Florentine orà la Florentine is a term from classic French cuisine that refers to dishes that typically include a base of cookedspinach, a protein component andMornay sauce.Chicken Florentine is the most popular version. Because Mornay sauce is a derivation ofbéchamel sauce which includesroux and requires time and skill to prepare correctly, many contemporary recipes use simpler cream-based sauces.[1][2][3]
The term dates back to 1533, whenCatherine de Medici ofFlorence marriedHenry II of France. She supposedly brought a staff of chefs, lots of kitchen equipment and a love of spinach to Paris, and popularized Florentine-style dishes. Food historians have debunked this story, and Italian influence on French cuisine long predates this marriage.[4]Pierre Franey considered this theoryapocryphal, but embraced the term Florentine in 1983.[5]
Auguste Escoffier included a recipe for sole Florentine in his 1903 classicLe guide culinaire, translated into English asA Guide to Modern Cookery. It is recipe 831 in that translation. Escoffier called for poaching the fish in butter andfumet, a stock made of fish bones, cooking the spinach in butter, covering the dish with Mornay sauce, garnishing it with grated cheese, and finishing it in an oven orsalamander.[6] In his 1936 cookbookL'Art culinaire moderne which was first translated for American cooks in 1966 asModern French Culinary Art,Henri-Paul Pellaprat included five recipes for spinach-based Florentine dishes with Mornay sauce. The protein components were chicken breasts, cod fillets, sweetbreads, stuffed lamb breast and oysters.[7]Craig Claiborne published a recipe for oysters Florentine with Mornay sauce inThe New York Times in 1958.[8]
Aquiche containing spinach is often called "quiche Florentine".[9] Poached or soft-cooked eggs served on spinach with a Mornay sauce or equivalent is often called "eggs Florentine".[10]
Chicken Florentine gained popularity in the United States as early as 1931, although the quality of the dish was uneven. Canned mushroom soup was sometimes used as a quick sauce in the years that followed.[11] By the 1960s and 1970s, the general quality of the dish had deteriorated to "casserole" and "wedding banquet" food.[12]
Writing inThe New York Times in 1971, Claiborne praised a restaurant version of chicken Florentine, describing the chicken as "batter‐cooked and served with mushrooms in a lemon sauce".[13] Contemporary cookbook authors are attempting to "restore" the dish to "its elegant roots",[14] with "clearer, brighter flavors".[15]
Adapted for the American Kitchen by Avanelle Day