Italian Spinach Crêpes Filled with Artichokes and Ricotta | Crespelle Verdi agli Spinaci Ripiene di Carciofi e Ricotta
A crespella is the thinnest thing an Italian kitchen makes, and everything about this dish is an argument about how little you can put on it. Blanched spinach goes into the batter, which turns the crespelle a green that is vegetal rather than decorative. Braised artichokes and drained sheep milk ricotta go inside. A light Parmigiano béchamel goes over the top, enough to protect the edges in the oven and no more, because a heavy sauce would bury both the colour and the artichoke.
The hard part is not the crespelle, which take ten minutes once the batter has rested. It is the artichokes. Turning a globe artichoke down to its usable heart looks wasteful the first few times, and braising it tender while it still holds its shape is a matter of minutes. Get those two things right and the rest is assembly.
Yield: 4 servings, 8 filled crespelle. Prep: 50 minutes. Cook: 45 minutes. Total: about 1 hour 35 minutes. Difficulty: intermediate. Course: primo piatto. Region: Tuscany and central Italy.
The Story
The crespella is older in Italy than the popular story about Catherine de Medici carrying French cooking to Florence, a tale historians have been quietly dismantling for decades. The word comes from the Latin crispus, meaning curled, and thin pan cooked batters appear across the peninsula under a dozen local names. In Abruzzo they are scrippelle, cut into ribbons and dropped into hot broth at Teramo. In Tuscany and Emilia they are rolled around a filling, covered in béchamel and baked, and that is the line this recipe belongs to.
Crespelle alla fiorentina, filled with spinach and ricotta and gratinated, is the archetype and it is on every trattoria menu between Florence and Arezzo. This version moves the spinach from the filling into the batter, which is the same trick that produces the lasagne verdi of Bologna, where spinach is worked into the egg pasta rather than layered inside it. The green is not cosmetic. Spinach in the batter brings a faint mineral bitterness that stands up to the ricotta and keeps the dish from reading as simply creamy.
The artichoke belongs to central Italy as completely as the crespella does. The Romanesco of Lazio and the violetto of Tuscany reach the market from late winter into spring, and both cuisines treat the heart as a vegetable in its own right rather than a garnish. Pairing it with sheep milk ricotta is an old central Italian instinct: the ricotta sweet and slightly gamey, the artichoke faintly bitter, and lemon between them holding the two apart.
Ingredients
For the spinach crespelle
Fresh spinach leaves, 5 oz (150 g)
All purpose flour, 1 cup (125 g)
Whole milk, 1 1/4 cups (300 ml)
Large eggs, 2
Unsalted butter, melted, 2 tbsp (30 g)
Fine sea salt, 1/2 tsp (3 g)
Unsalted butter for the pan, about 1 tbsp (15 g)
For the artichoke and ricotta filling
Globe artichokes, medium, 4
Lemon, 1, halved, for the acidulated water
Extra virgin olive oil, 3 tbsp (45 ml)
Garlic clove, lightly crushed, 1
Dry white wine, 1/4 cup (60 ml)
Water, 1/4 cup (60 ml)
Sheep milk ricotta, well drained, 10 oz (280 g)
Parmigiano Reggiano, grated, 1/2 cup (50 g)
Finely grated lemon zest, from 1 lemon
Flat leaf parsley, chopped, 2 tbsp (8 g)
Fine sea salt, 1/2 tsp (3 g)
Freshly grated nutmeg, 1 small pinch
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the Parmigiano béchamel
Whole milk, 2 cups (480 ml)
Unsalted butter, 3 tbsp (45 g)
All purpose flour, 3 tbsp (24 g)
Parmigiano Reggiano, grated, 1/3 cup (35 g)
Fine sea salt, 1/2 tsp (3 g)
Freshly grated nutmeg, 1 small pinch
For finishing
Parmigiano Reggiano, grated, 1/4 cup (25 g)
Unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, 1 tbsp (15 g)
Extra virgin olive oil, for the baking dish
Preparation
Step 1: Blanching the spinach and building the green batter
Drop the spinach into boiling salted water for 30 seconds only, cool it under cold running water, then squeeze it dry with real force. Any water left in the leaves goes straight into the batter and thins it. Blend the squeezed spinach with the milk until completely smooth and a strong green, then whisk in the eggs, the melted butter and the salt. Sift the flour over the top and whisk only until no lumps remain.
Step 2: Resting the batter
Cover the batter and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes, and an hour is better. Resting hydrates the flour fully and relaxes the gluten worked up by whisking, which is what makes a crespella tender and flexible rather than rubbery. The batter should have the consistency of single cream. If it has thickened, loosen it with a tablespoon of milk at a time.
Step 3: Cooking the crespelle
Heat a nonstick pan of 8 inches (20 cm) over medium heat and wipe it with butter on kitchen paper. Pour in a small ladle of batter and swirl immediately to coat the base thinly. Cook about 45 seconds, until the edges lift and the surface looks dry, then turn and give it 20 seconds more. They should be barely coloured, because browning kills the green. Stack them as they come off, where they steam gently and stay pliable.
Step 4: Turning the artichokes
Have a bowl of water with the juice of the lemon ready before you start. Snap off the outer leaves until only the pale tender ones remain, cut across the top to remove the tough tips, and pare the stem and base with a small knife. Halve each heart and scoop out the hairy choke with a teaspoon. Drop every piece into the lemon water as you finish it, because cut artichoke oxidises within a minute and turns grey and bitter. Slice them only when you are ready to cook.
Step 5: Braising the artichokes
Warm the olive oil with the crushed garlic in a sauté pan over medium heat until fragrant, then remove the garlic. Add the drained artichoke slices, season with salt and turn them for 2 minutes. Pour in the white wine, let it evaporate, then add the water, cover and braise over low heat for 12 to 15 minutes, until a knife passes through with no resistance. Take off the lid and let any remaining liquid cook away. The filling must be moist, never wet.
Step 6: Making the filling
Drain the ricotta in a sieve for at least an hour beforehand and discard the whey. Chop about two thirds of the braised artichokes coarsely and leave the rest in slices for texture. Fold everything into the ricotta with the Parmigiano, lemon zest, parsley, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Taste and correct the salt now, because once it is rolled inside a crespella nothing can be adjusted.
Step 7: Making the Parmigiano béchamel
Melt the butter in a small heavy saucepan, add the flour and cook the roux over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring, until it smells nutty rather than raw. Pour in the warm milk in three additions, whisking hard after each until smooth before adding the next. Simmer gently for 5 minutes, stirring, then take it off the heat and stir in the Parmigiano, the salt and the nutmeg. This béchamel should pour easily from a ladle. A thick one will smother the crespelle.
Step 8: Filling, rolling and baking
Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and oil a baking dish lightly. Spread a thin layer of béchamel across the base. Put 2 generous tablespoons of filling along one edge of each crespella, roll it into a cylinder and lay them seam side down in a single layer, just touching. Spoon the remaining béchamel over the middle, leaving the ends of the rolls exposed so they crisp. Scatter the Parmigiano and dot with butter. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the surface is blistered and gold at the edges.
Plating
Let the dish stand 5 minutes out of the oven. Straight from the heat the béchamel is still fluid and the rolls slide apart when lifted, and five minutes is enough for it to set just far enough to hold on a fork. Warm the plates, because a baked dish with this much dairy stiffens quickly on cold porcelain.
Serve two crespelle per person, lifted with a fish slice so they arrive intact and laid side by side rather than stacked, gratinated tops facing up. Spoon a little béchamel from the dish alongside them, not over them, so the browned surface stays visible and the green shows at the ends. A grating of Parmigiano, a turn of black pepper and a few small parsley leaves. Nothing else belongs on the plate.
Professional Technique
The defining technique here is getting spinach into a batter without wrecking it. Spinach is roughly 90 percent water, and every drop that survives the squeeze dilutes the batter and forces you to add flour, which is how green crespelle end up thick and heavy. Blanching for 30 seconds fixes the chlorophyll, the cold shock stops the green turning olive, and hard squeezing removes the water. Blending the leaves into the milk distributes the colour evenly and leaves no fibres to tear the crespella as you roll it.
The second is controlling the artichoke. Cut surfaces oxidise fast because of polyphenol oxidase in the flesh, which is why the lemon water is the only thing keeping the hearts pale. Braising covered with wine and a little water cooks them through without drying the edges, and the acidity of the wine slows the browning further. The last uncovered minutes matter as much as the braise, because a filling carrying free liquid steams the crespelle from inside and turns them to paste in the oven.
The third is a béchamel made deliberately loose. Here the sauce has only two jobs: keeping the exposed surfaces from drying in a hot oven, and carrying the Parmigiano. Cooking the roux for two full minutes removes the raw flour taste, and adding warm milk in three stages with hard whisking between them prevents lumps without a sieve. The Parmigiano goes in off the heat, because cheese boiled into a sauce turns stringy and releases its fat.
Texture and Moisture Control
This dish fails in one direction far more often than the other, and that direction is wet. Three components carry water: the spinach in the batter, the artichokes after braising and the ricotta. Each has to be dried before use. Skip any of the three and the crespelle collapse into a soft grey layer instead of staying distinct.
The crespelle themselves need to stay flexible until the moment they are filled. Stacking them warm as they come out of the pan traps a little steam between the layers and keeps them supple. Letting them cool spread out on a board does the opposite: the edges dry, and a dry crespella cracks along the fold when you roll it. Made well in advance, they stack with baking paper between each one, covered.
Professional Mise en Place
Almost everything here can be done ahead. Only the baking is last minute.
Equipment and tools
Nonstick pan of 8 inches (20 cm) with low sloping sides
Blender or immersion blender for the spinach and milk
Small heavy saucepan and a balloon whisk for the béchamel
Sauté pan with a lid for braising the artichokes
Fine sieve for draining the ricotta, small paring knife for the artichokes
Baking dish holding 8 rolls in a single layer, about 12 by 9 inches (30 by 23 cm)
Prepared ahead
Ricotta draining in a sieve, up to 12 hours ahead, refrigerated
Batter mixed and resting, up to 24 hours ahead
Crespelle cooked and stacked with paper between them, up to 2 days ahead
Artichokes braised and cooled, up to 2 days ahead
Béchamel made up to 1 day ahead, surface covered directly with film
Service setup
Oven up to full temperature at least 20 minutes before the dish goes in
Filling mixed and tasted for salt while the oven heats
Crespelle rolled and laid in the dish, ready to sauce
Béchamel loosened over low heat with a splash of milk if it has set
Plates warming, fish slice ready for lifting the rolls out intact
Chef Tips
Use sheep milk ricotta if you can find it. It is firmer, less watery and far more flavoured than the cow milk version sold in tubs, and it holds the artichoke instead of dissolving around it. Whatever you buy, drain it, since industrial ricotta sheds several tablespoons of whey in an hour.
Judge the first crespella and then adjust. The first one out of any pan is a test, and it tells you whether the batter is too thick, the heat too high and the pan short of butter. Eat it standing up and correct the batter before you commit the rest.
If fresh artichokes are out of season, good artichoke hearts preserved in oil are a defensible substitute, though the dish loses some green bitterness. Drain them, pat them dry and skip the braise, warming them for a minute in the oil and garlic instead.
Grate the Parmigiano yourself, from a wedge. Pre grated cheese carries anticaking starch that makes a béchamel grainy and stops it melting cleanly, and on a dish with this few ingredients the difference is not subtle.
Common Mistakes
Not squeezing the spinach. Wet leaves thin the batter, which then needs extra flour, which produces thick heavy crespelle. Squeeze until no more water comes out, then squeeze again.
Browning the crespelle. Colour in the pan turns the green a dull olive and hardens the edges so they crack when rolled. Cook them over medium heat until just set and barely coloured, about 45 seconds a side.
Skipping the lemon water for the artichokes. Cut artichoke oxidises within a minute and goes grey and bitter, and no amount of cooking will bring the colour back. Have the acidulated water ready before the first cut.
Leaving liquid in the artichoke pan. A wet filling steams the crespelle from inside and the rolls turn to paste in the oven. Finish the braise uncovered until the pan is dry.
Making the béchamel too thick. A heavy sauce buries both the green of the crespelle and the flavour of the artichoke, and defeats the point of a light gratin. It should pour easily from the ladle.
Adding the Parmigiano to a boiling béchamel. Cheese cooked into a hot sauce turns stringy and releases its fat as an oily film. Take the pan off the heat first, then stir it in.
Wine Pairing
Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG: The classic Tuscan answer to an artichoke, and the one that solves the real problem. Artichokes contain cynarin, which makes most wines taste oddly sweet afterwards, but Vernaccia finishes on a distinctly bitter almond note that meets that effect head on. Its firm structure and saline edge also carry the Parmigiano without turning flabby.
Offida Pecorino DOCG: A Marche white with high acidity, real body and a herbal, faintly aniseed aroma that runs alongside the spinach rather than fighting it. The acidity cuts the béchamel cleanly, and there is enough weight in the glass to stand beside sheep milk ricotta, which is richer than the cow milk version it usually replaces.
Collio Friulano DOC: Friulano brings a savoury, almost bitter almond finish of its own and a green herb character that flatters both the artichoke and the lemon zest in the filling. It is textured rather than sharp, which suits a baked dish, and its restraint keeps it from competing with the delicacy of the crespelle.
Lugana DOC: Turbiana grown on the clay of southern Lake Garda gives a rounder white with citrus, white flowers and a gentle mineral length. Its softer profile handles the butter and the béchamel comfortably, and the touch of ripeness is useful against the vegetal bitterness of spinach and artichoke together.
Alto Adige DOC Pinot Nero: For a red, a mountain Pinot Nero served cool at about 57°F (14°C) is the safe choice, because its tannin is very light and tannin is what clashes with artichoke. Its red berry fruit and earthy undertone pick up the nutmeg and the browned Parmigiano crust without overwhelming the filling.
Storage & Reheating
Baked crespelle keep better than most filled pasta. Cover the dish tightly once it is completely cool and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Reheat covered with foil at 325°F (165°C) for 15 to 20 minutes, then uncover for the last 5 minutes to bring the top back. The foil is what stops the exposed ends going leathery while the centre comes up to temperature. Avoid the microwave, which makes the béchamel weep and the crespelle rubbery.
The dish freezes well unbaked. Assemble it completely in a freezer safe dish, sauce and all, wrap it in two layers and freeze for up to 2 months. Bake it from frozen, covered, at 375°F (190°C) for about 45 minutes, then uncovered at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes to gratin. Do not thaw it first, because the béchamel separates as it defrosts and never quite comes back.
Nutrition
Per serving, based on 4 portions of 2 crespelle each:
Calories: 590 kcal
Total Fat: 34 g
Saturated Fat: 18 g
Trans Fat: 0.5 g
Unsaturated Fat: 14 g
Cholesterol: 170 mg
Sodium: 780 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 44 g
Fiber: 7 g
Total Sugars: 11 g
Added Sugars: 0 g
Protein: 27 g
Lactose: 7 g
Principal micronutrients: calcium, vitamin A, vitamin K from the spinach, folate from the artichokes, iron, phosphorus, magnesium
These figures are estimates. The fat and lactose totals move noticeably with the type of ricotta used.
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