Cooking 101–Florentine Crepe Mound

I don’t know what ‘Florentine’ means and I changed Julia’s recipe around a bit, so I don’t really know if this would still be classified as Florentine, but I also don’t know what else to call it.

Anyway, as I wrote in yesterday’s post, making this was rather time-consuming, but it was well worth the trouble.  I cut the mound into fourths when it came out of the oven and Ben and I each ate a fourth, but it was rather heavy, so we were wishing I had cut it into smaller pieces and had served a side vegetable or salad to lighten the meal. Yesterday and today for lunch we cut the remaining fourths in half and each ate an eighth of the mound with, yesterday, a serving of green beans and, today, pork chops. By today we were acclimated to the heaviness of the mound, so eating a pork chop and applesauce along with the portion of mound felt satisfactory.

So, on to my recipe. Again, this is heavy because of all the butter and cheese, but it is certainly delicious.

You will need: rubber spatula, small sauce pan or small fry pan, 2 mixing bowls, a round baking dish or pie plate, knife, fork.

Make the crepes according to instructions I gave yesterday.

In the saucepan, melt

2 Tablespoons butter

add

2 & 1/2 Tablespoons rice flour

simmer the flour in the butter until thoroughly mixed, add

1 & 1/2 cups milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

dash of white pepper

dash of nutmeg

bring to a boil and  cook until thick, reduce the heat to a simmer and stir in

1/8 cup of heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup grated Swiss or sharp cheddar cheese

1/4 cup of parmesan cheese

set the sauce aside.

 

Chop and blanch or cook 1 & 1/2 cups spinach in the microwave, drain and set aside.

 

Soften one 8 ounce package of Neufchatel cream cheese in a mixing bowl, mash with a fork. Then sauté

1 cup chopped mushrooms

1/4 cup chopped onions

in 1 Tablespoon butter and a splash of canola oil

mix the mushrooms and onions into the cream cheese.

 

Pile the crepes into the pie plate with alternating layers of spinach and the cream cheese with mushrooms. Pour the cheese sauce over the entire mound, sprinkle with 1/4 cup more grated cheese and bake in a 350 degree oven for about a half hour until the mound is nicely browned on top.