A trip to Italy!

My daughter and I took an 8 day trip to Tuscany over spring break--to celebrate our birthdays, as well as great art, architecture, scenery, food, and WINE!  Here we are, toasting her 18th birthday. 

One of many delicious meals we had was a dish called Crespelle alla Fiorentina, or Florentine-Style Crepes.  They are on the menu tonight in Gena's Kitchen!

They are little labor-intensive, but oh-so-worth-it.  First, cook some chopped spinach and drain it REALLY well.  Combine with ricotta cheese, salt and pepper, grated Parmesan cheese, and freshly grated nutmeg.  Set aside.  Prepare large crepes--10-12 inches in diameter.  In this 8-cup dish there are a total of 4 large crepes.
Spread the spinach ricotta filling over each crepe and roll them up, pinwheel style.  Slice the rolls into 2-inch thick wheels and place, cut-side up in a baking dish.  They should be fairly close together, but not tight.

Prepare about 2 cups of medium white sauce, seasoned well with salt and pepper.  Prepare a small amount of seasoned tomato sauce (half a cup is plenty, so this is a good thing to do with leftover sauce).  Pour the white sauce over the crepes, "stain" the top of each crepe with a teaspoon or so of tomato sauce and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.  Remove from oven, sprinkle with cheese (I used a little more Parmesan and some fontina) and bake another 10 minutes or so, to melt the cheese and brown it slightly.