This is something I’ve wanted to try in my Thermomix for ages, but I didn’t have something suitable to cook the eggs in. Well, today I’m happy to say that my new silicon egg poachers arrived in the mail, so I couldn’t wait to try them out.
This recipe isn’t an exact science, so the chances of bollocks-ing it up are pretty slim.
I started out mixing up some cottage cheese with a clove of garlic, crushed. I added just enough chopped spinach (make sure to strain the juices off!) to make the mixture look nice and green. I used some fresh, chopped spinach that I’d frozen myself. Usually I prefer ricotta cheese in my eggs florentine, but grocery day out here is tomorrow, and I couldn’t wait to buy some. You could also used tofu blended up and drained off.
Next, I placed my new silicon egg cups into the basket that sits inside the Thermomix bowl. (You can also put this into the Varoma steaming attachment up top, as I learned from here) On the left of the photo below, you can see how I’ve put the egg in first. On the right, you can see that I’ve placed my cheesy-spinach mixture on top. Try not to let it mix into the egg below. I didn’t using cooking spray oil this time around, but in future I will be, just so that I can get the eggs and mixture out of the cases more easily next time.
Next, I plopped this cotton dishcloth gently on top of the egg cases. Don’t panic, this cloth was well-washed and thoroughly dried! Any cloth would do. The reason this step needs to be taken is so that the steaming liquids don’t collect in the tops of the cases, or you’ll end up with a putrid soup effect! If you’re doing this in the Varoma on top, a clean, dry tea towel will do in place of the lid that usually covers it.
I cooked this on Varoma temperature for 15 minutes on a speed of 1, with 700g of water in the bowl itself. I then turned it out onto a slice of crusty sourdough breadstick. I put a thinly sliced piece of tasty cheese on top and carefully pressed it onto the egg to encourage it to melt. If you like the yolk to be more firmly cooked, you can cook it a little longer.
I wish you could taste and smell how delish this was! My partner and I had this for breakfast this morning. What a way to start the day.
Just a quick edit/update: I ended up craving this dish again later this evening. I also wanted to see if I could make the final result more shaped, or moulded. This time I used some Nigari tofu and cooking spray oil. Instead of just putting two eggs in, I did three. They were squished together fairly tightly, which helped to give them a much better shape. I also think, because I strained the tofu, that helped it to come out much firmer. I think going by taste, my preference is for ricotta or cottage cheese and not tofu
I would like to try this again with one of the aforementioned cheeses, but strain it too (I didn’t strain it for the first attempt, and I think it does make a difference). I also noticed that if I pinch the edges together as I turn the moulds out upside down, it seems to help them to hold their shape much better. Oh, and one more thing: with my second attempt in the photos below, I actually blended the spinach, garlic and tofu (in future it will be ricotta or cottage cheese) first, then strained it all together. You can see the results below. Forgive the dark, evening light!
