Eggs with Garlicky Braised Beet Greens

March 18, 2015

Olivia Escude

If you don’t have beet greens handy, make this easy, light supper dish with kale, Swiss chard, collards, mustard greens, or turnip greens. Serve with some good crusty bread, and dinner’s done. When it’s just me, I make this in a cast-iron skillet, but if I’m serving a guest, I usually braise the greens, then prepare individual gratin dishes of greens for each person.–Robin Mather

Ingredients

Beet greens from 1 bunch beets

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced

salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 large eggs

Preparation

Wash the greens and chop them coarsely, both the leaves and stems. It’s okay if water clings to them. You should have about 8 cups.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes, until the garlic is golden and fragrant. Add as many of the greens as you can fit into the skillet; cover with a closefitting lid and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the cover and add any remaining greens; replace the cover and cook for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the greens are wilted. They will not be tender at this point. Season the greens with salt and pepper and stir them again.
Break the eggs over the greens. Cover the skillet and slide it into the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the cover, and bake for 5 to 10 minutes longer, until the egg whites are set and the yolks are cooked through. Season the eggs with salt and pepper and serve.

Be sure to check out Robin’s fanstastic book The Feast Nearby: How I lost my job, buried a marriage, and found my way by keeping chickens, foraging, preserving, bartering, and eating locally (all on $40 a week)