Bookends: Appetizers

I find that the most difficult part of having people over to the house for dinner is pulling together a coherent meal that includes something for them to snack on when they walk in the door, and is topped off with a sweet treat at the end of the evening. It's easy to pick one or the other, or the main meal, but having a series of items that make some form of logical combination drives me up the wall. Perhaps I just need more Thai appetizers to match my love of curries and coconut based desserts.

Yum. Coconut.

Ok, back to the matter at hand. Today we will discuss a fairly versatile appetizer that tastes amazing and appears substantially more complicated than it actually is. Basically, it's a ricotta-based filling for crepes that people can eat as finger food. It took my 5 guests approximately 3 minutes to eat 15 or so of these little gems. More importantly, you can serve it with Italian, some American, or French without worrying in the slightest. Yes, it requires you to make crepes, but they are so much easier than you think they are. In fact, they are not just "easier" (especially if you think they are "oh god what am I doing" difficult), they are downright simple.

But you need to buy a crepe pan. They aren't expensive and they are your personal vehicle to looking very fancy in front of your friends and having an excuse to eat Nutella whenever you want.

That said...

Basic Savory Crepe Recipe
makes 10-12 (9-10in) crepes

2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/3 cup water
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tablespoons melted butter

1) Add all ingredients to a blender and blend thoroughly. Scrape the sides if necessary to incorporate all flour.

2) Cover and place in refrigerator for at least 30 min for the bubbles to settle. If the mix separates, you can just stir it before making the crepes.

3) Heat the crepe pan over medium/high heat, coat with butter/oil/cooking spray. Pour about 1/4 cup of the batter per crepe, tilting the pan to evenly distribute the batter. Cook until top is dry, flip crepe and cook until bottom is lightly browned.

4) Repeat until you run out of batter.

Told you it was easy.

Smugness aside, here's the filling.

Ricotta Pillows

6 10-12in crepes
2 cups ricotta
2 tbsp butter (room temperature)
2 shallots, minced
2 eggs
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/8 tsp nutmeg

1) Drain the ricotta in a colander with cheesecloth for at least 30 minutes.

2) Melt 1 tbsp of butter in a small skillet and saute the shallots until golden.

3) Stir all ingredients in a bowl until well mixed, spoon a few tablespoons of filling down the center of each crepe, roll and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

4) Preheat the oven to 375. Cut each roll into 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces and stand upright and touching (they hold each other up) in a greased pan.

5) Bake for 15 minutes (until heated through) and serve at once.