Eggs Florentine Brunch Pizza Recipe

Recently I wanted to make a pizza for a brunch and Elise 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.

Eggs Florentine Brunch Pizza

Serves 9

Ingredients

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

Method

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

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.

Sauté or microwave the bacon until just starting to crisp, Drain on paper towel.

When the pizza dough is ready for shaping, divide it into 9 equal balls and press each one into a miniature pizza shell, square in shape. 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 minutes, covered with a clean kitchen towel.

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.

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.

Carefully pull the individual pizza shells apart, and place on a serving platter. Lay a bacon slice across each one.

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