Combine eggs, spinach and clotted cream to create a delicious vegetarian supper – and don't forget the crusty bread.
Spinach – a verdant, juicy leaf, packed full of nutrients – is at its seasonal best from early March through to June. Bake it en cocotte (in a small heatproof dish) with clotted cream and eggs and serve with good crusty bread to create a winning, quick midweek supper.
Looking for more dishes to bring warmth and nourishment to your evenings? Why not try a vegan toad in the hole with vegan gravy, a delicious stuffed squash or a heart-warming butterbean and tomato soup?
Preheat oven to 180ºC. Fry the sage leaves in the butter over a moderate heat in an oven-safe frying pan measuring roughly 20cm. Remove with a slotted spoon when crisp (around 2–3 mins) and reserve on a plate. Keep the fat in the pan. Add the shallots and garlic and fry in the butter over a medium heat for around 5 mins until softened and fragrant. Add the spinach and fry for 1–2 mins. Scrape out the contents of the pan and put to one side on a plate.
Add the cream to the pan and heat for 30 seconds. Season generously with freshly ground nutmeg and black pepper and a good pinch of salt. Add the spinach mix back to the pan. Top with spoonsfuls of the clotted cream and add the cheese.
Make four pockets in the spinach and cream in the pan and gently crack an egg into each. Season the eggs with more freshly ground nutmeg and black pepper and a good pinch of salt.
Put the pan in the hot oven and cook for 10 mins, until the egg whites are opaque and the yolks still runny. Remove from the oven, add the fried sage leaves, and serve immediately with crusty bread.
Gill Meller
