the Mile
also ‘yum’ looking. ate pancakes today for dinner, btw. pretty unusual. with goat cheese filling…
Oooooh …… so beautiful! Thank you for sharing at All My Bloggy Friends last week!
This looks deelish, Tieghan! Thanks so much for sharing on Marvelous Mondays!
Whoa! I love this! Thanks to Bobbi for sharing it so I could find you 🙂
Absolutely gorgeous!! I have this pinned because I have GOT to try it!! Thanks so much for sharing it on Manic Monday!!
Hi Tieghan!
All the food looks amazing! I wanted to ask, could I make this and freeze it?
I have not tried with these, but I freeze dishes like this all the time and they turn out great! Just make sure to wrap them well and to defrost a few hour before cooking. Then just bake covered as directed.
Thanks for reading and enjoy!
I’m so relieved to read the comment about freezing – I got everything made and then the family called in sick. So I’m sticking it in the freezer, but I didn’t put the last layer of sauce on, so maybe that will help with the structure and soaking-up problem mentioned. Thanks Tieghan!
I hope you love the recipe Deb!