Recipe for "spinach-roll-1"

NAME

     SPINACH-ROLL-1 - An Italian vegetable casserole with spinach
     and cheese
     Mana's spinach ricotta roll is a  dish  my  roommate  makes.
     She got the recipe from her Italian mother.  I hope you like
     it as much as I do.

INGREDIENTS (Serves 4)

     400 g     cooked spinach (fresh or frozen)
     500 g     ricotta cheese
     5 g       fresh parsley, chopped
     3         egg whites
     100 g     all-purpose flour
     350 ml    water
     100 g     Parmesan cheese, finely grated
     500 ml    marinara sauce
               olive oil

PROCEDURE

          (1)  Preheat oven to 160 deg. C.  Cook or thaw  spinach
               and  squeeze  dry.  Season  with a little salt and
               pepper; set aside.
          (2)  Mix ricotta cheese with grated Parmesan cheese and
               chopped parsley; set aside.
          (3)  Make the crepe batter: mix  together  egg  whites,
               flour  and  water,  then beat with a wire whisk to
               get rid of lumps.
          (4)  Cook the crepes: lightly coat  a  crepe  pan  with
               olive  oil  and heat to medium.  Ladle 40 ml crepe
               batter into heated pan. The  crepe  batter  should
               lightly  cover  the  bottom  of  the pan in a thin
               layer.  Tilt pan to cover evenly.  When  edges  of
               crepe  turn  lacy  and  brown  and crepe is cooked
               through, remove crepe and stack on a  plate.  Con-
               tinue until all the batter is used.
          (5)  When the crepes are cooked,  assemble  the  rolls:
               spoon  50  ml  of ricotta cheese mixture and 20 ml
               spinach mixture on each crepe.  Fold or roll  each
               crepe to seal in mixture.
          (6)  Make and cook the casserole: place  rolled  crepes
               in a greased rectangular casserole dish.  When the
               pan is full, spoon  marinara  sauce  over  crepes.
               Bake  at  160  deg. C for 15 to 20 minutes.  Serve
               with grated Parmesan cheese.

NOTES

     If you don't have a crepe pan, you can use a  small  (15-cm)
     frying  pan.  You can make your own marinara sauce, or use a
     prepared marinara or spaghetti sauce.

RATING

     Difficulty: moderate.  Time: 1 hour preparation, 20  minutes
     baking.  Precision: approximate measurement OK.

CONTRIBUTOR

     Kathy Blain
     Organization: California State University, Chico, California, USA
     kgb@csuchico.EDU    lll-crg!csuchico!kgb