Eggs on Toast with Creamy Spinach Sauce

Kate and I get asked a lot about the kinds of go-to foods we have at home when we need quick and easy meals.  In my house we have plenty of frozen pizzas, burritos, and chicken nuggets in the freezer, but when I actually want a quick home-cooked meal, I have to say I probably grab eggs most often.  When I lived in Brazil, I got used to eating eggs in creative ways.  People often fried them up and served them over black beans and rice, in a salad, or as a topping for pizza.  To this day, a hot fried egg over beans is one of my favorite comfort foods.  At my house I often whip up scrambled egg burritos or quesadillas, pile eggs on english muffins with hot ham or pastrami and cheese, or make omelets or frittatas.  Most egg dishes lend well to using up scraps of random veggies you have in your fridge, which make them a great last-minute I’m-totally-out-of-food meal.  Just last night when my little brother was visiting (and was rather shocked to find his food-blogger-sister’s cupboards quite bare)  he rummaged through the fridge and whipped up an awesome scramble with bacon, roasted red peppers, and peperoncinis.  So quick and so great.

This recipe was inspired by Eggs Florentine, which is a super amazing and slightly naughty dish of poached eggs on english muffins with spinach and hollandaise sauce.  This version is lightened up and made to be quick and easy.  It’s totally something I think of as momma-lunch.  When, as a stay at home Mom you find a magical moment when you realize you have a few moments of peace and can actually prepare something wholesome and filling for yourself as opposed to eating the rest of the dino-nuggets left on the kids plates and snacking on chocolate bars (please tell me I’m not the only one who does that.) My husband is usually home for lunch, so sometimes while the kids are chowing down on PB&J’s I’ll make something like this for us (which is why the recipe is written for 2).  It makes a great breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner.  You’ll just need eggs, a couple of slices of bread, a tomato, some spinach, mushrooms, and a tiny bit of cream cheese.

Slice the mushrooms and give the spinach a rough chop.

Toss the mushrooms in a hot skillet with a little drizzle of olive oil to start browning.  While those are cooking, you’ll mix up your creamy sauce.  Remember a few weeks ago when I posted this yummy Zucchini Ribbon Pasta dish?  I explained in that recipe that while I don’t often use fat free cream cheese in cooking, it does tend to work great in sauces.  That recipe only uses part of a package of cream cheese and when that happens I always try to come up with recipes that can use the rest so you can plan accordingly.  This won’t use all of the rest, but it uses a little!  You can use regular, low-fat, or even fat free here. Since this recipe is written for 2, we just need an ounce of the cream cheese and we’ll thin it out to a creamy sauce using some nonfat milk and add spices for flavor.  Make sure to microwave and whisk the cream cheese well to get all of those lumps out.

When the mushrooms have cooked for a few minutes and are browned up, toss in the spinach.

It literally takes about 8 seconds for it to wilt.

Then add the creamy mixture to the veggies and stir to heat it though.

Since I like to avoid getting all of my pans dirty, especially on a quick dish like this, I scrape all of the creamy sauce into a bowl and cover it, give the pan a quick rinse, and then put it back on the stove to cook up my eggs.  You can fry your eggs or poach them, whichever you prefer.

While they’re cooking, slice up a ripe tomato.

And toast a couple slices of bread.  Whole grain is extra healthy, but if I’m being honest, hot buttered sourdough would be my first pick!

Layer a couple tomato slices on the bread, top with the spinach sauce, and then an egg.  If your sauce has thickened from sitting, just whisk in a little extra milk. Completely optional (I happened to have some in my fridge this time around) is a sprinkle of feta cheese and some chopped parsley.

I eat it with a knife and fork.  The toasted bread sort of sops up the creamy sauce and the egg yolk and the juices from the tomato.  You get a lot of flavors and textures and one serving is super filling.  Momma lunch at its best!

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