Eggs - the perfect whole food

I don’t think I have being anywhere in the world they don’t eat eggs.  They are the perfect whole food coming ready-packaged in their pretty shells.  For anyone trying to be more healthy,  eggs are a real superfood and also cook quick smart.  What more could you ask for?   

While I love to experiment with new dishes for lunch and dinner ,  I do find its easy to become stuck in a breakfast rut.  My go-to-while-still-half-asleep breakfast tends to be granola, yoghurt and fruit.  But I am aiming to eat eggs 3 times a week.  Last week it was boiled eggs and brown toast soldiers/purple sprouting broccoli soldiers.... yum. 

However wednesday I decided to inject a bit of spice into my brekkie.  One advantage of working from home ,  is that I can be at my desk at 8.00,  albeit still in my pjs.  I don’t like to eat that early so I can do some work and then sit down to a leisurely half-hour breakfast at 9.30.  I adapted this recipe from an Ottolenghi (if in london make sure to visit) one,  I read in the Guardian a while ago.  I probably didn’t remember it right but its in and around,  I could have probably googled it but I decided to live life dangerously and make it up as I went along ;-).  You will need to ramekins for this recipe.

Baked eggs in a bed of spinach with some spicy butter on top.

This serves 2 people

Ingredients

2 eggs

Large bowl of baby spinach

dash of olive oil

1 small garlic clove crushed

Squeeze of lemon juice

3 tablespoons of low fat yoghurt

15 -20g of butter (about a heaped teaspoon) If you were being very virtuous you can substitute some olive oil

1/2 tsp of sweet paprika

1/2 tsp of chilli flakes

Salt (I used maldon smoked sea salt but its not fundamental)

Pepper

Method

1. Preheat oven to 150c/Gas mark 2

2. Wash your spinach and whizz it in your salad spinner

3. Heat a dash of olive oil in a frying pan or wok, and throw in your spinach with some sea salt and a dash of lemon.  Cook for about 3 mins until it has wilted.  Using a large wooden spoon, push the spinach to one side of the frying pan to drain out as much water as possible from the spinach ( the leaves can be quite watery sometimes)

4. Divide the spinach between the 2 ramekins.  Make an indentation in the centre of the spinach with enough room to pop the egg in.

5.Carefully crack the egg into the little hole you have made for it ,  repeat with the other ramekin.

6. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes depending on how well done you like you eggs

7. Meanwhile add the crushed garlic to the yoghurt with a pinch of salt

8. 2-3 minutes before the eggs will be ready, eat up a small frying pan to a medium heat,  add the paprika and chilli -  warm for about 10 seconds then add the butter until its just melted.

9.Take eggs out of the oven,  spoon over the yoghurt and then drizzle over the spicy melted butter.  

10.Serve with some nice toasted sourdough or some brown soda bread - nutritious and deelicious!

** Big ups to Miriam who sliced all the clementines for my  St Patricks day brunch (see previous post) with such style and precision -  I forgot to give her a mention - muchos apologies!