I considered giving this dish its full French title. Sadly, as I do not speak any French whatsoever, I cannot help mentally pronouncing it, "Oafs Florentine." Although very simple, it is more elegant than that, I feel. This is another supper or lunch sort of dish, and is pleasant eaten with a green salad and some toast- either some oniony nan as pictured, or thin, buttered toast triangles. A glass of some white would not be amiss.
This supper uses the first baby spinach of the year, which appeared in my farmbox this week. As expected, the box ran pretty much exclusively to greens again. There were, however, also radishes and herbs. I am thinking what to do with the kale as I write this.
Serves one:
Bag of baby spinach, washed to within an inch of its life
3 Tsp butter
nutmeg (despite appearances, this is not the only spice on my shelf)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 fresh eggs
1/4 cup cream
chopped chives
1 Tsbp grated cheese of choice
Preheat oven to 450. Butter a small ovenproof bowl. Cook spinach in its own water until it wilts down.
Drain, squeeze and chop. Heat 2 tsps butter in a small saucepan, and toss the spinach in it. Season with salt, nutmeg and pepper.
Line the ovenproof bowl with the spinach, and gently break 2 eggs over it. Pour the cream carefully over the eggs. Sprinkle with cheese and dot with remaining butter. Salt and pepper again. Sea salt shows itself off well here. Put your dish in the oven. Once the egg whites are firm-about 15 minutes, it is done. Take it out to check and make sure the whites aren't wiggling. Put it back if it is. If it is firm, sprinkle with chives and eat it up.
This dish is often made with poached eggs, but I like it this way, because if you are lucky, the yolks will still be soft, and as you eat, they will mix with the cheese and cream and form a yummy sauce.
When you eat this sort of meal you do not feel gluttonous. Despite the richness, it has a light quality.
In Barbara Pym's Quartet in Autumn, Letty ordered eggs florentine for her lunch on the day of Marcia Ivory's funeral.
Norman said, "I don't feel like much"... "subtly making the others feel that they ought not to have felt like much either."
Norman had a cauliflower gratin, which sounded pretty good to me, too.
This looks wonderful - I'm going to try it - I love the Farm Box theme.
Annie
Posted by: Annie | June 11, 2005 at 12:19 PM