Eggs Florentine

Eggs Benedict might be the classic, but if you’re not in the mood for meat, you can’t go wrong with eggs florentine. Featuring perfectly poached eggs on a bed on sautéed spinach covered with a layer of creamy rich hollandaise, this lesser-known brunch dish is primed to step into the spotlight.

According to popular lore, the title “florentine” originates in the 1500s, when Catherine de Medici married Henry II of France and brought many of her favorite Tuscan foods, including spinach, to Paris. The new queen was particularly passionate about serving this leafy green at every meal. In the ensuing years, any French dish featuring spinach, whether it be quiche, chicken, sole, or poached eggs, came to be called “florentine.” While the original eggs florentine was served with Mornay (a creamy white sauce mounted with cheese sauce), most modern recipes opt for hollandaise.

How To Make Eggs Florentine

Eggs florentine is a franken-recipe: It consists of three mini recipes (literally) stacked on top of each other. If mastering all of them at once intimidates you, focus on just one component at a time. Once you’re comfortable with all three, whipping up the whole thing will be a breeze.

A side benefit of this is that two of these mini recipes—poached eggs and hollandaise sauce—are classic recipes that you can use in many other settings beyond just eggs florentine.

INGREDIENTS

• Butter: I recommend unsalted butter for both the spinach and the hollandaise in this recipe so that you can better control your seasoning. If you only have salted butter, I recommend cutting the amount of salt in the recipe in half to start, then tasting and adding more as needed.
• Shallot: This mild allium brings a sweet onion backnote to the earthy spinach. If you happen to have a particularly large one, I recommend only using half.
• Spinach: Fresh spinach is best for this recipe. Make sure it’s well-cleaned and dried before adding to the pan—if it’s wet, the moisture will cause the fat in the pan to spit.
• Kosher Salt: This recipe was tested with Diamond Crystal kosher salt. If you have Morton, I recommend using about half the amount called for in the recipe.
• Whole Eggs: If you have an option, choose fresh eggs for this recipe. Egg white proteins weaken as the eggs age, and this makes it more challenging to keep the egg whites together as they poach.
• Egg Yolks: along with the butter, yolks form the backbone of the hollandaise. I recommend separating the eggs while they are still cold. If possible, crack them into a bowl together, then fish out the yolks one at a time with a spoon (or a clean hand, if that doesn’t freak you out) and transfer them to a blender. If you try to separate eggs by transferring the yolks back and forth between the broken shell halves, you risk puncturing and breaking the yolk.
• Lemon Juice: Freshly squeezed lemon juice in the hollandaise provides a tang that balances the richness of the sauce.
• English Muffins: These are the classic base for eggs florentine—but if you prefer, you could also use toast or a breakfast roll.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

Start by making the wilted spinach. In a large pan over medium heat, melt the butter, swirling the pan as needed to melt it completely. Then add the finely chopped shallot and cook, stirring frequently, until the shallot is translucent and sweet to the taste; this should take 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the spinach to the pan and season with a little salt. At first, this will seem like a TON of spinach and you’ll be second-guessing whether it will fit but don’t worry. It will cook down. Continue to cook, stirring, until the spinach is completely wilted and soft. Taste it to make sure it’s seasoned and soft enough, then remove the pan from the heat and keep it warm.

Next you’ll make the hollandaise. Add the egg yolks to a blender along with the lemon juice and a little salt. Blend on high speed just until combined. Meanwhile, in a small pot, melt the butter over medium heat until it starts to foam. As soon as it’s foaming, remove the pot from the heat.

Turn the blender back on low speed and, while it’s still blending, slowly stream in the melted butter. You’ll hear the sound of the blender change and the egg yolks will get lighter and thicker as the hollandaise emulsifies. Once all the butter is incorporated and the hollandaise appears homogeneous, stop the blender, taste the sauce, and add more salt and lemon juice to taste. Cover the blender and set aside in a warm space while you poach the eggs.

Poaching eggs might seem intimidating, but it’s not actually that difficult. Start by filling a medium sauce pot with water and bringing it to a bare simmer. You want the surface to just barely be bubbling.

Crack an egg into a fine-mesh strainer and let it sit there for a minute, just to let the loosest part of the egg white drain away. Getting rid of this will help you achieve a more perfectly shaped poached egg. After about 15 seconds, pour the egg into a little round bowl. Pouring the egg from a round vessel into the poaching water helps encourage the egg to take that perfectly round shape as it poaches.

Now it’s time to create the whirlpool. Using a long, heatproof spoon, stir the barely simmering water around and around until it climbs the sides of the pot and creates a vortex in the center. Pull the spoon out, count to five (just to let the vortex slow ever so slightly), and then slip the egg into the center. Don’t mess with it; let the motion of the water help it stay together.

Let the egg poach, adjusting the water temperature to keep it at a bare simmer, until the egg white is set but the yolk still feels squishy when you touch it, 3 to 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, lift the egg out and deposit it on a paper towel-lined plate. Repeat with the other eggs.

To build your eggs florentine, top each English muffin half with about a quarter of the sauteed spinach. (Make sure to drain the spinach against the side of the pan as you scoop it out so it doesn’t sog out the muffin!) Top each with a poached egg and spoon the warm hollandaise over top.

Full list of ingredients and directions can be found in the recipe below.

Storage

Poached eggs actually keep very well in the refrigerator. Store in an airtight container half-filled with water for up to 3 days. When you’d like to reheat, just fill a small pan with water and bring to a bare simmer. Add the poached eggs to the pan and let them reheat for 1 to 2 minutes, making sure the water stays at that bare simmer and doesn’t boil. Leftover cooked spinach can also be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Unfortunately, hollandaise is best served fresh. Once refrigerated, it’s very difficult to reheat without it splitting. If there’s one thing worth making the day of, it’s this sauce!