Eggs Florentine
The polytunnel is pretty much in full production now and it’s going to be many months before we have to buy any vegetables. The perpetual spinach is just that and grows back enthusiastically after we have ravaged it for spinach crumble or our current favourite Eggs Florentine.
Eggs Florentine is a classic lunch or light supper dish that uses our delicious free range eggs with their gaudily yellow yolks and lots of freshly picked, healthily green spinach.
So, with thanks to Delia, here is the recipe:
Generously butter a large shallow baking dish and arrange the spinach over the base, seasoning well with salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg. Break the eggs onto the spinach and pour over a generous quantity of cheese sauce (we especially like it flavoured with Mrs Kirkham’s strong Lancashire) to cover everything completely. Sprinkle with Parmesan and then bake on a high shelf in a moderate oven for 20 minutes.
Eating this dish is making us feel virtuously thrifty and self-sufficient! Of course there is the small matter of producing milk and cheese to contend with. The lure of the ‘house cow’ is getting stronger!
I can attest that this is some good eating. So very simple, yet packed full of refreshing flavour, especially nice with some hand-picked salad leaves on the side to give a cool crisp crunch. I’m going to have to try this one myself at home.
Mmm, looks lovely! Wish we could grow our own veg, gardening just seems like a whole universe of skills and know-how that we don’t have! Don’t know where to start really. Any tips? xx
Colin started with just a few raised beds on a half plot at the Kirklees Allotment when we lived in Glasgow’s West End. He seeded lots of things just to see what would grow and we’ve had to do the same since living at The Lint Mill, as what would grow in Glasgow just isn’t the same here. You’re welcome to pop down to the polytunnel any time and Colin would be happy to pass on his experiences.
Cheers! I planted some mint in the garden the other week – I’m reliably informed that mint would likely survive a nuclear winter, never mind some shoddy gardening, and it is still living, but the leaves are getting eaten by somthing!! So some instruction might be useful! Ant x