Eggs with Spinach and Chickpeas from @MysteryMacRae

 

This is a quick, delicious supper dish that won’t heat up your kitchen on a hot summer day. It’s versatile, too, so go ahead and adjust the seasonings as you like. And although I haven’t done this, I bet wrapping each serving in a warm flour tortilla, pita bread, or naan would be terrific.

Eggs with Spinach and Chickpeas

(adapted from Milk Street Tuesday Nights)

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced 

15 ½-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed, drained, and patted dry (patting dry is an important step to keep the chickpeas from spattering)

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

½ teaspoon ground cumin

Salt and black pepper

10 ounces fresh baby spinach

4 large eggs (if anyone wants more than 1 egg, increase number as needed)

Optional for serving – plain yogurt, more olive oil, crusty bread or toast

 

Directions

If you're good at working between two pans at once, go ahead and juggle steps 1 and 2 simultaneously. Doing 1 first and then 2 is perfectly fine, too.  

1. Heat olive oil, until shimmering, in a large pot or kettle over medium-high heat (the large pot comes in handy when adding all that spinach). Add onion and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened and beginning to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add chickpeas, red pepper flakes, cumin, and ½ teaspoon each of salt and black pepper. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 to 60 seconds. Add spinach and cook, turning and tossing with tongs, until leaves are fully wilted, 2 to 3 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning with more salt and black pepper. 

2. Melt the butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high. Break your eggs into the skillet and fry them as you like (some people like a runny yolk with this dish, some don’t).  

To serve: portion the spinach mixture onto plates. Top each portion with one or two eggs. Sprinkle eggs with more red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper to suit your taste. Serve with a dollop of plain yogurt if you like, a drizzle of olive oil, and crusty bread or toast.

 

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes books for Annie’s Fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest and connect with her on Twitter  or Instagram.