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Lasagna Florentine

A baked lasagna layered with tomato sauce, ricotta, spinach, mozzarella, and Parmesan.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Pasta and spinach match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 376 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Lasagna Florentine

Oven350°F
Time45 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sauce

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

  2. In a large saucepan, cook onion and garlic in olive oil until tender.

  3. Add pasta sauce and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.

Assemble and bake

  1. In a medium bowl, combine ricotta, spinach, ½ cup mozzarella, Parmesan, and eggs; mix well.

  2. In a 15 x 9-inch baking dish, layer 2 cups sauce, half the lasagna noodles, half the remaining sauce, all of the spinach mixture, half of the remaining mozzarella, remaining lasagna noodles, and remaining sauce.

  3. Cover and bake for 45 minutes or until bubbly.

  4. Uncover, top with remaining mozzarella and parsley, and bake for 15 minutes longer.

Rest and store

  1. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

  2. Refrigerate leftovers.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

849Calories
44 gProtein
44 gFat
65 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 13 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pasta1 cup cooked (140g)220
Ricotta Cheese1/2 cup (124g) part-skim174
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Parmesan Cheese1 oz (28g)110
Mozzarella Cheese1 oz (28g)85
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Spinach1 cup raw (30g)7
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Saucenot in our table0
Lasagnanot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Pasta + spinachtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together376 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Garlic + spinachtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,435 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Garlic + pastatop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,079 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Lasagna noodles
Form the layers and provide the bulk and chew of the dish.
Ricotta cheese
Gives the filling a creamy, moist texture that stays soft when baked.
Eggs
Bind the ricotta and spinach filling so it sets into slices rather than spreading.
Mozzarella cheese
Melts into a stretchy layer and browns on top when baked uncovered.
Frozen chopped spinach
Adds body and a green vegetable element to the creamy filling.
Pasta sauce
Provides moisture so the noodles cook through and the layers stay saucy.

The step that matters

Let stand for 15 minutes before serving. Resting lets the hot cheese and sauce firm up and the starch in the noodles settle, so the layers hold together when cut instead of sliding apart.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, garlic, olive, pasta, sauce, ricotta cheese, spinach):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Oreganofits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, garlic, olive, pasta, sauce, ricotta cheese, spinach. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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