Baked Eggs Florentine

A while ago, I bought some frozen spinach by mistake.  Oops.  To use it up, I made spinach dip for a softball team, which only got rid of half of it, and left me wondering what to do with the other package.  (No, I don't know how I wound up buying TWO of the wrong item.  I probably forgot to check a recipe.)  Then my husband and I were flipping through my cookbooks and I spotted (more or less) the following recipe in 2, 4, 6, 8: Great Meals for Couples of Crowds, by Rachael Ray.  It seemed like just the right recipe, because I only needed to buy 2 ingredients for it!  So here's my take on her dish.

Baked Eggs Florentine
1 10-oz package frozen spinach
2 Tbsp garlic confit oil*
1 clove confit garlic, smashed
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 onion
4 fresh thyme sprigs
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 C chicken stock
1/2 C cream
nutmeg
4 eggs
1/2 C grated Gruyere

*If you don't have the garlic confit oil (seriously, though, it is one of the best recipes I have made), use olive oil and add a clove of minced garlic along with the onion.  That's what was called for in the original recipe.

Defrost the spinach, place in a clean towel, and wring out the excess moisture.  Chop the onions, and remove the thyme leaves from the woody stem.

Heat the oil and butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper, and sauté for ~5 minutes.  Add the spinach, using a utensil to distribute it (it should be a clump when you add it).  Add the chicken stock, cream, and a bit of nutmeg.  Simmer until creamy and thickened (shouldn't take long).

Grease a small baking dish.  Transfer the creamy spinach mixture to the dish, and make 4 little divots in it.  Carefully crack an egg into each hollow.  Season with salt and pepper, then cover the top of the dish with a layer of Gruyere.  (I just grated a block of cheese directly onto the top.)  Bake at 450˚F ~5-10 minutes until the egg is set (I like a runny yolk, so 10 was way too long for me!)

I found the recipe, as it was in the book, rather confusing.  I didn't seem to have the amount of spinach mixture that Rachael worked with; I spread it really thin in the baking dish, my eggs cooked way faster than they should have…  It was a tad frustrating.  But it was delicious anyway.  I ate the leftovers (my husband and I only ate 1 egg) for lunch for the next two days.  Since the yolk was set already, it reheated well; a runny yolk will finish cooking in the microwave, which isn't really an issue, just something to be aware of the first time you reheat an egg.

The spinach was rich and flavorful, and eggs are always a favorite of mine.  Gruyere has a wonderful, salty flavor and is also rich, getting along well with the rest of the dish.  It melts beautifully, which is why I had no qualms about getting a whole block of it; it's great for a grilled sandwich.  Which was, in a way, how I ended up eating my leftovers.  I toasted some bread, and served the spinach and egg on top of it, like an open-faced sandwich.  That gave it a nice crunchy element to the texture.  I don't think my husband was wild about it; he's not much of a spinach fan.  However, he did find this recipe palatable. It may not be the most gorgeous dish I've ever put on a plate, but it was tasty and filling.