Wednesday night didn’t go quite as planned and we just didn’t feel like cooking dinner, sousing the Crispy Salt-and-Vinegar Potatoes in the Warm Spinach Salad with Fried Egg and Potatoes just wasn’t in the cards. Kim’s original thought was to try to make this same combination for a nice Saturday lunch but she took one look at the recipe and deemed it just a few too many pots and pans for a supposedly relaxing lunch at home. We still wanted to use the eggs and spinach and the idea for baked eggs came to mind. Kim did a quick Internet search and was motivated to make her own creation inspired by these three recipes: Baked Eggs with Spinach and Cream, Baked Eggs with Canadian Bacon, Spinach, and Aged Cheddar, and Baked Eggs with Wilted Baby Spinach. Here’s how Kim’s Baked Eggs with Canadian Bacon and Spinach came together.

I did a quick audit of the recipes and realized we had quite a few of the ingredients or something similar around. I remembered we had left over Canadian bacon in the freezer from when Tony made the Barbecued Chicken with Short-Cut Collard Greens, so the first thing I did was find that and defrost it a little bit in the microwave as I let the oven pre-heat to 350 degrees.

I loved that the Baked Eggs with Wilted Baby Spinach suggested sautéing shallots before adding the spinach and was very glad to see we had a nice shallot out on our counter so I could try this. I’ve always done spinach in olive oil but I liked the suggestion in Baked Eggs with Canadian Bacon, Spinach, and Aged Cheddar to use butter and thought I’d give that a try. In addition to salt and pepper, as the spinach wilted I added just a touch of freshly grated nutmeg.

As the spinach was wilting, I chopped the Canadian bacon into bite-size pieces and sprinkled them at the bottom of each of the buttered Le Creuset cocottes. I then layered the wilted spinach with shallots on top. I loved the idea of the Asiago cheese from Baked Eggs with Wilted Baby Spinach but since I didn’t have Asiago around, I used a small sprinkling of Parmesan instead right on top of the spinach.

I cracked two eggs into each cocotte and seasoned them with a little salt and pepper. Borrowing a step from the Baked Eggs with Spinach and Cream recipe, I added   approximately one tablespoon of heavy cream (left over from Tony’s Cherry-Vanilla Scones, which he’ll be posting about soon) and another little sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

I placed both cocottes on to a baking sheet and slid them into the oven and set the timer for six minutes. I also put into the oven on another baking sheet of some leftover bread to toast while the eggs were baking. After six minutes, I rotated both baking sheets and set the timer for another six minutes. After four minutes had passed, it was time to take out the bread and in another two minutes we had delightful baked eggs. I sprinkled the eggs with some chives and parsley before plating with the toasted bread. We enjoyed a pleasant and very savory Saturday lunch at home with glass of rosé.