Recipe!

[saffronhare]

The Reluctant Chef reports fabulous success with a sooper-easy recipe found and tried with dinner last night:

Personal-Sized Baked Egg/Spinach Yummies* (in which I get to cook in my precious ramekins)

One 12-oz (ish) can of spinach, drained and squeezed out really very well
Three eggs
1/4-cup salsa
1/2-cup shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease three oven-safe, single-serving-sized ramekins or custard cups and arrange on a baking sheet.

Divide the spinach evenly among the ramekins, pressing it evenly across the bottom. With your fingers or with a spoon, make a "nest" indentation in the center of each. Crack and slide one egg into each nest. With a spoon, drizzle salsa around the edges. Cover with shredded cheese. Bake 20-25 minutes.

We served it with toast last night, because that's what I had, but the leftover one I ate for lunch went down very tasty all by itself. Much more filling than I would have thought!

Notes: 25 minutes left the eggs a bit more watery than even I like, so I went a few minutes longer and ended up having them maybe harder than ideal (though still tasty). I also broiled for a couple of minutes to get the cheese all brown and bubbly. Might want to add a bit more taste next time by adding some other spices...or perhaps wilting fresh spinach with some garlic instead of using canned, but that's what I had in the cupboard (original recipe called for frozen spinach, cooked and drained).

*I can't recall the precise name of the recipe (discovered through a sequence of clicking around on the "Incredible, Edible Egg" site that I may never be able to duplicate), but I've adapted it anyway, so it's mineallmine.

Terribly easy and great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner...if you're a lover of eggs like me!

Comments

[kittenpants.livejournal.com]

Yum! ::eyeballs the spinach in the fridge meaningfully::

Also, ramekins = happiness. Damned if I know why, but YES.

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

Yes, it scored very high on the "using what I've got" scale.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

Heh, I had no idea what a ramekins was, but I couldn't figure out if I should google, google image, or wikipedia search it. Damn near whimpered like a puppy with indecision on that.

Google Image Search was perfect... I've washed those things a number of times, I had no idea they had a name. But since all the hot chicks love them, I must get some to add to my own domestic bliss.

[bleuberi21.livejournal.com]

That is a great idea! Now I have more uses for my ramekins than just for creme brulee. :D

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

I adore my ramekins and thought my life was complete just using them for offerings, condiments and nifty containers for prepping ingredients ahead of time. How wrong I was. :)

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Good lord. You can cook things in ramekins? I thought they were for holding the offerings. *grin*

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

I know, right? BLISS.

[zylch.livejournal.com]

This looks tasty, indeed. And I bet I could sub some wilted chard for the spinach, and add some hot sauce to bring it up to my spiciness standards...

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

Rowan said she could have done with out the spinach. (sigh) I think this formula has a lot of possibilities...might try a few different combinations. After all, eggs and cheese are pretty awesome with just about anything, and the serving size allows for mistakes without a lot of expense.

[fairgoldberry.livejournal.com]

I have been debating the acquisition of ramekins for some time. I said to myself, "Self, if you had ramekins, you would eat creme brulee ALL THE TIME, but you wouldn't use them for anything else" and then I said to myself, "Of course I would! You can make...uh...um..." and then I looked at me meaningfully and said, "Yes? You can make..." and I hung my head because I couldn't think of anything.

But now I can nod back at me and say, "EGG-THING!"

Thanks!

Much love,
Rowan

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

::curstey::

I couldn't possibly ever make creme brulee (though I love it). The ones I used came as part of a fabulous set of other Corningware things, but I admit to ramekins as a guilty pleasure.

They're splendid on altars with wee offerings, or at rituals when I need, like three matching containers for things (all Druidy-like). And they make great dipping bowls for when some children want ketchup for their dino-nuggets, while others want Ranch dressing. So I totally *use* them all the time, but I've never actually *baked* anything in them. SCORE.

Also: It made a very pleasant picture on my big dinner plate, with a nice big salad and a piece of toast, sort of in the proportions of food you mentioned preferring. Enabler? Yup, that's me.

[bleuberi21.livejournal.com]

Creme brulee really is easy...I make it quite often. Have you tried making it before?

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

Um, no. I am irrationally intimidated by custards and the notion of setting things on fire. It's something I'm very happy to enjoy when somebody else prepares it!

[bleuberi21.livejournal.com]

Understood!!

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

I was going to say 'noted', but then I checked the process at "cooking for engineers". I fear that so much prep would detract from BSG and snuggling, so I may offer a creme brulee liquor instead.

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

That is one of the reasons I adore you, honey. Perfect solution. :)