Ricotta Crepe and Baked Figs

Sweet; Yottam Ottolenghi / Helen Goh

This recipe is designed for 12 crepes, but easy enough to halve. For 6 crepes use 1 whole egg and 1 egg white for the batter and then you can use the other egg yolk for the filling. The original recipe uses currants steeped in brandy - I used flame raisins which were just as tasty.

Batter
170g plain flour
½ tsp salt
3 large eggs
300ml full fat milk
25g melted unsalted butter (plus extra for cooking / brushing)
Finely grated zest of 1 orange (or lemon)
8 fresh figs, halved (or quartered if large)
20g pistachio nuts, shelled and roughly chopped

Filling
75g flame raisins (the big juicy ones)
150g cream cheese
300g ricotta
60g caster sugar
seeds from ¼ of a vanilla pod
1 tsp orange blossom water
Finely grated zest of 1 orange (or lemon)
2 large egg yolks
Large pinch of salt

Honey Syrup
60g honey
¼ tsp orange blossom water
1 tsp lemon juice

Make the crepe batter ahead of time, it needs at least a hour in the fridge (or can be left overnight) before using.

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Crack the eggs into the well and add the milk, whisking as you pour, when you have a smooth batter whisk in the melted butter. Make sure you don’t have any lumps - pass the mixture through a fine sieve to be sure. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least an hour.

To make the filling put the cream cheese into a bowl and beat until smooth, beat in the ricotta, sugar, vanilla seeds, orange blossom water, zest, egg yolks and salt until it is all combined, then gently stir in the raisins.

Place a saute pan (or crepe pan if you have one) on a medium heat, once hot, brush lightly but thoroughly with melted butter. To make 1 crepe use about 3 tablespoons or a scant ladel full. Put the batter into the pan and swirl round quickly to cover the surface. I find the best way to tell when to turn the crepe is to watch the top surface and when it stops looking wet and shiny (about 1 minute) then flip the crepe , flip with a spatula or your fingers. Cook the other side for about 30 seconds or until the crepe just starts to curl up at the edges.

Stack the crepes under a clean tea towel as you make them to keep them warm and pliable.

Have a ceramic or pyrex baking dish ready, to fill a crepe put about 2 tablespoons of the filling onto one quarter, fold the crepe in half and half again and place the filed crepe into the bowl, continue until you have filled them all, stack them slightly overlapping in the bowl as you go. You can keep them in the fridge for a while at this point or cook immediately.

Preheat the over to 200 Deg C / 180 Fan / Gas mark 6. Brush the filled crepes with melted butter and then scatter over the chopped figs. Bake for about 30 minutes.

Just before the crepes come out of the over then make the syrup. Warm the honey in a saucepan, remove from the heat and mix in the orange blossom water and lemon juice. Brush the crepes with the syrup as they come out of the oven.

Scatter over the pistachio nuts and serve immediately.