Stracci di Antrodoco | Italian Stuffed Crepe Recipe

This recipe come from the town of Antrodoco, in the central Italian region of Lazio. Central Italy famously uses crepes for dishes that would call for pasta sheets in other regions (such as the crepe-based lasagna from Abruzzo). Stracci resemble cannelloni, being baked tubes of stuffed “pasta,” but substituting soft, fluffy crepes for the traditional sheets of fresh egg pasta.

Stracci di Antrodoco | Italian Stuffed Crepe Recipe

Stracci di Antrodoco is much easier and faster to make than cannelloni or lasagna, but is right up there in terms of flavor! If you’re looking for a mind-blowing baked pasta (ok, “pasta”) with very little fuss, you’re in the right place.

Stracci vs. Cannelloni vs. Manicotti

As noted above, Stracci di Antrodoco is quite similar to cannelloni, the biggest difference being the use of crepes instead of pasta. Interestingly, we’ve heard from many Italian-Americans who are familiar with the American dish “manicotti” being cooked with crepes instead of pasta.

Although cannelloni is the clear ancestor of most manicotti recipes, we have a pet theory that many families who emigrated from central Italy were more inspired by stracci when making their own manicotti recipes, hence the presence of crepes in many New World versions.

Watch the Pasta Grammar video:

STRACCI DI ANTRODOCO RECIPE

Makes: 4 to 6 servings

Cook Time: 2 to 3 hours

For this recipe, you will need:

• 3 large eggs

• Salt

• 1 cup (240 ml) water

• 6 tablespoons (45 g) all-purpose flour

• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) extra-virgin olive oil, divided

• 1 garlic clove, peeled

• 14 ounces (400 g) canned whole peeled tomatoes

• 3 to 4 fresh basil leaves

• 10 ounces (300 g) ground beef

• A pinch of fresh black pepper

• A small pat of unsalted butter

• 4 ounces (115 g) chopped mozzarella cheese

• Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, to taste

Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl. Add the water and a generous pinch of salt, and whisk together. Gradually add the flour, one spoonful at a time, while continuing to whisk.

Once the flour is evenly mixed in, cover the bowl and let the batter rest in the fridge for 30 to 45 minutes. Meanwhile, you can prepare the tomato sauce and meat stuffing.

In a small saucepan, place 1 tbsp. (15 ml) of olive oil and the garlic clove. Reserve about 3 spoonfuls of the puree from the canned tomatoes for later, and add the rest into the saucepan, along with the basil and a big pinch of salt. Bring the tomatoes to a gentle simmer over medium/low heat.

Partially cover the saucepan and let the tomatoes simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, at which point they should soften and you can easily crush them with a fork. Salt the sauce again to taste, remove and discard the garlic clove, turn off the heat and set aside for later.

While the tomato sauce cooks, prepare the meat stuffing. Heat 1 tbsp. (15 ml) of olive oil in a medium pan over medium/high heat. Add the ground beef and break it up into a crumble with a wooden spoon. When the meat is completely browned, season it to taste with salt and pepper, and stir in the tomato puree you reserved from the can. Let the meat cook a few minutes longer for the excess moisture to thicken, then turn off the heat and set aside.

After the egg batter has rested, you can cook the crepes. Melt a very small pat of butter in a small non-stick pan (the flat bottom should be about 6 to 7 inches, or 15 to 18 cm, in diameter). Brush the butter in the pan to evenly coat the bottom.

Ladle just enough batter into the pan so that you can swirl it around and evenly coat the bottom in a thin layer. Check the bottom of the crepe with a spatula after a minute or two. Once the bottom begins to turn golden, flip the crepe and cook the other side until golden as well. Remove the crepe to a plate and continue until you have cooked all of the batter. You’ll want about 12 crepes total to fill a 9 x 13 inch (23 x 33 cm) baking dish, although having some extras is never a bad thing.

Preheat the oven to 400° F (205° C).

Spread a very thin layer of tomato sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish, or similar. Take one crepe and spread about 2 tbsp. of ground meat in a line along the center. Top the meat with a generous sprinkle of Parmigiano and a few pieces of mozzarella cheese. Roll the crepe up into a tight tube around the stuffing and place it into the bottom of the baking dish.

Repeat to stuff and arrange enough crepes to cover the bottom of the dish in a single, solid layer. The rolls can be arranged in any orientation you find convenient, as long as they fill the dish.

Spread the remaining tomato sauce evenly over the crepes to cover the dish from edge to edge, followed by a very generous grating of Parmigiano cheese over all.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the cheese on top has melted and is beginning to crisp. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Buon appetito!