Spinach Balls à l’Italienne

This dish is from Erroll Sherson’s well-regarded The Book of Vegetable Cookery: Usual and Unusual. In the book, the recipe is titled Spinach Balls à l’Italienne, but in Italy, it goes by two names: in Siena, the balls are called malfatti, or “badly made,” and in Florence, gnudi, or “naked.” They were traditionally made with ricotta, but as the cheese was hard to come by in England in Sherson’s day, the recipe suggests using a can of Idea