Looking for an easy side dish for a small dinner party?

The pasta can be cooked and the dish assembled ahead of time, then baked just before serving making this perfect for entertaining.

Or just a relaxed evening. 

Florentine, or ‘cooked in the style of Florence’, means that there is spinach in the dish. Here the spinach is combined with cooked pasta and shredded cheese and baked until bubbly.

I buy frozen leaf spinach in 2 lb bags.  It’s frozen in squares of 2oz each so grabbing a ‘serving’ is easy.

This dinner menu starts with home-made Cream of Celery Soup, followed by Crusted Sole and the Orzo Florentine.

You’ll find the complete menu for the week and shopping list here. on Easy Weekly Menus.

Orzo Florentine 

          Preparation and cooking time: 40 minutes

 Ingredients:

• 8oz (250gr) frozen spinach, 225gr, 8oz
• 1/3 cup orzo, 56gr, 2oz
• 2 shallots, 60gr, 2.1oz
• 2 tsp butter, 9.5gr, .34oz
• 2/3 cup plus 2 tbs chicken stock, 175gr, 5.3oz
• 1/2 tsp marjoram
• 1/2 tsp basil
• 1/4 cup (1oz, 30gr) grated Parmesan, 25gr, .89oz
• 1/4 cup (1oz, 30gr) shredded cheese, 30gr, 1oz

Creamy Orzo Florentine, brimming with healthy spinach

 Instructions:

• Finely chop shallots.
• In small saucepan over medium heat sauté shallots in butter for 5 minutes. 
• Add orzo and sauté 1 minute. 
• Add stock and herbs, cover and simmer until done, 15 – 20 minutes.  All stock will be absorbed.  
• Thaw spinach and squeeze out excess moisture. 
• When orzo is done add the spinach and shredded cheese.  Stir well to combine. 
• Pour into a lightly oiled glass baking dish, just large enough to hold it. 
• Sprinkle with Parmesan and bake at 375F (190C) until it starts to brown; about 15 minutes.  Remove and serve directly from baking dish.

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General Technical Details and Disclaimer:

If there are no values the nutritional numbers were simply too small.

I try to be accurate, but I do not guarantee it.  I use ‘grams’ as the unit of weight; with an approximate conversion to ounces.

My information comes from my own digital, computerized scale
and the USDA Nutrient Data Library: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/