Baked eggs with spinach and mushrooms
Mmmm brunch...one of my favorite food categories and one that doesn't have to take loads of time especially when you have friends over. This recipe wouldn't even take *that* long if you made it all in the morning, but really, why do that to yourself? I whipped up the spinach and mushrooms ahead of time so that all I really had to do was bring it up to temp, add the eggs, and bake!
This is really such a delicious way to start your day and is JAM packed with spinachy goodness. 4 tubs of baby spinach, guys...FOUR! You'll definitely be feeling like Popeye after this meal. And that was just what us girls needed after a yoga class and before we spent the rest of the day shopping. We needed our strength after all.
If you're not a fan of spinach or mushrooms, I think you could easily modify this...eggs baked in tomatoes would be delicious...or maybe zucchini/onions...or leek/onion...you could also jazz it up further by including some bacon in with the spinach and mushrooms (dang, why didn't I think of that over the weekend??). Any way you do it, this is the way to make eggs for a crowd. Baking multiple eggs at once is a much better brunch for a crowd solution than trying to fry eggs to order. Hope you enjoy this as much as we all did!
Baked eggs with spinach and mushrooms
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Level: Easy
Time: About 30 minutes in total (less than 15 the day prior, and a little more than 15 the morning of)
Ingredients
20 ounces baby spinach (yes I know this sounds like a TON, but it cooks down to practically nothing!)
4 shallots, chopped
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
16 ounces sliced mushrooms (I used baby bellas)
2/3 cup half & half
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Several grates of fresh nutmeg
8 large eggs
4 tablespoons finely grated pecorino romano
Directions
The day before:
Cook the spinach: bring an inch of water to a boil in a large pot. Add a quarter of the spinach and let it wilt down (about 30 seconds). Add another quarter of spinach and wilt in the same manner. Scoop spinach out with a slotted spoon and drain in a colander run cold water over the spinach. Wilt the rest of the spinach in the same manner. Squeeze handfuls of spinach to remove as much liquid as you can and then coarsely chop. Put in a container in the fridge until the morning.
Wipe the pot dry, then melt butter over medium low heat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring, until softened - 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and increase the heat to medium. Cook, again stirring, until the mushrooms are nicely sautéed and start to release their liquid - about 5 minutes. Put in a container in the fridge until the morning.
The morning of:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Heat up the mushrooms in a large Dutch oven. Add the spinach, half & half, salt, pepper, and nutmeg and bring to a simmer.
Remove the pot from the heat and make a small indentation in the spinach/mushroom mixture. Crack in an egg and continue making indentations around the rest of the pot until you have used up all 8 eggs. Bake uncovered until the egg whites are set but the yolks are still runny. This took me 15 minutes; the original recipe was cut in half and suggested 7-10 minutes so I would just check your pot around 8 minutes to see how things are going.
Season the eggs with salt and pepper and sprinkle with pecorino cheese.
Mangia!