The Temporary Vegetarian is talking about them in The New York Times today. Here's a hint: Emma encouraged us to make them last weekend...
Ever Heard of a Crespelle?
A crespelle is an Italian version of a crêpe. The main difference is that it is made with chestnut flour rather than regular flour, giving it a hint of sweetness.
The one described in the article (discovered by the chef of Osteria del Circo in New York on a trip to Italy) was filled with ricotta, lemon zest, pepper, and parmesan. On top were pine nuts and brown butter. That sounds like the perfect combination of savory and sweet—a hint of chestnut, a warm nuttiness from the brown butter, salty parmesan, and a little zing from the pepper and zest.
We have never worked with chestnut flour, so we're wondering if it makes the process of cooking these thin pancakes any easier or more difficult.
Given the ricotta/parmesan/pine nut recipe in the article, we're wondering if crespelles are always on the savory side. Is a Nutella-filled crespelle not a crespelle at all? Anyone know the answer?
• Read the article: Crespelle is Italian for Crêpe, from The New York Times
Related: Weekend Cooking: Make Crêpes
(Image: Flickr member kochtopf, licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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From the NY Times Dining Section 06.25.08
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I would wager that chestnut flour would eliminate any major need for eggs (though from the pic, there is certainly eggs in the recipe...)
I went vegan for a 6 month period and still made crepes- just mixing a good portion of different nut or legume flours depending on if I wanted sweet or savory crepes.
I'm checking out this column in the Times now! Going vegan or vegetarian is a way to rediscover food, and I can't imagine how well a chef might rediscover it in New York!
view Nolann's profile
I had really never heard of a crespelle until a couple of months ago. Now, I'm hearing about them all the time. What's up? Maybe they're going to be "discovered". I'm working on a cooking/website project and I'll be making crespelles and posting a story about it with photos sometime soon. Here's the site if you're interested. http://icookedthebook.com/
view dinesrq's profile
I love crespelle! It really is just Italian for crêpe, and you can find things under that name with all kinds of fillings--mostly savory, but sweet, too.
Oh, also: Not to be a pain (okay, maybe a bit of a pain), but "crespelle" is plural in Italian. It's a single "crespella". Just like it's one panino and two panini. So the title of the post would make more sense as "ever heard of crespelle?" [getting off of Italian grammar soapbox now...]
view jooleeyet's profile