Green Eggs and Ham

This recipe and photo are from Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals television show, episode BMD4.

Read Linda's article on Baked (Shirred) Eggs.

To learn all about Eggs and how to cook them, and for more great brunch ideas, check out my Brunch Recipes.

Recipe Type: Pork, Spinach, Eggs, Cream
Yields: 4 servings
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 large shallots or green onions, finely chopped
1 (10-ounce) box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted in microwave and liquids drained
1/3 to 1/2 cup heavy cream (eyeball it)
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
8 slices deli ham or prosciutto di Parma
8 eggs
Buttered toast triangles

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a frying pan over medium heat, heat the extra-virgin olive oil and the butter; and the shallots or green onion and sweat the shallots a few minutes. Add the spinach and stir in the cream, season with salt, freshly ground black pepper and a little grated nutmeg. Cook the spinach, stirring occasionally, until the cream has thickened, approximately 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning to your taste.

Fold each slice of ham or prosciutto in half and line the nonstick muffin cups with 1 slice of meat each. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the cooked spinach into each of the cups, then crack an egg into each, making sure it stays whole. Hint: If you're worried about breaking the egg yolk, crack the egg into a small bowl first, then pour it into the muffin cup.

Season the tops of the eggs with salt and pepper. Bake in the preheated oven until the eggs are set, approximately 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow the baked eggs to cool in the muffin cups for a couple of minutes before removing them from the pan. Serve immediately.

Season eggs with additional salt and pepper, if desired. Carefully remove eggs (with ham) from muffin cups, using 2 spoons or small spatulas, and place on individual serving plates.

Garnish with triangles of buttered toast leaned on the cups to dip in the yolk as desired. Serve two eggs per person.