Food, Love and Memories ~ Scrippelle ‘Mbusse

One thing is for sure – soup is the most curative of substances. From sniffles to broken hearts, nothing is as comforting and warming as a well prepared bowl of soup. What you put in it depends entirely on personal taste and probably a bit on your heritage.

My grandparents Giovanni and Anna were both from the Teramo province of Abruzzo and one of the typical dishes of ‘la cucina teremana’ is Scrippelle ‘Mbusse, a simple dish of seasoned crepes in a clear broth.

Our mother’s best friend Grace, also the daughter of Italian migrants, was a legendary cook who loved nothing more that to cook and tell stories. She often came to visit my mother in her retirement village bringing with her all the fixings for my mother’s favourite dishes. I can still hear Grace saying to my mother Louise, “Lou, I brought you some scripelle and with those nice little pancakes”. Grace’s scrippelle ‘mbusse had a lovely clear chicken broth with a few tiny bits of chicken and carrot visible. She would season the crepes with pecorino (“never parmesan Lou”). Then she would roll them up tight, cut them into strips, portion them out in the bowls and ladle the broth over the strips. We would eat and talk and laugh.

Louise and Grace are sadly no longer with us in this world, but their memory lives on in a bowl of scrippelle ‘mbusse prepared recently by my husband Andrew. He borrowed from Domenica Marchetti’s recipe and the Silver Spoon cook book and served with the crepes rolled up whole and the broth clear and piping hot. And with a generous pinch of love. Grazie Andrea.