Mollet Eggs Florentine

A Mollet Egg is one that is cooked not quite hard. It lies inbetween a soft boiled egg and one cooked hard. The whites are well set and the yolk is still partly runny. A Mollet Egg Florentine is an egg cooked not quite hard served with spinach.

On of my pastimes is to go through very old cook books and I found one”The Hotel St. Francis Cook Book” by Victor Hirtzler which had recipes and menus for 365 days at the hotel. Needless to say there were many egg dishes. His version of this dish was a puree of spinach with the egg served on top.

In searching the internet I found Jacques Pepin’s take on the recipe with Mornay sauce over the top. Sounded good to me so I tweaked the recipe a little to fit my pantry and came up with the following recipe.

It makes an elegant brunch recipe and works well for a luncheon or light dinner with a salad.

Ingredients for Mollet Eggs Florentine

This recipe is for two to four persons.

For the Mollet Eggs Florentine:

2 mollet eggs per person 1# frozen spinach 2 shallots finely diced ½ tsp ground nutmeg 2 Tbs butter Salt & Pepper 1 cup grated swiss cheese

For the Mornay Sauce:

2 Tbs butter 2Tbs Flour 1½ cups of ½&½ warmed ½ tsp salt and pepper (white if available) 2 Tbs Parmesan cheese 1 egg yolk (Optional)

Directions for Mollet Eggs Florentine

There are four distinct steps to the preparation of this dish. First the spinach, second the eggs, third the Mornay sauce and fourth the final assembly and broiling. None of the steps take a great deal of time and can be done in order and if you prepare everything in advance it should be a smooth operation.

If you have small au gratens do it in individual portions, or a larger au graten or baking dish will also work just fine .

For the Spinach:

You can use fresh if you like, but frozen works just as well. Defrost the spinach and press out most of the water in a towel.

In a sauté pan melt the butter Once the butter is beginning to brown add the shallot and cook until just wilted. Now add the spinach and nutmeg and salt and pepper and stir to combine and cook for one or two minutes.

If making individual dishes divide the spinach into the four dishes, and set aside, or if using a larger dish spoon the spinach evenly over the bottom of the dish.

For the Mollet Eggs:

Use a pan that can accommodate all the eggs in a single layer and is deep enough to cover them with water.

Using a push pin, puncture the large round end of the eggs, making a small hole (this will prevent them from cracking while cooking). Have a bowl with ice water ready to accept the eggs once cooked.

Bring the water up to a rolling boil. Carefully add the eggs and cook for 6 minutes NO MORE!. Remove the eggs once cooked from the boiling water and place into the ice water to stop the cooking.

Using the back of a knife or a spoon carefully cracked the shells of the eggs and gently peel, if they resist, peel under running water. Dry eggs and set on top of the spinach. You can make a small indentation in the spinach and place the eggs in them. Sprinkle most of the cheese over the eggs and spinach, reserve a small amount to top the eggs with.

For the Mornay Sauce:

In a sauce pan melt the butter then add the flour stir to combine all the raw flour and cook for about one minute. Add the warm ½&½ and whisk while bringing the mixture up to a boil. Once thickened add the salt & pepper and Parmesan whisking briskly to prevent the cheese from lumping together. Allow the mixture to cool a little, add the egg yolk and whisk very briskly to prevent the yolk from scrambling, you can omit the yolk if you want. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Mollet Eggs Florentine Assembly:

With the bed of spinach and the eggs nestled in, carefully spoon the Mornay sauce over the eggs and spinach and top the eggs with the remaining cheese.

Place under a broiler, but do not have the dish too close to the heat. You want it far enough away so as to allow the eggs to heat up before the cheese and sauce brown too much.

Here are a few items to help make this recipe:

Cooks Standard Multi-Ply Clad Stainless-Steel 5-Quart 11-Inch Covered Deep Saute Pan

6.75″ x 3.5″ 4 Oz. Oval Au Gratin Baking Dish [Set of 6]

Very nice eggs with a nice cheesy sauce that even makes the green stuff almost palatable. Personally I would serve the eggs on a bed of prime rib, but I’m not the chef. Anyway 5 paws for the eggs and sauce.

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