Serves 6

Instead of poaching eggs individually for eggs Hollandaise and praying that your tricky butter sauce works, try these baked eggs on a bed of creamy spinach. You will need a lot of fresh spinach leaves (the regular leaves, not baby spinach in a clamshell; baby spinach cooks down too much for this dish). Begin with 3½ pounds spinach and remove the stems before cooking. All of it will not fit into the pan initially, so add it in batches, stirring in more once the previous batch has wilted. Then, squeeze out all the excess water before chopping it coarsely. Make a white sauce with milk and cream, add the spinach and have it ready to go into the oven. Just before guests arrive, heat the creamed spinach, transfer to a baking dish, and set an egg into six indentations you've made in the spinach. They'll bake in 25 minutes; you're looking for set whites and slightly runny yolks. Serve with toasted English muffins.

Butter (for the dish)

2 teaspoons olive oil

3½ pounds fresh spinach, stems removed

¼ cup (½ stick) butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

¼ cup flour

2 cups milk

1 cup heavy cream

¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan

teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Salt and pepper, to taste

6 eggs

1 scallion, trimmed and thinly sliced

1. Set the oven at 325 degrees. Have on hand a large, deep skillet. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

2. Set the skillet over medium-high heat, and heat the olive oil. Add about ⅓ of the spinach to the skillet. Cover with a lid and cook for 2 minutes. Remove the lid and stir the wilted spinach. Add another ⅓ of the spinach, cover, and cook for 2 minutes more. Remove the lid, stir, and repeat with the last batch of spinach until all the leaves are wilted.

3. Transfer the spinach to a colander set over a bowl. Leave to cool. With your hands, squeeze out all the excess water. Transfer the spinach to a cutting board and chop coarsely.

4. Wipe out the skillet and set it over medium-high heat. Add the butter and when it melts, add the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes, or until softened. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the milk, and bring the liquid to a boil. Return the spinach to the pan, and cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes.

5. Stir in the heavy cream, Parmesan, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Transfer to the baking dish.

6. With a spoon, make 6 indentations in the spinach mixture. Crack an egg directly into each (or first crack the eggs into individual cups and transfer 1 egg to each indentation).

7. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the whites are set and the yolks are slightly runny. Garnish with scallions. Serve with toasted English muffins. Karoline Boehm Goodnick