The Ex Expat

29 August 2012

I love this variation on a classic egg florentine (spinach with baked egg and white sauce). After tracking down several recipes that all weren’t quite right - too spicy for the boy, too goats-cheesey for the husband - I ended up with my own variation based on several different recipes. This is intended to serve 2 (plus a toddler) as a main meal, but you could divide it into 4 portions as a starter.

Ingredients (serves 2)

• olive oil
• 1 crushed clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
• 3 peppers (I used one red, one orange, one yellow for colour, but you can use whichever you like best)
• 2 handfuls of baby leaf spinach 
• salt and pepper
• 4 eggs
• 50g crumbled feta cheese

Directions

• Pre-heat your oven to 200 C (or 180 C for a fan oven).
• Heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat and cook the garlic and thyme for a couple of minutes, taking care not to burn the garlic.
• De-seed the peppers, cut them into thin strips and add to the pan. Cook on a medium heat for about 15 minutes until softened.
• Stir in the spinach to wilt, then take the pan off the heat.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Transfer to an ovenproof dish. Make four wells in the bed of spinach and peppers and crack the eggs into them.
• Scatter the crumbled feta on top.
• Bake for around 15 minutes until the eggs are lightly set.
• Serve with rice or some nice bread.