Brunch Pizza: Eggs Florentine - IMBB #16

Is My Blog Burning? #16: Eggs!

This is an entry in the 16th monthly edition of the wonderful web food event called "Is My Blog Burning?" The assignment this month was "Eggs!" (hosted by Viv at  Seattle Bon Vivant) and fortunately I was ready for this one. Recently, I wanted to make a pizza for a brunch and E wanted Eggs Florentine, so I developed this pizza. Eggs Florentine is traditionally a poached egg set on a bed of cooked spinach and topped with mornay sauce. In this version, the egg is baked on a bed of spinach and cheese sitting on a pizza shell, then topped with a slice of bacon.

9 small eggs (the smallest available are usually called medium)
2 additional egg whites
1 lb fresh spinach, trimmed
9 slices thick-cut bacon
olive oil
4 cloves garlic
6 oz gruyere cheese, shredded
1 oz parmeggiano reggiano, shredded
1 pizza shell recipe
salt, hot sauce to taste

With pizza stone in place, preheat oven to 450º.

See Pizza Basics for procedure, dough recipe, etc.

Wash and spin the spinach dry. Pat dry and allow to stand in a collander for at least half an hour to lose any remaining water. In food processor, process spinach and garlic with the steel blade a few seconds until roughly chopped. Turn into a bowl and stir in 2 oz gruyere cheese and the two egg whites. Season with salt and hot sauce. Toss with 2 T olive oil.

Divide pizza dough into 9 equal balls and press each one into a miniature pizza shell. Place in 9-square pattern on peel, moisten adjacent edges with water and press together. (This last step joins the little shells loosely together, to allow them to be handled as a unit with a peel. If you have a long-handled spatula you might want to skip this step and handle them individually.) Allow to rise for 30 min.

Spread 1/2 tsp olive oil over each pizzietta shell with the back of a spoon. Divide the spinach mixture among the 9 small shells. With a large spoon, shape the spinach on each small shell into a little bowl.

Bake the pizzas 8 minutes on a preheated stone in the 450º oven. Meanwhile, sauté  or microwave the bacon until just crisp, Drain on paper towel.

Deepen spinach bowls with a spoon if necessary (due to the egg white, the spinach will puff a little), scatter on the parmesan and line each bowl with shredded gruyere cheese. Carefully break an egg into each of the wells. Lower heat to 400º and bake around 12 - 14 minutes, until the eggs have set and the crust is starting to brown.

Pull the individual pizza shells apart, brush the edges with a little olive oil and place on a serving platter. Lay a bacon slice across each one. Served with Arugula Salad with Roasted Grape Tomatoes and Pine Nuts.

Comments

[diane]

Steven, i can see that you and E have a wonderful thing going on. Perhaps you have a single brother that lives in NY?

[McAuliflower]

Nice entry Stephen! I'm glad to have found yor blog- nice design!

[Nupur]

Very nice recipe! Eggs and spinach and cheese make an awesome combination...thanks for your recipe. It goes right on my to-cook list.

[ajay]

Hi. Greetings from Manila. Am amazed that you're a man who cooks and your IMBB entry certainly looks divine:)