Spinach / Cheese / Egg Bake........An Entrée Or A Main Meal?

This entree is rich, quite filling and could be used for a meal by itself except maybe with a fresh tomato chive salad. Basically it is a tasty spinach mixed with a béchamel sauce served in an individual, small, shallow earthenware baking dish with a sunny side up egg in the middle and melted cheese on top. All this is baked in the oven till egg cooks and the cheese melts.......fantastic!
You will therefore need:
Serves one to 12 individual earthenware baking dishes.
-  Fresh Spinach washed three times, boiled, finely cut and well strained. You can strain it further by taking handfuls and pressing them between your hands until all the liquids drains out.
-  Eggs
-  Whatever cheese you wish from Gouda, Chester, Cheddar to Camembert or Chèvre but it must melt.
Method:
1)  The spinach:
  • Boil spinach with very little water. It will expel its own
  • Drain, cool, press with your hands all the water out.
  • Repeat with rest of spinach.
  • Cut as finely as possible. 
2) The béchamel.
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 25 gms fresh butter, melted
  • Mix flour and butter and make a roux. Stir roux for 1/2 minute till flour cooks.
  • Add 500 ml boiled milk slowly slowly by stirring with a wire wisk.
  • Keep on wisking until the bechamel is smooth,  nice and thick.
  • Add salt, pepper, garlic powder if you wish, and nutmeg. Mix spinach and bechamel very well and check for seasoning. You can add whatever else you wish according to your imagination. The spinach béchamel mixture has to be very tasty. 
3)  Dressing the plate before baking:
  • Add some spinach/bechamel sauce mix, flatten, make a hole in the middle and break an egg in this hole.
  • Cover the whole lot with thin slices of a cheese of your choice.
  • Bake in preheated oven  160 degrees C for 15 minutes. or till the egg cooks and the cheese melts
4)  Serve hot, sprinkled with freshly ground pepper.
Suggested wine: none, left to your own choice.
Bon Appétit,
Stelio

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