Spinach Florentine Casserole

Creamy, comforting and gently spiced, my Spinach Florentine Casserole is an easy to throw together weeknight dish that’s perfect for Meatless Monday. It’s so delicious that even I – someone who is very wary of spinach – absolutely love it.

My Spinach Florentine Casserole has three layers:

There is a creamy spinach and mushroom layer,

a tomato and pesto enrobed pasta layer, and

a scrumptious layer of vegetarian cheddar.

When they are baked in the oven, somehow the creamy, tomato-ey, cheesy layers blend together so deliciously that I have to restrain myself from having seconds.

The History of Spinach Florentine Casserole

I’ve been making my Spinach Florentine Casserole for a long time. It was inspired by a recipe from the late Linda McCartney’s book, ‘Linda’s Kitchen’. The book is out of print now but if you can get hold of a copy I highly recommend it.

When I first became interested in meatless recipes, it was the recipes in this book that grabbed my imagination. In addition, they convinced my husband that vegetarian recipes could be just as tasty as their meaty counterparts.

One of the recipes in Linda’s Kitchen that always appealed to me was for a Layered Spinach Fusilli Bake. However I wasn’t keen on Linda’s idea of a layer of pasta dressed solely with olive oil and garlic in the middle, and I knew my husband would not care for the sliced tomatoes on top. To get round these issues, I decided to dress the pasta layer with a pesto spiked tomato sauce instead as well as adding mushrooms to the florentine layer for both flavour and nutrition. I replaced the sliced tomato topping with sharp cheddar cheese.

All Cheese Is Not Vegetarian

One thing you do need to be careful of in order to keep this dish strictly vegetarian is to be sure to use vegetarian cheese. As one of the main ingredients in pesto is Parmesan cheese – a cheese which is not vegetarian – you may want to make you own pesto using a vegetarian Italian style cheese. You can also buy vegetarian pesto ready made.

How Do I Serve Spinach Florentine Casserole?

Served alongside a crisp green salad and some crusty bread, my Spinach Florentine Casserole will convince even the most hardened spinach avoider to give this nutritional powerhouse a chance. Leftovers keep for a couple of days in the fridge and are very tasty re-heated for lunch the next day.

Spinach Florentine Casserole – Printable Recipe

Created by: April J Harris

Spinach Florentine Casserole

Course Vegetarian

Cuisine Italian

Servings 4 to 6 servings

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 pound of spinach
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms
• ¼ cup butter
• 3 tablespoons plain flour
• about 2 cups milk
• pinch of salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• very generous pinch of nutmeg freshly ground if possible
• 8 to 9 ounces penne pasta
• 1¾ cups plain tomato sauce or passata sieved tomatoes (I use a 400 gram tin of passata)
• 4 tablespoons basil pesto
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 cup vegetarian cheddar cheese

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C or 170°C for a fan oven).
• Steam the spinach for 3 minutes.
• Remove the spinach from the heat and drain it as much as possible. Set aside.
• Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat.
• Add the mushrooms and sauté until they begin to pick up some colour.
• Sprinkle the flour over top of the mushrooms and stir to coat.
• Cook for a minute or so.
• Gradually add the milk, a bit at a time, stirring and allowing the sauce to thicken between each addition. You want a fairly thick and creamy sauce so you may not need all the milk.
• Add the cooked spinach and stir through.
• Stir in the nutmeg.
• Add the salt and pepper.
• Pour the mixture into the bottom of a deep 13 x 9 inch baking dish.
• Meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling salted water according to package directions.
• Drain the pasta and return it to the saucepan.
• Over very low heat, add the tomato sauce or passata to the pasta in the saucepan.
• Grate in the garlic and add the pesto, stirring through to mix.
• Place the dressed pasta layer carefully over the spinach florentine layer in the baking dish.
• Sprinkle the cheese over top of the pasta layer.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and beginning to turn golden brown.

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