Parfait! Manicotti Crêpes

03bManicottiCrêpesbfLOLooks good, no? Tubes of pasta filled with a rich, tasty ricotta cheese mixture, then slathered in tomato sauce and more cheese and baked to perfection.

Except…

There’s no pasta in this dish, savory sun dried tomato crêpes more than filled the bill on that front, and…

Ricotta? I think notta! I made a fine cheese stuffing using whipped cottage cheese.

01bCottageCheeseCreamedbfLODetails?

Certes!

INGREDIENTS
Manicotti Crêpes:
•Tomato sauce (I used this one)
•Crêpes – try these, they’re lovely
•Shredded Mozzarella
01cCottageCheeseStuffbfLO•Shredded Parmesan

Cheese Filling:
•16 oz cottage cheese, creamed
•8 oz shredded Mozzarella
•1/2 cup shredded Parmesan
•1/4 tsp sea salt
•1/2 tsp black Pepper
•1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper
•2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
•1 tbsp sherry peppers sauce

First, prepare your tomato sauce, then make the crêpes, and set them both aside to cool.

02aCrepeCheesebfLOHeat the oven to 350º.

Place the cottage cheese in a food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse until smooth and creamy.

Note: did you know that if you add one tablespoon of white vinegar to creamed cottage cheese, you’ll get a very nice (and considerably lower fat) sour cream substitute? Try it, it’s good!

06aCrepesFilledbfLOAdd the shredded cheeses and seasonings to the creamed cottage cheese and pulse again until well blended.

Place two or three tablespoons of the cheese mixture on the bottom half of a crêpe.

Starting at the bottom, roll the crêpe up and over the cheese, tightening as you go.

Place the filled crêpe, seam side down, in a baking pan and repeat with the rest of the crêpes and cheese filling. I had seven or so usable crêpes from my latest attempt, more 03aManicottiCrêpesbfLOthan enough for dinner for the two of us, but I only used half of the cheese mixture and tomato sauce. No worries, I have stuff planned for them.

Cover the filled crêpes with your tomato sauce of choice, then sprinkle with additional shredded Mozzarella and Parmesan. I also added a nice dusting of Aleppo pepper.

Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes, until the cheese is nicely melted and everything is hot and bubbly.

Let rest for five minutes, then serve.

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