This luscious onion tart with nettles sorrel and poached egg will certainly take any of the sting you might feel when considering this super healthy green food!
Serves 4. You will probably have to remove the leaves from the stems after you purchase your stinging nettles as this is how they most typically appear at markets. So please use gloves for this job.
Ingredients
- 4 cup fresh nettle leaves, blanched in boiling water for a minute (this removes the “sting”), drained and roughly chopped
- 1 cup sorrel leaves, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 shallots, minced
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 package store-bought puff pastry
- .75 teaspoon dried marjoram, divided
- 3 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 3 cup onions, thinly slices
- salt, as needed
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
- 4 eggs
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- coarsely ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
Add the nettles to the sorrel and set them aside. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan set over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring about 3 minutes until they have softened somewhat. Add the garlic and cook another minute of two. Add all the greens to the pan along with the chicken stock. Stew the greens about 20 minutes, stirring often, until the moisture has nearly evaporated. Turn off the heat and set them aside.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lay one sheet of the store-bought puff pastry on the counter in front of you. Sprinkle evenly with ¼ t dried marjoram. Lay the other sheet on top. Roll both sheets together into a rough 16x16 inch square. Cut this into 4 roughly 8x8 inch squares. Rustic shapes are just fine. Move the squares to two parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate.
Melt the butter in a large saute pan set over over medium-high heat. Add the onion and a few pinches of salt. Cook the onion, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Then continue to cook them, undisturbed, until they begin to brown on the edges. Stir the onions and cook another few moments undisturbed to further brown the onions now in contact with the bottom of the pan. Reduce the heat to low and add the bay leaf, red pepper flakes if using and the remaining marjoram. Continue cooking, stirring often, until the onions are lightly golden, about 15–20 more minutes. Remove bay leaf and adjust seasoning.
Take the rolled out squares of dough from the refrigerator. Divide the onion mixture evenly between the dough squares leaving a 1‑inch or so border. Fold these borders over themselves creating a raised edge. Crimp the dough all around to assure a good seal. Sprinkle the edges of the dough with a little additional salt.
Bake until the crust is golden brown about 35 minutes.
To serve. Heat the greens over medium heat, stirring often. At the same time bring a pot of water to a simmer over medium heat. Add the vinegar to the water. Crack an egg, keeping the yolk in tact, and carefully pour it into a small ramekin. Dip the ramekin into the simmering water allowing some of the water into the ramekin. Once the egg begins to whiten carefully pour it into the hot water. Use a spoon to gently roll the egg in the water before allowing it to settle to the bottom. Repeat with the other 3 eggs. Cook them 3 minutes and no more. Using a slotted spoon carefully move the eggs to a heated plate.
Top each onion tart with a fair amount of the greens, followed by one poached egg per tart. Sprinkle with pepper and serve warm.
After all I’m spinach tiger, but I’ve never had red and red is a favorite color. Now this soft boiled egg breakfast is right for my taste, I mean lemon and runny yolk is gold to me. I like that egg picture so much, I’m surprised you didn’t lead with it.
…I always lead with a pic of the raw ingredient. GREG
An amazing recipe, even if I’ve just learned to get my regular egg’s benedict just right. Now you change the rules on me? (haha)
Red salad is indeed our favorite. Your red-veined spinach is so beautiful! I think part of the different flavor we taste comes from the visuals and what we expect, don’t you? And I do think red m & m’s have a peppier flavor than, say, the yellow ones.
This egg and spinach dish is beautiful and would make a great Sunday lunch or a weeknight dinner. Delicious! And perfect egg!
I need to hit the market tomorrow, I picked up collards, but we desperately need some of these in our house, or just more greens period! I found it last year, so lets go see if the health food market has a replay of one of my favs as well. Yay for red spinach, and your dish!
What a lovely brunch! I’ve never used red spinach before but it looks like it’s time I did. And how interesting with the walnut oil instead of the meat. I’m intrigued! I really do have to try this now.
Greg,
I am still knee deep in WalMart pre-packaged lettuce! Spring is on its way however. I can feel it in the air. I can’t wait for some freshly grown greens. Your soft boiled egg is great, how did you DO that?
Did you mean how did I cook the egg? 1 1/2 minutes exactly… or did you mean how did I take the photo? In which case I gotta say just lucky the yolk drizzled just right! GREG
that looks fantastic! Love the shot of the egg yolk oozing down into the spinach. I’ve starred this in my google reader and will make and effort to cook this up soon!
We have an heirloom greens specialist at my FM and I am OBSESSED with his red lettuces. My favorite are the baby Merlot heads. Deep purple red, so good.
Great piece! I love the info here, I never really took the time to learn about greens and haven’t been aware of their seasons. Great food for thought as well as a delicious recipe!
You are a wealth of fabulous information today. I can’t say that I’ve ever tried red lettuce or red spinach, at least to my knowledge…but after reading this I hope I do! This looks delicious.
Enlightening as usual, Greg! Eggs and wilted spinach make such a wonderful combo. I love this dish for its meatlessness and how classy it looks compared to an omelet with the same ingredients. I’ll look for red varieties and some walnut oil.
Looks delicious! You are so talented with your wonderful food photography!
It’s good! GREG
I love the poached egg and greens combo in general, so this looks really really good!