January 2024
Crespelle (Florentine spinach and ricotta pancakes)
Restaurateur, writer and broadcaster Russell Norman, who opened popular London trattoria Brutto in 2021, gives a recipe for Florentine savoury pancakes from his book Brutto: A (Simple) Florentine Cookbook, which celebrates rustic Italian cuisine
Jenny Zarins
More often than not, you will see these savoury pancakes on the primi section of a trattoria menu, next to the pasta, soup and risotto. But I like to enjoy them as a snack – they are not quite finger food, but you can easily polish one off with a fork in no time at all. Incidentally, you may think of béchamel sauce as being French in origin. Not so. Florence claims it was theirs first, known as salsa colla (glue sauce) and was then imported to France by Catherine de’ Medici. I have heard crespelle referred to as ‘granny’s handkerchiefs’, probably because of the way they are folded rather than rolled.
This recipe is an extract from Brutto: A (Simple) Florentine Cookbook (Ebury Press, £32).
