Eggs are for life, not just for Easter. Of course I think that, as someone who has just written a book focused on eggs. But this long weekend provides a particularly ovoid prompt. The baked-egg dish does what it says on the tin: lightly spiced seeds add bite and verve to a luscious, creamed spinach base. And the piquant, Korean-inspired skillet eggs are a winning brunch or lunch for one, and equally easy to scale up to feed a group.
Eggs in creamed spinach with spiced butter seeds (pictured top)
I think this works best with just one egg per person, but see what you think. Either way, you’ll lick the plate clean.
Prep 10 min
Cook 15 min
Serves 2
250g baby spinach, washed
5-10g butter
1 shallot, peeled and very finely diced
1 garlic clove, peeled and thinly sliced
Flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg
100ml double cream (or creme fraiche)
20g parmesan, finely grated
2 eggs
Bread or toast, to serve
For the seeds
2 tbsp mixed seeds
30g butter
¼ tsp sweet smoked paprika
¼ tsp pul biber (Aleppo pepper flakes)
Put a 26cm saute pan or shallow casserole with a lid on a medium heat. Add the still-wet spinach and cook for about six minutes, prodding and turning it occasionally, so the leaves wilt evenly.
Push the wilted spinach to one side of the pan. Put the butter in the empty space, then add the shallot, garlic and a pinch of salt, and saute for three minutes without colouring.
Stir the spinach back into the middle, add a really generous grating of nutmeg and black pepper, then add the cream and parmesan. Give it a good stir, then create two wells within the bubbling spinach. Crack an egg into each of these, turn down the heat a little, cover and leave to cook for two to two and a half minutes, until the whites are set. Take off the heat; if by this point the whites aren’t quite firm, keep the pan off the hob, cover it with the lid and check again after 30–60 seconds.
Meanwhile, toast the seeds in a dry pan on a medium heat for two to three minutes, until there’s a hint of colour and the smaller seeds are starting to pop. Create a space in the middle of the seeds, add the butter and let that foam and brown for a minute or two more, until it smells nutty. Take off the heat, stir in the spices, then spoon this over the eggs.
Divide the spinach and eggs between two shallow bowls and serve with something soft on the side: bread or toast, say, to mop up the creamy greens and egg yolks.
Kimchi and gochujang fried eggs
Taking much inspiration from a Korean kimchi jiggae (stew), these eggs are packed with flavour and extremely convenient. Sliced tteok (thin, pleasingly chewy and bouncy discs made of rice flour) are available in specialist food stores and online, and bring heft and texture to the dish. You could also serve these eggs with plain rice, or scoop them up with any fresh bread.
Prep 10 min
Cook 10 min
Serves 1
Oil, for frying
50-60g bacon lardons (optional)
1 spring onion, finely sliced on a diagonal, whites and greens kept separate
100g kimchi, larger bits roughly chopped
2–3 tbsp kimchi brine
1 tbsp gochujang
60g sliced fresh tteok (Korean rice cakes)
2 medium eggs
⅓ tsp gochugaru pepper flakes, or other chilli flakes
½ tsp toasted sesame seeds
Pour a hint of oil into a 20-22cm frying pan on a medium-high heat. Before the pan is hot, add the lardons, if using, and leave them to fry and render their fat for five minutes, until beginning to colour and crisp. Add the white parts of the spring onion, cook, stirring, for a minute more, then add the kimchi, kimchi brine, gochujang and 100ml water, and simmer for five minutes more, until the liquid in the pan has reduced to about 1cm in depth.
Scatter the rice cakes over the mix, then make two wells in the mixture between the mounds of kimchi. Crack an egg into each well, turn down the heat a little, cover the pan and leave to simmer gently for two and a half to three minutes, until the whites are set. Take off the heat. If the whites aren’t firm by this point, keep the pan off the hob, but cover again and leave to cook in the residual heat, checking on the whites again after 30–60 seconds.
Scatter the gochugaru flakes, sesame seeds and the spring onion greens over the top, then serve. I like to eat this straight from the pan with a spoon.
These recipes are edited extracts from Good Eggs: Over 100 Cracking Ways to Cook and Elevate Eggs, by Ed Smith, published by Quadrille at £22. To order a copy for £19.36, go to guardianbookshop.com
