Italian Baked Crepes with Ricotta and Spinach | Crespelle Gratinate con Ricotta e Spinaci
Updated: Oct 24
Crespelle gratinate con ricotta e spinaci is the Florentine classic that gave the whole family of baked crepes its reputation. Thin egg crepes are filled with ricotta and cooked spinach, folded, laid in a buttered dish under a light bechamel and gratinated until the exposed folds take colour. In Tuscany that pairing is so entrenched that the words alla fiorentina on almost any menu mean spinach is involved, whether the dish is eggs, crepes or baked fish.
It is also the version with the least anywhere to hide. No mushrooms, no ham, no strong cheese to cover a mistake: four real ingredients and a grating of nutmeg, and the whole outcome resting on one physical operation, which is how completely you squeeze the water out of the cooked spinach. A pound and a half of raw leaves cooks down to a handful, and that handful is still mostly water. Squeezed weakly it weeps in the oven. Squeezed properly it turns soft, sliceable and clearly green in flavour rather than dilute.
Yield: serves 4, with 10 to 12 crespelle in the dish. Prep: 45 minutes. Cook: 45 minutes. Rest: 10 minutes. Total: about 1 hour 40 minutes. Difficulty: intermediate. Course: primo piatto. Region: Tuscany and Emilia Romagna.
The Story
The Tuscan attachment to spinach has a legend attached to it. The story runs that Caterina de Medici, leaving Florence in 1533 to marry the future Henry II of France, took her cooks and her spinach with her, and that anything the French later labelled a la florentine descended from that journey. Food historians treat the Caterina narrative with considerable scepticism, and rightly, but the underlying fact holds: spinach was established in Tuscan kitchens long before it was common elsewhere in Europe, having reached Italy through Sicily from the Persian world by way of Arab agriculture.
What is documented is the ricotta half. Ricotta is not a cheese but a by product of cheesemaking, recooked from the whey left after pecorino has drained, which is why the name means cooked twice. In the Tuscan and Umbrian hills that made it the cheapest dairy in the house, and it went into fillings for tortelli, cannelloni and crespelle at every level of society. Combined with a green that grew through the cool half of the year, it gave a filling that cost almost nothing and still counted as festive.
Ingredients
For the crespelle
All purpose flour, 1 cup (125 g)
Large eggs, 2
Whole milk, 1 1/4 cups (300 ml)
Unsalted butter, melted, 2 tbsp (28 g)
Fine sea salt, 1/4 tsp (1.5 g)
Unsalted butter for the pan, about 1 tbsp (14 g)
For the ricotta and spinach filling
Fresh spinach, thick stems removed, 1 1/2 lb (680 g)
Extra virgin olive oil, 1 tbsp (15 ml)
Garlic clove, lightly crushed, 1
Whole milk ricotta, well drained, 15 oz (425 g)
Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated, 3/4 cup (75 g)
Large egg, 1
Freshly grated nutmeg, 1/4 tsp (0.5 g)
Fine sea salt, about 3/4 tsp (4.5 g)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the bechamel
Unsalted butter, 3 tbsp (42 g)
All purpose flour, 3 tbsp (24 g)
Whole milk, 2 1/2 cups (600 ml)
Fine sea salt, about 1/2 tsp (3 g)
Freshly grated nutmeg, 1 small pinch
For finishing
Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated, 3/4 cup (75 g)
Unsalted butter, cut in small pieces, 1 tbsp (14 g)
Preparation
Making and resting the crespelle batter
Whisk the eggs with the salt until loose and uniform. Add about one third of the milk, then whisk in the flour gradually, working it smooth while the mixture is still thick, which is the only easy moment to remove lumps. Add the rest of the milk and the melted butter. Cover and rest 20 to 30 minutes so the flour hydrates and the gluten slackens. Skipping the rest gives crepes that contract as they cook and split along the fold.
Cooking the crespelle pale and supple
Set an 8 inch (20 cm) nonstick skillet over medium heat and wipe it with the thinnest possible film of butter. Add about 1/4 cup (60 ml) of batter at the centre and turn the pan immediately so it spreads thin. Give it 45 to 60 seconds on the first side, until the top is matte and the edge lifts, then 15 to 20 seconds on the second. Stack them flat. Aim for 10 to 12 crepes that are blond rather than golden, because the oven takes them the rest of the way.
Wilting the spinach in its own water
Wash the spinach in two changes of cold water and pull off the thick stems, which stay stringy however long they cook. Put the wet leaves in a large pan with nothing beyond the water clinging to them, cover, and set over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, turning once with tongs. Stop the moment everything has collapsed and gone dark. Overcooked spinach turns dull khaki and develops a metallic edge that mild ricotta cannot mask. Tip it into a colander and spread it so it stops cooking.
Squeezing the spinach until it is genuinely dry
This is the step that decides the dish. When it is cool enough to handle, take the spinach in handfuls and squeeze hard, squeeze again, then wrap the whole lot in a clean kitchen towel and twist the ends in opposite directions until nothing more comes out. A pound and a half (680 g) of raw leaves should reduce to a dense ball of about 7 oz (200 g). If it weighs noticeably more, it is still holding water. Then chop it finely with a knife rather than a processor, which would turn it to puree.
Drying the spinach further in the pan
Warm the olive oil with the crushed garlic over medium heat for 30 seconds, add the chopped spinach and turn it through the fat for 2 to 3 minutes. Squeezing removes free water, but the leaf still holds moisture inside its cells, and this short pass in a hot dry pan drives the rest off as steam. You will see it stop glistening and begin to move as a single mass. Remove the garlic, spread the spinach on a cold plate and cool it completely before it goes near the cheese.
Draining the ricotta and mixing the filling
Set the ricotta in a fine mesh strainer for at least 30 minutes, longer if it is a wet tub, and discard the whey. Work it with a spatula for no more than thirty seconds, since beating it breaks the curd and turns it pasty. Fold in the cold spinach, the Parmigiano Reggiano, the egg, the nutmeg, salt and pepper, tasting before you finish salting because the cheese brings a good deal. Chill 15 to 20 minutes.
Cooking a bechamel that stays fluid
Melt the butter over medium low heat, add the flour and whisk for about 90 seconds, keeping the roux pale. Add the milk gradually while whisking, bring to a bare simmer and cook 5 to 7 minutes until it barely coats a spoon. Season with salt and a single small grating of nutmeg, echoing the filling rather than doubling it. Keep it deliberately loose, because the ricotta already supplies most of the creaminess and a thick sauce makes the whole dish heavy.
Filling, folding and gratinating
Lay a crespella flat, spoon about 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of filling over one half and spread it, leaving 1/2 inch (1.5 cm) clear at the rim, then fold in half and in half again into a triangle. Do not overfill: a correctly filled one lies almost flat and releases nothing. Butter a shallow dish, film the base with bechamel and set the oven to 375°F (190°C). Lay the triangles overlapping like tiles, ribbon the rest of the sauce over them leaving a good third bare, scatter the Parmigiano and dot with butter. Give them 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges bubble, then finish at 425°F (220°C) or under the broiler for 2 to 3 minutes and rest 8 to 10 minutes before cutting.
Plating
Use warm plates at about 130°F (55°C). This filling carries very little fat beyond the ricotta and the cheese, so it loses heat faster than a meat or mushroom filling and a cold plate takes the edge off it within a minute. Plates that are too hot are equally wrong, because they keep the bechamel running and the triangles will not stay where you put them.
Slide a wide offset spatula right under each triangle and lift two or three onto each plate, keeping the gratinated crust attached. Overlap them with the folded points aligned and the darkest surfaces uppermost. The contrast is pale gold crust against the green at the cut edge, so turn a cut portion to face the diner and leave the rest of the plate bare.
Professional Technique
The defining technique here is mechanical dewatering of a leaf vegetable, done in two stages that work on different kinds of water. Squeezing in a towel removes the free water held between and on the leaves, and done properly it takes 1 1/2 lb (680 g) of raw spinach down to about 7 oz (200 g). What squeezing cannot reach is the water bound inside the cell structure, which is why two or three minutes in a hot dry pan matters as much as the twisting. Weigh the squeezed ball if you are unsure: the scale is a more honest judge than your hands.
The second technique is respecting the curd of the ricotta. It is not an emulsion like cream cheese but a loose network of fine protein particles recooked out of whey, and that network gives a baked filling its light, almost mousse like body. A spatula smooths it. A whisk or a machine shears the particles, releases the water they held and produces a filling that is wetter and pastier at once. Thirty seconds by hand is the entire operation.
Texture and Moisture Control
Run the plate test before you fill anything: one tablespoon of finished filling on a cold plate, left five minutes. A wet halo around it means the spinach was not dry enough and the crespelle will leak in the oven. Spinach hides its water, because the leaf looks dry outside while still holding liquid in its tissue. If the test fails, work the mixture in a wide pan over low heat for three or four minutes, cool it and test again.
The ricotta side of the balance is about structure as much as water. Well drained, it has the body to suspend the chopped spinach evenly, so every forkful carries both. Loose, it lets the spinach sink while the crespelle wait in the dish, which is why a filling that seemed fine on assembly bakes into green at the bottom and plain cheese above.
Professional Mise en Place
Every component is better made in advance and cold when assembled, which makes this a forgiving primo for a dinner party. Only the gratinating and the rest happen at service.
Equipment and tools
8 inch (20 cm) nonstick skillet reserved for crepes
Large lidded pan for wilting the spinach, and a colander
Clean kitchen towel kept specifically for squeezing greens
Kitchen scale, fine mesh strainer and a bowl for the ricotta
Shallow baking dish, wide offset spatula, small whisk for the bechamel
Prepared ahead
Ricotta draining in the strainer, overnight in the refrigerator
Crespelle cooked 1 day ahead, cooled flat, stacked and wrapped
Spinach wilted, squeezed, chopped and dried in the pan 1 day ahead
Bechamel made up to 2 days ahead with its surface covered directly
Filling mixed and chilled up to 6 hours before service, plate tested once
Service setup
Crespelle filled and folded in the dish, held refrigerated up to 24 hours
Bechamel warmed and loosened with milk until it barely coats a spoon
Parmigiano grated, butter cut in pieces, nutmeg and grater to hand
Oven at 375°F (190°C) with a high rack ready for gratinating
Plates warming gently, rest timer set for 8 minutes after the dish comes out
Chef Tips
Weigh the spinach after squeezing. Every cook believes they have squeezed enough and most have not, and the scale settles the argument in five seconds: 1 1/2 lb (680 g) raw should come down to roughly 7 oz (200 g). If you are at 9 or 10 oz, wrap it in the towel and twist again. This one habit separates a filling that holds from one that weeps.
Frozen spinach is a legitimate shortcut here, unlike in a dish where leaf texture matters. Use 1 lb (450 g) of frozen leaf spinach, not the chopped kind, thaw it completely and squeeze it exactly as hard as you would the fresh. It holds even more water, so expect to be surprised by how much comes out.
Taste the ricotta on its own before you season anything. Sheep milk ricotta is noticeably saltier and more savoury than cow, tubs vary widely between producers, and the Parmigiano adds a further significant amount. Season last, after the cheese is in, and go lightly, because salt cannot be taken back out of a mixture already bound with egg.
Common Mistakes
Leaving water in the spinach. The most common failure in this recipe and the cause of nearly every leaking filling. Squeeze by hand, twist in a towel, dry the chopped spinach in a hot pan for two to three minutes, and check the weight before you accept it.
Boiling the spinach in a pot of water. It waterlogs the leaves, leaches flavour and colour into the water and leaves far more moisture to remove afterwards. Wilt it covered in the pan using only the water clinging to the washed leaves.
Using wet ricotta straight from the tub. The whey still in it separates out during baking, and it also leaves the filling too loose to hold the spinach in suspension. Thirty minutes in a fine mesh strainer at minimum, overnight if you can plan it.
Overdoing the nutmeg. A heavy hand turns a delicate dairy filling into something that tastes of spice cake, and the flavour builds across a portion rather than announcing itself at once. A quarter teaspoon freshly grated across the whole batch is the limit.
Cutting into the dish straight out of the oven. The egg has not finished setting and the filling runs across the plate. Eight to ten minutes of rest gives portions that lift out whole.
Wine Pairing
Soave Superiore DOCG: Garganega from the volcanic hills above Verona is the natural partner for a delicate dairy filling. It offers gentle white peach and almond with a saline mineral finish, and just enough weight to meet the bechamel without adding richness of its own. Crucially it is low in aromatic intensity, so it does not fight the nutmeg. Serve at 50°F (10°C).
Verdicchio di Matelica DOC: The inland Marche style is tighter and more structured than the coastal one, with a firm citrus acidity that slices through the Parmigiano crust and the butter. Its bitter almond finish gives the palate somewhere to land after a mouthful of cheese, and spinach carries a faint mineral bitterness of its own that this wine meets as a match rather than a clash.
Lugana DOC: Turbiana grown on the clay soils south of Lake Garda gives a white with unusual body and a soft, almost creamy mouthfeel that mirrors the texture of the filling instead of contrasting with it. The acidity is moderate, so choose this one when the dish is the centre of a light meal rather than a first course before something substantial.
Franciacorta DOCG: The metodo classico sparkler from Lombardy works here for mechanical reasons as much as aromatic ones: the bubbles and the high acidity scrub the coating of butter and cheese off the palate between mouthfuls, which a still wine cannot do as efficiently. Choose a Brut with real bread and hazelnut character from its lees ageing.
Storage & Reheating
The best way to hold this dish is assembled and unbaked, refrigerated under a cover for up to 24 hours and put into the oven straight from cold with roughly 8 minutes added. Beyond that the crepes break down where they touch the bechamel, and a spinach filling accelerates it because the leaf keeps giving up traces of moisture even after all your drying.
Leftovers that have been baked keep 3 days refrigerated in a sealed box. Add a tablespoon of milk to the dish, cover with foil, reheat 12 minutes at 325°F (165°C) and finish uncovered for 5 to 8. Skip the microwave: it heats the filling unevenly and flattens the gratin.
Nutrition
Per serving, based on 4 servings of about 3 crespelle each:
Calories: 610 kcal
Total Fat: 37 g
Saturated Fat: 21 g
Trans Fat: 0.8 g
Unsaturated Fat: 14 g
Cholesterol: 195 mg
Sodium: 850 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 42 g
Fiber: 4 g
Total Sugars: 11 g
Added Sugars: 0 g
Protein: 28 g
Lactose: 9 g
Principal micronutrients: calcium, iron, folate, vitamin K, vitamin A, magnesium, phosphorus, riboflavin
These are estimates. The vitamin K and folate values in particular depend on how much spinach survives the squeezing, and the sodium varies with the ricotta brand and how generously the Parmigiano is applied.
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