Florentine Eggs with Spinach (Eggs a la Florentine) is an easy way to turn a hard-boiled egg into a delicious side dish for brunch, breakfast, or lunch. Place the eggs on a bed of spinach and pour over a creamy Mornay sauce with sour cream and Gruyère. Place under the grill for a tasty gratin. This is so delicious!
A delicious brunch recipe: Florentine eggs. The eggs are cooked until they're slightly soft. Next, the spinach is blanched, and the veggies are placed with the eggs in a casserole. A delicious homemade Mornay sauce (with butter, egg yolk, and sour cream) is the topping. A classic recipe from the French Kitchen.
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Why is this recipe called Florentin?
This French recipe is made with spinach. Traditional stories tell that Catherine de Medicis, who married Prince Henry of France in 1533, introduced spinach to French cuisine. This Catherine was born in the Florence region in Italy, and the story goes that Florence / Florentine is named in tribute to Catherine.
In France, Florentine recipes have always been made with spinach. For example, fried Florentine spinach with eggs, Florentine omelet with cheese and spinach, or Florentine chicken with spinach.
What's the difference with Egg Benedict
Another well-known egg dish is Egg Benedict, and this recipe is of American origin. Both recipes are often confused, but are not the same. Although the eggs are topped in both recipes with a creamy sauce, the Egg Benedict recipe does not contain spinach. Egg Benedict, on the other hand, has the addition of bacon. Also, a delicious recipe.
Besides Egg Benedict, there are many more well-known variations: Egg Mornay, Egg Blackstone, and Egg Blanchard.
Poach or cook?
Florentine egg recipes, which can be found in cookbooks or on the internet, differ mainly by opting for a poached egg or a boiled egg. For this recipe, I've chosen boiled eggs. This has the advantage that you can prepare the recipe for a big part in advance, easily prepare it for more than six people, and it is also easy to prepare. And it makes the dish suitable for the elderly and children because the yolk has solidified.
Poached eggs are made by breaking the egg over boiling water while swirling the water. It is one of the most challenging techniques for preparing your egg, but it is worth it in terms of taste. However, it's unsuitable for the elderly and Children because the yolks are not done. But if you want to prepare poached eggs, you can find the recipe's description for making poached eggs here.
Mornay versus Hollandaise sauce
Florentine eggs are often topped with a Mornay or Hollandaise sauce. So naturally, you would expect the Hollandaise sauce to come from the Netherlands (aka Holland), but nothing could be further from the truth. Like the Mornay sauce, the Hollandaise sauce originated in French cuisine. But what is the difference?
The Hollandaise sauce is made with egg yolks, vinegar, white wine, and a lot of butter. Like the ingredients you use in mayonnaise (only butter instead of oil), it's an emulsion sauce (that's what it's called). You beat the egg yolks nicely and lightly, and then heat everything to a nice airy sauce.
A Mornay sauce is a béchamel sauce with cheese: Gruyère cheese. The sauce is therefore very rich and filling. And the cheese will brown wonderfully under the grill. In addition, the sauce contains less butter compared to the Hollandaise sauce.
Substitutions
This classic is made in this way irresistibly delicious. But of course, you can always change something in the classic recipe:
- Use poached eggs and steamed spinach and top a sandwich with it. Top that with some sauce (as described below) and put under the broiler for 5 minutes. You can easily make poached eggs with this recipe.
- Replace the spinach with smoked salmon for an even more luxurious recipe. This is also called egg royale. The recipe is of course no longer vegetarian.
- In the Mornay sauce, replace the Gruyère cheese with Emmentaler cheese, which is also very tasty.
- For a gluten-free recipe, replace the flour with gluten-free flour or corn flour.
- In this recipe you use soft boiled eggs. And that is not difficult at all. Cook and peel your eggs quickly and easily according to this step-by-step plan, and change the cook time to 5 minutes.
- You can wash leafy vegetables such as spinach quickly and easily by stirring them in a container of ice cold water to which you ad 1 tablespoon of salt. You stir the leaves well and then let it stand for five minutes. The sand disappears to the bottom and the salt causes bugs to float to the surface. Remove the spinach carefully from the water. Then fill the container twice more with new cold water to remove the salt and the small amount of sand.
- Roux tips:
- Melt the butter and add the flour. Bake for at least 2 minutes so that the flour flavor disappears. Use a wooden spatula to scrape the flour from the bottom. When adding the liquid, you switch to a whisk.
- Add a cold liquid to the warm flour mixture. That way you get fewer lumps. In this case, add cold milk to the warm flour-butter mixture.
Preparations in Advance
- You cook the eggs up to two days in advance. Store them airtight in the refrigerator until use.
- Wash the spinach the day before. Store in an airtight container or bag, to which you have added a slightly damp paper towel (to prevent the leaves from drying out) until ready to use).
- Grate the cheese. You can do this up to 3 days in advance. Store the grated cheese in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Budget friendly
- Use eggs size M and serve bread with this dish to make it more filling.
- Use frozen spinach. That is much cheaper than fresh spinach. Defrost the spinach in a strainer to allow excess water to drain.
- Instead of Gruyère cheese, you use a Gouda cheese.
- Omit the sour cream.
Storage
- This recipe contains spinach, which we cook. Therefore, it is not recommended to reheat it. Therefore, adjust the amount you are going to make to the number of people.
- Got some leftover Mornay sauce you didn't use? Make a sandwich and cover it with the Mornay sauce. Then you get a Croque Madame. And, of course, you can also use leftovers to cover your lasagna.
- You don't use the whole jar of sour cream in this recipe. What can you do with the leftovers? Use them in the soup to make it creamier. Or prepare this quick tartare sauce recipe (really recommended), and of course, you serve them with tacos with a delicious homemade salsa.
- Homemade corn bread (delicious to serve with this recipe and your house smells really great afterwards, who can resist the smell of homemade bread)
- Homemade croissant recipe (can't be missed for a delicious breakfast)
- Povotica ( delicious sweet bread with walnut filling)
- Grilled sandwich with Camembert
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📖 Recipe
RECIPE CARD
Equipment
- oven dish
- Conventional oven, with grill
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ pound fresh spinach, washed
- ½ stick butter, unsalted
- 6 eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
- 2 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated
Mornay sauce
- 1 ounce butter, unsalted, 2 tablespoons
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk, cold
- salt and pepper
- 1 egg yolk
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- 1 ounce Gruyère cheese, grated
All my recipes are written both in Metric (gram / ml) and US Customary (cups / pounds). Here you can select which type of amount you would like to see.
Instructions
Spinach
- Boil a pan of water with salt.1 teaspoon salt
- Melt the butter in a skillet, don't let it brown.½ stick butter
- When the water boils, add the spinach.½ pound fresh spinach
- At the time the water boils again, you get the spinach out quickly with a slotted spoon.
- Add spinach to the skillet and cook the spinach until it is completely shrunk.
Mornay sauce
- Put the butter in a saucepan and let it melt (but not brown).1 ounce butter
- Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes so that the flour remains white, doesn't brown, and won't burn.2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- Slowly pour the milk into the butter-flour mixture while stirring with a whisk, and bring to a boil.1 cup milk
- Mix the egg yolk and sour cream in a separate bowl.1 egg yolk, ⅓ cup sour cream
- When the sauce thickens, add the egg mixture, and cook for about 1 minute.
- Remove from heat and mix in the cheese. Season with salt and pepper.salt and pepper, 1 ounce Gruyère cheese
Make the Eggs Florentine
- Preheat the grill.
- Put the spinach in a baking dish and level it.
- Bring it to taste with salt and pepper.
- Divide the eggs on the spinach and pour the Mornay sauce on top.6 eggs
- Sprinkle with the Gruyère cheese and put it under the grill for about 10 minutes until it is melted (check now and then, the cheese should be brown but not burnt).2 ounces Gruyère cheese
Notes
- Melt the butter and add the flour. Bake for at least 2 minutes so that the flour taste disappears. Use a wooden spatula to scrape the flour from the bottom. When adding the liquid, switch to a whisk.
- To warm the flour mixture, add cold liquid. That way, you get fewer lumps. In this case, you add cold milk to the warm flour-butter mix.
This recipe contains spinach, which we cook. Therefore, it is not recommended to reheat it. Therefore, adjust the amount you are going to make to the number of people.
- Got some leftover Mornay sauce you didn't use? Make a sandwich and cover it with the Mornay sauce. Then you get a Croque Madame. And, of course, you can also use leftovers to cover your lasagna.
- You don't use the whole jar of sour cream in this recipe. What can you do with the leftovers? Use them in the soup to make it creamier. Or prepare this quick tartare sauce recipe (really recommended), and of course, you serve them with tacos with a delicious homemade salsa.
Nutrition
Kay says
I love everything about this recipe. Cheese, eggs and spinach are 3 of my favourite ingredients, so to have them all in one dish is my idea of heaven!!
Alexandra says
I would be happy to enjoy this any time of day - delicious!
Sarah James says
What a delicious brunch recipe and I love how you can make the separate ingredients ahead.
Sue says
This is an irresistible combination of flavors - it was a big hit!
Emily Flint says
Anything with gruyere cheese and eggs is a winner in my house, these florentine eggs were delicious!
Taleen | Just As Tasty says
I love Florentine eggs! This looks so creamy and delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
Andréa says
I love al three to. It's such a delicious recipe.
Andréa says
I love al three too. It's such a delicious recipe.
Andréa says
I agree, why only eat it for breakfast or brunch?
Andréa says
Indeed, I love recipes which are easy to prepare and can be made in advance.
Andréa says
Thank you. We loved it to!
Andréa says
Yes Gruyere is so delicious. Thank you!
Andréa says
You're welcome! Thank you.
Chef Dennis says
We are definitely going to have this Florentine eggs with spinach for lunch! Looks sooo delish!