Baked Eggs Nested in Greens

Brunch was never that important in my early adult years and not until I shacked up with my current beau did the necessity of diversifying my weekend breakfasts become an item of interest for me.

But it's so easy, you may exclaim, there are a million ways to make eggs!

Yes, true, but I only like to eat them scrambled or in a frittata (or hidden in things like quiche or gougers). So things are not as varied as I would like them to be. Until I came upon Smitten Kitchen's post baked eggs with spinach and mushrooms. Of course she loves eggs all ways, but spying this picture I realized I could scramble my portion and make a baked (somewhat poached) egg for my beau. Which is exactly what I did! And all were happy in the land of brunch...

Baked Eggs Nested in Greens (inspired by Smitten Kitchen)
(serves 3-4)

three bunches spinach or swiss chard, washed, stemmed and chopped
1 large shallot, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon kashmiri or cayenne chile powder
salt
pepper
3-4 eggs depending on how many diners

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Heat a medium sized skillet over high heat for 2-3 minutes and add oil. Saute shallots until they begin to soften, about 2-3 minutes. Add cumin, coriander, paprika and chile powder and cook about 1 minute until the spices are aromatic, stirring with shallots. Add greens and carefully saute until greens all wilt and are well incorporated with shallot mixture. Once greens are all cooked down, turn off heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Make a well in the greens for each egg you want to poach, usually one egg per diner. Make sure the greens cover the bottom of the well so egg poaches on the greens, not the bottom of the pan. Carefully crack one egg into each well and bake for 10-15 minutes according to desired firmness of poached egg. Serve immediately.

Hugs!