Buckwheat Crêpes filled with Spinach, Almond Feta and Walnuts with a Tomato Cream Sauce - Soy and Gluten Free!

So we had the Sweet Cinnamon Berry Buns for our anniversary breakfast, and this was the dinner. I cannot convey to you how good this was! It's a bit involved to make but so, so worth it. I will most definitly be making this one again, and not just for special occasions. I will also be making that sauce over and over again, especially for pasta as it's sublimely good!

The crêpes were an experiment and took a few go's. I've never worked with buckwheat before, the only thing I've had close to it is in soba noodles. Initially I attempted a batter with coconut milk and a bit of chick pea flour added, like my wild rice and coconut crêpes but they didn't turn out well. They tore way too easily while trying to turn AND stuck to the pan. I had a search online and saw quite a few vegan buckwheat crêpe recipes with quite a few ingredients but then saw that you can buy pre-made buckwheat crêpes in France made with just 3 ingredients - buckwheat flour, salt and water. I then thought, well, if a French factory can do it, then so can I and set to work. My god, they turned out perfect! Tasted great but also didn't stick to the pan, flipped easily and were altogether easy to work with. I cannot tell you how happy this made me. Three ingredients. I love it!

This made me realize they were both gluten and soy free, yay! I was wondering what to stuff them with and felt my spanakopita filling would be nice here (also gluten and soy free) with some added walnuts for taste and texture. I then thought I might as well go all the way and make a gluten and soy free sauce, I wanted to do a creamy tomato sauce and would normally use soy cream but opted for full fat coconut milk here and it turned out amazing!! That sauce is unbelievable good, I will be using it in loads of recipes for sure :-) 

Buckwheat Crêpes filled with Spinach, Almond Feta and Walnuts with a Tomato Cream Sauce serves 2

Crêpes:
100g pure buckwheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
300ml water

Filling:
200g baby spinach
1 onion, chopped fine
100g almond feta
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
freshly grated nutmeg
about 40g walnuts, toasted

Tomato Cream Sauce: this makes more than you need, trust me, that's good, it'll get used ;-)

1 Tbsp vegan margarine *if wanting gluten and soy free please check ingredients of yours*
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large shallot, diced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
100ml white wine
250g passata
125ml full fat coconut milk, from a can
1/4 tsp salt
about 5 grinds black pepper
1 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

First I made the filling early on in the day to make things easier. Pull off any large stems from the spinach place it all in the sink. Wash well then pour salt all over the leaves, don't worry as it gets washed off. Now rub the salt into the leaves tearing as you go into small pieces. The bulk of spinach should reduce down dramatically in size, rinse well and squeeze out as much liquid as you can. It should be fairly fine now but I like to give it another chop here to make sure it's as fine as possible. My spanakopita post has a lot of photos showing the steps for all of this.

In a small saucepan heat the olive oil and add the onion and some freshly ground black pepper. Fry until very soft and a little golden. Let cool slightly. Add this to the spinach, crumble in the feta, add a pinch of salt and a small grating of nutmeg and stir until the mixture is all creamy. If making this earlier in the day you can now cover with cling film and pop it in the fridge.

Next make your sauce - *Edit - I have step by step photos for this sauce here* Heat the margarine and olive oil in a medium saucepan until the marg melts. Add the shallots and garlic and fry for a few minutes over low heat until the shallots are soft. Add the wine and let simmer until it has reduced about a third. Now add passata, salt and pepper, stir well, bring back to a simmer, cover and let simmer for about 15 - 20 minutes stirring occasionally. At this point it should have reduced quite a bit and look almost thick. Pour in the coconut milk and stir well. Turn off the heat and let cool slightly then tip it all into a blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Pour it back into the pan and wait to heat again while you make the crêpes.

Now, the crêpes. Simply add the buckwheat flour and salt to a large bowl then pour in the water. Give it a really good whisk and let sit a few minutes then whisk again. It should be the consistency of a crêpe batter now, perhaps a tad thicker. Heat a small non stick frying pan, I only greased with a quick spray of cooking oil and using about 1/3 cup of the batter pour into the hot pan turning it as you do to make sure the batter covers the whole frying pan surface. Cook for a few minutes then flip. I found it easiest to flip these by loosening them all around and picking them up by the side and just turning them over by hand. Once they are flipped they will not stick and you can even "fancy flip" with the pan ;-) After cooking one place it on a plate and cover with a sheet of baking paper. Continue until all are cooked, you should get about 5 here, depending on size of pan.

Now, lay a crêpe out and place a strip of the spinach/almond feta mixture, about a couple tablespoons down the middle, top with a sprinkling of toasted, chopped walnuts and roll up. Place in a greased baking dish and repeat with the remaining crêpes. You may have some filling left over. Cover the dish with foil and pop in a 200C oven for 15 minutes.

While they are in the oven, add the parsley to the sauce, bring back up to a simmer and check seasoning. It should be thick enough to spoon over like in the photo here. If not, keep simmering until it cooks down a bit. When they crêpes are done, place 2 on a plate and spoon the sauce over. Serve immediately, this dish is lovely with a glass of white wine that you used in the sauce :-)

♥

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