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VEGAN SPINACH FLORENTINE

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Creamy Spinach Florentine

Ever since I was a child, I have adored creamed spinach. This casserole totally reminds me of the stuffed spinach crèpes I would order as a teenager at this little crèpe restaurant near our house. I could never get enough of them. This casserole doesn’t disappoint, with a luscious creamy sauce, spinach, and some dry sherry thrown in for good measure.

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Ingredients

  • 8 8 8 ounces dried shell pasta or macaroni
  • 1 1 bag 1 (10-ounce) bag frozen spinach, thawed
  • 1 1 1 recipe Almost Alfredo Sauce (see below)
  • 3 to 4 3 to 4 4 tablespoons dry sherry, depending how strong of a sherry taste you like
  • 1 1 2 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 2 2 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
  • 1 1 1 teaspoon granulated onion
  • 3/4 3/4 3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • to sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 3 about 3 cups
  • 21/2 21/2 21/2 cups plain unsweetened soymilk
  • 1/2 1/2 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 1/2 2 cup raw unsalted cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours and drained
  • 2 2 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
  • 3 3 3 tablespoons oat flour
  • 2 2 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 11/4 11/4 to teaspoons fine sea salt, or more to taste
  • 1 1 1 teaspoon granulated onion

Details

Adapted from veganricha.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease an 8-inch square glass or ceramic baking dish.

In a large pot of lightly salted boiling water, add the pasta and cook according to package directions until al dente. Don’t overcook the pasta, especially if you’re using one that is gluten-free. Drain the pasta well and transfer to a large bowl.

Drain most of the liquid out of the spinach by gently squeezing it, but don’t squeeze it completely dry. Add the spinach to the pasta, along with the sauce, mixing until the pasta is thickly coated. Add the sherry, Dijon mustard, nutritional yeast, granulated onion, and nutmeg, stirring well. Add salt and pepper, and adjust seasonings to taste. Scoop the pasta mixture into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until hot and slightly bubbly around the edges. Remove from the oven and serve.

Gluten-Free: Use a gluten-free oat flour in the sauce and gluten-free pasta (my favorite here is brown rice macaroni).



Almost Alfredo Sauce
In the jar of a blender, combine the soymilk, water, cashews, nutritional yeast, oat flour, cornstarch, salt, and granulated onion. Blend the mixture at high speed until completely smooth and no bits of nuts remain. If you don’t have a big blender, blend the mixture in two batches.

Transfer the mixture to a large saucepan and place over medium-high heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer, whisking continuously. Once the mixture comes to a simmer, reduce the heat slightly and cook, whisking continuously until thickened, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Tip: Use a good-tasting unsweetened soymilk for this sauce, as the flavor really comes through. If you’re using a high-speed blender, you can skip the soaking step for the cashews and just use them dry. Add a little extra water to blend if needed.

Variations:

To make a truffle sauce, to the blender jar add 1 to 3 tablespoons truffle oil to taste and reduce the granulated onion to 1/2 teaspoon. Add a few sprinkles of freshly grated nutmeg.
To make a white wine sauce, replace 3/4 cup of soymilk with an equal amount of white wine.
To make this sauce lower in fat, reduce the cashews to 1/3 cup.

Gluten-Free: Use a gluten-free oat flour.

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