Made this last night when I was exhausted. Less than half an hour fridge to table.
All I did was 1) toast some bread, 2) sauté fresh spinach leaves to glossy silk, 3) heat slices of Black Forest ham, 4) poach a few eggs, 5) sprinkle with grated cheese, 6) grind over black pepper
Voilà. Yum.
Better than sending out for pizza.
Choose your base: a large slice of sourdough* bread, whole grain or white, 1 for each serving. (An English muffin is traditional for this dish, but not as accommodating or nutritious.)
Remove from the fridge: thinnish bread-size slices of cooked ham, roasted turkey, or chicken. Actually, you don’t need the meat at all…
Remove from fridge 1-2 eggs per serving. Break into a cereal bowl.
Rinse fresh spinach** in the sink—depending on your greengrocer, one bunch per serving or 2 bunches for 3 servings…leave tender stems on…shake dryish in a colander.
Have ready grated cheese—jack and cheddar blended (commercially called “Mexican Cheese”) or separate… Swiss… Parmesan. …feta. Your fave with eggs. ¾ to 1 cup per slice.
Avocado oil or olive oil, several spritzes (if you have it in a spray bottle) or drizzles.
Also butter for the toast. And salt and freshly ground pepper.
Place three skillets on your stove: one broad cast iron for the meat, one broad and deep for poaching the eggs, one very broad and deepish (and preferably nonstick) for the spinach.
To compose:
Set bread to toast.
Spray or drizzle 2-3 tablespoons avocado oil or olive oil in a large nonstick skillet, turn heat to medum-high. Spread out the spinach—a little water clinging to the leaves—keep an eye on it, turning leaves with a fork evenly as they wilt. They’re ready when limp and glossy.
Start 2-3 inches of egg-poaching water to simmer.
Spray or add 1-2 tablespoons oil to cast iron skillet over medium heat, fold the slices of meat in half… turnover when one side begins to brown. Meat takes about 7 minutes to warm up.
Bring the poaching water to a boil…when simmering, slide in the eggs. Turn heat to medium and poach eggs –spooning water over the tops of the yolks–till whites are firm, perhaps a film of white covers the yolks. Remove pan from heat after about 4 minutes.
To serve, place toast on each plate, quickly butter it…fit on the meat…divide spinach among the plates and neatly spread to cover the meat…use a slotted spoon to place a poached egg either in the center of each slice or one egg on each side. Sprinkle with cheese, grind over pepper, serve.
I hope you like it!
*Of course it doesn’t have to be sourdough, but sourdough starter adds nutrients as well as flavor to bread.
**When you’re buying fresh spinach, take your time to pick up and heft each bunch…they can be appallingly uneven. And of course you can make this with frozen spinach, it’s just not nearly as delectable (but still better than pizza, I think).
