spinach, pea and sausage eggs florentine

So I’m making this spinach, pea and sausage eggs florentine because I saw an incredible recipe for roasted peas and chicken thighs on the Nigella website but now that I’m trying to be more vegetarian I wanted to find a meat-free alternative that didn’t include pasta.  I was also heavily influenced by  this Swedish recipe for stewed spinach and eggs from the brilliant Rachel Khoo. It’s kind of like a cross between an eggs Florentine dish and a Shakshuka. I adore cream and spinach but to make it into more of a meal rather than the side dish I though adding more wonderful green veg as well as sausages would make it rather fabulous.

Now, in terms of making it meat-free you’d be right in thinking that sausages normally contain meat but we’ve made a recent discovery of these vegetarian chipolatas by a brand called The Vegetarian Butcher and I have to tell you they are quite frankly the best veggie sausages I’ve ever eaten.  So much so that on our first eating both The Viking and myself had to go and pull the packaging out of the recycling bin to ensure we’d bought vegetarian! They’re available at Tesco and the Co Operative supermarkets.  I guess you could cook the whole thing without them but they turn the dish into a wonderful brunch meal, which is all rather lovely.

• 6 sausages – cut into little bite-size chunks
• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped a knob of butter
• fresh lemon thyme or regular thyme
• 500g frozen spinach
• 500g frozen peas
• 150ml single cream
• 150ml milk
• salt and pepper
• 4 eggs

using a large pan or casserole dish, start by sautéing your sausages in a little olive oil, then as they begin to brown add the onions and fresh herbs and sauté gently until soft

add the spinach and cook on. a low heat, covered, for 5 minutes. Uncover, stir in the peas and continue to fry for another 5–10 minutes, until any water from the spinach has evaporated.

add the cream and milk and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring at intervals and season well. (I feel this dish needs a lot of salt)

make four wells for the eggs. Crack in the eggs and continue to cook for 5 minutes or until the egg whites have set – covering with a lid will help this along.

eat and of course, enjoy!