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Florentine eggs are an elegant breakfast or brunch and can even be made ahead. Also learn how to make perfect poached eggs.
Florentine Eggs
Do these look complicated? Surprise, they aren’t.
Florentine eggs are just an assembly job and most of the components can be made in advance. Yes, even the eggs!
Since you will want perfect-looking poached eggs for this elegant dish, I’ll give instructions in this post for how to achieve a perfect poached egg right in this post.
You can change some of the components as well. Ham or Canadian bacon can replace the bacon. You can use Hollandaise sauce instead of the simple cheese sauce recipe I give. For me, Hollandaise is a bit too fussy and moreover, I don’t really care for it that much (surprise, I know!!!). But if you think it would complement this better than by all means. And that goes for any sauce you like!
Perfect Poached Eggs
Perfect poached eggs are easy–that is if you have fresh eggs and by fresh I mean it just dropped out of the chicken. Lots of folks are keeping chickens now so this is definitely a possibility. Fresh eggs have high-standing yolks that are centered and the white clings around the yolk.
However, most of us buy eggs in the supermarket and how fresh that egg is is up for debate. But if you use the following method, your eggs will come out decent looking all the time.
The secret is boiling your egg for 10 seconds to “set” the outer part of the white. First you pierce a hole with a needle or a cork board tack in the large end of the egg. The reason for that is there’s an air pocket up there and piercing relieves the pressure. Then you drop the egg into fast-boiling water for 10 seconds. Then you remove the egg.
Now, to poach eggs, you never let the water boil. You just want simmering water–where you see some small bubbles at the bottom of the pan. Don’t salt the water at this point, but add 1/4 cup of white vinegar per quart of water. This helps the whites to coagulate.
Now break your eggs as close to the water as possible so they gently fall into the water. Let them simmer for 4 minutes, then remove them to a bowl of cold, clean water. The cold water stops the cooking and gets rid of any trace of the vinegar.
At this point the poached eggs can be kept uncovered in the fridge in that bowl of water till you’re ready to use them. To reheat, just place them in some salted simmering water for about a minute. Remember to pat them dry before placing them on any other food.
Other Methods
There are other methods to get good-looking eggs.
One better known method is using these egg poachers (affiliate link). I have them and they work pretty well.
The Recipe
Florentine Eggs
Ingredients
- 4 English muffins
- 4 poached eggs
- 8 slices crispy bacon
- 1 recipe Asian spinach
Cheese Sauce:
- 2 tbs butter
- 2 tbs flour
- 1 cup hot milk
- 1/2 cup shredded cheese
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Separate English muffins into halves and toast.
- Divide spinach evenly between the English muffins. Lay 2 slices of bacon over each muffin and top with a poached egg. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of sauce over each egg.
- Serve immediately
Nutrition
Angelina says
I make a dish very similar to this, except I use whole wheat English Muffins & Canadian Bacon – which we all here prefer. I use Baby Spinach, since the Asian Spinach recipe contains too much sodium for our liking. I usually serve each portion with a small dish of Light Greek Yogurt on the side, w/a few cut-up Grape Tomatoes mixed in, & drizzled w/a couple of drops of Balsamic Vinegar. What a great breakfast!
Judith Hanneman says
Have a great holiday–sorry for the delay in replying.