Florentine Eggs (Tuscany)

Ingredients

All purpose flour - 1 cup

Melted butter - 1/4 cup

Salt - pinch

Water - 2-3 tbsps

Dried beans or rice

Cooked spinach - 1 1/2 cups

Butter - 2 tbsps

Creamy milk - 1/4 cup

Salt

Grated parmesan cheese - 4 tbsps

Eggs, poached - 12 small

Pastry: Sift the flour into a bowl, add the melted butter, salt and water. Mix to a dough and knead well. Roll into a ball and leave, covered, for 30 minutes. Roll out very thinly, cut into small rounds and line 12 individual pie pans about 2 inches in diameter. Fill the cases with dried beans and bake them "blind" in a moderately hot oven (400F) for about 15 minutes. Take from the oven, remove the beans but leave the pastry cases in the pans.

Squeeze the spinach dry, chop finely and mix with the butter, milk, salt and half the cheese. Heat this mixture through in a pan over a low heat.

Fill the little pastry cases with the spinach mixture and top each one with a poached egg. Trim off any overhanging egg white. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and the remaining cheese and bake in a hot oven for a few minutes until heated through.

Serves 6