New Year's Brunch: Eggs with Cream, Spinach and Country Ham

Happy New Year! Hopefully, you're up and about today nursing your New Year's Eve hangover with a delicious Bloody Mary. And don't forget to start your pot of black-eyed peas, a quintessential Southern tradition.


Here's what we had this morning (ok...almost afternoon) for brunch. It's from Gourmet magazine's latest issue-which concentrated on Southern-style cooking. I usually poach eggs for brunch dishes...whether it's Eggs Benedict or something like Eggs Italiano. Baking them was a nice (easy) twist, and the creamed spinach adds a wonderful richness.


Eggs with Cream, Spinach and Country Ham
From Gourmet magazine.
Serves 8.


1/4 cup thinly sliced country ham, finely chopped
Scant 3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
3/4 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
10 ounces spinach, coarse stems discarded
8 large eggs


Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Spray eight ramekins with cooking spray.

Bring ham and cream to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, then remove from heat. Let steep, uncovered, about 10 minutes.


Cook onion in 1 tablespoon butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-low heat, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and season lightly with salt and pepper, then cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add spinach, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper and cook, turning with tongs, until spinach is wilted.

Drain spinach in a colander, then coarsely chop. Divide spinach, then ham, among ramekins, spooning 1 tablespoon cream into each serving. Crack eggs into ramekins and season lightly with salt and pepper. Spoon 1 teaspoon cream over each egg. Cut remaining tablespoon butter into 8 small pieces and dot each egg with butter.


Put ramekins in a shallow baking pan and bake, rotating pan halfway through baking, until whites are just set but yolks are still runny, 15 to 20 minutes, removing from oven as cooked.