eggs

Try This Weekend Recipe: BAKED EGGS WITH LEEKS + SPINACH

eggs

“A one pan meal that can be enjoyed for brunch, lunch, or dinner, is as great for one as it is a group. Perfect for sharing, you can make this for a crowd by using a bigger skillet and adding more eggs.”  − Claire Matern,  founder of ACheesemongersDaughter.com

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 bunch of spinach
1 leek
butter
Greek yogurt
olive oil
salt + pepper

Directions:

  1. Clean and chop the leek. Best way to clean a leek is to diagonally cut the green off at the top to form a spear shape (think javelin but veggie style.) Then holding it horizontally on the board, slice into the leek to just about half way down the white. Turn it a quarter turn and do the same thing again so you have floppy “palm fronds” of sorts of the dark and light green. Run this under the tap, making sure to get the water between each layer. That’s where all the sand and soil like to live. Return it to the board, lob that tail and roots off, and finely slice. Put aside in a bowl (this is part 1 of your mise en place.)
  2. Next to clean the spinach. If you’re lucky it’ll be washed already–I had to soak mine 4 times to remove all the soil. Pick the leaves off the long stems and put them in the largest bowl you have. Run it under the cold tap and slosh the spinach around (washing clothes by the river style), transfer the leaves into a strainer or sieve and dump all the water out of the bowl, rinse the bowl to remove the sand. Repeat the process until it comes out clean.
  3. Heat a generous knob of butter in a skillet, add the leek and let that soften (about 5-8 minutes) before adding the spinach straight from the strainer (the excess water still on the leaves will be plenty of moisture to get the cooking process going.) Cover and let the mountain of spinach reduce by about half, season, and make 2 wells in the leek + spinach mixture, allowing that water to evaporate. Then, season the wells with salt + pepper (this is a way to season the egg without pepper freckles on the top.) Cover, and reduce heat for about 5 minutes until the whites have set.
  4. Serve right from the skillet, dollop with Greek yogurt and sprinkle a couple chili flakes on top (optional)