Arugula Crepes with Sun-dried Tomatoes & Ricotta filling

This is a very easy to follow meatless dish I made with homemade fresh arugula crepes and a hearty filling of sundried tomatoes and ricotta. Perfect for a healthy dinner (and save some for the lunchbag!)

For dinner, I only had on hand a bunch of arugula, some ricotta and marinara sauce. I though what if I make arugula crepes, just pureeing the raw leaves? My 4 y.o. picky daughter doesn´t eat much vegetables, but guess what? She loved this dish so much that I have to save some for her school lunchbag! Here is my recipe: 

Arugula Crepes with Sun-dried Tomatoes & Ricotta filling
Recipe developed by Romina Barritta de Defranchi

Serves 3                     Total Time: 50 min. Prep: 35 min. Cooking: 15 min.

Ingredients
Crepes
1 bunch of arugula (7 oz), stems removed
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
¾ cup low-fat milk
1 egg
½ cup flour
¼ teaspoon salt
Cooking spray

Sun-dried tomatoes & ricotta filling:
¼ cup finely chopped sundried tomatoes* 
1 ½  cups ricotta cheese
1 egg
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg

Topping:
1 ½  cups marinara sauce
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
​Fresh basil for garnish (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 F. In a mixing jar, puree arugula leaves and olive oil with a hand held blender**. Put arugula puree in a large bowl, and add milk, egg, flour and salt. Mix with a whisk until obtaining a smooth batter.
Heat an 8-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and spray with cooking oil. Scoop ¼ cup of batter and pour into the pan, swirling the pan until the batter coats the bottom. Cook the crepe until patchy light brown on the bottom, about 20-30 seconds. Loosen the edges of the crepe, flip it to the other side and cook until lightly browned, about 15 seconds. Repeat until the rest of the batter is used, adding cooking spray to the pan between crepes as needed.
To make the filling, combine in a medium bowl, sun-dried tomatoes, ricotta, egg, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg. To assemble, scoop about 2 tablespoons of filling on each crepe and roll up. Pour half marinara sauce in a large baking dish and transfer filled crepes over the sauce (do not overlap; crepes are baked on a single layer). Ladle the rest of the sauce over the top and sprinkle with cheese. Bake for about 15 minutes or until bubbling. Let rest a few minutes and serve with extra sauce if desired. Garnish with fresh basil.
 
Cooking notes
* Oil packed sun-dried or rehydrated sundried tomatoes can be used.
**A food processor can be used to puree arugula and mix in batter ingredients all together. If you do not have a food processor or blender, finely chopped arugula works fine too.

Nutrition Information
Per Serving (2 crepes): Calories 472, Fat 25 g (10.9 g saturated), Cholesterol 183 mg, Sodium 1151mg , Carbohydrates 35g, Fiber 4g, Protein 25 g 

Ingredients needed

Puree fresh arugula leaves with olive oil

Mix arugula puree, egg, flour, milk, salt to make the batter

Cook the crepes

Mix sun-dried tomatoes, ricota, parmesan, S&P, nutmeg to make filling

Fill the crepes

Arrange crepes on baking dish. Bake for about 15 min

Serve garnished with basil