Baked Eggs with Kale, Yogurt, and Spiced Butter

=The egg yolk in question belongs to a baked egg sitting on top of a nest of silky braised kale and leeks. And then everything is topped off with two sauces from opposite ends of the temperature spectrum - a garlicky yogurt and a spiced melted butter - that combine to create something both cooling, spicy, refreshing, and cozy, all at the same time.

Baked Eggs with Kale, Yogurt, and Spiced Butter

Serve this dish as part of a leisurely brunch, or make the vegetables beforehand to reheat in the morning for a satisfying and easy weekday breakfast.

Spices used in this recipe


Paprika, Smoked Spanish
Oregano, Mediterranean
Chili Peppers, Crushed
Salt, Kosher

Ingredients

  • ⅔ cup full-fat Greek yogurt
  • 1 medium clove garlic, minced or grated on a microplane
  • Vanns Kosher Salt
  • 2 Tbs. unsalted butter, divided
  • 1 large leek, white and light green parts chopped and rinsed (dirt loves to hide inside of leeks!)
  • 4 scallions, white and light green parts thinly sliced
  • 1 lb. curly kale, ribs removed, leaves roughly chopped
  • 1 tsp. lemon juice, or to taste
  • ¼ cup water
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
  • ¼ tsp. Vanns Crushed Chili Peppers
  • ⅛ tsp. Vanns Smoked Spanish Paprika
  • ½ tsp. Vanns Mediterranean Oregano

Preparation

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F.
  2. Make the yogurt sauce: stir the yogurt, garlic, and a pinch of kosher salt together in a small bowl. Set aside or refrigerate for later. The garlic flavors will get stronger over time, so taste before serving and add more yogurt if it’s become too strong for your taste.
  3. Make the kale -- heat a large skillet (preferably one with a lid) over medium heat. Add 1 Tbs. of the butter and heat until foam subsides. Bring the heat down to low and stir in the leek and scallion. Cook until translucent, soft, and golden brown, about 10 minutes.
  4. Increase the heat to medium-high and add as much kale as you can practically fit into the pan. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and the lemon juice over the top and cook, stirring frequently, adding more kale as the kale in the pan wilts, until you’ve added all the kale. 
  5. Stir in ¼ cup of water and reduce heat to medium-low. Cover the pan and cook, stirring every 5 minutes or so, until the kale has wilted and softened completely, about 20 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add more salt or lemon juice if needed.
  6. Remove the kale from the skillet with tongs, leaving excess liquid behind, but make sure to get all those tasty bits of browned leek and scallion! You can place all of the kale into an oven-proof 10-inch skillet to make a single, 4-egg dish, or you can divide the kale up between 4 large ramekins to create individual portions. Either way, make 4 wells for the eggs and then crack them into each well, making sure the yolks stay intact. Sprinkle each egg with a pinch of kosher salt and bake in the preheated oven until the whites are just set, 15-20 minutes.
  7. While the eggs bake, make the spiced butter: in a small skillet over medium-low heat, melt the remaining Tbs. butter with 1 Tbs. olive oil. After the foam subsides, add the crushed chili pepper and smoked Spanish paprika, and cook, stirring frequently, until the butter just starts to turn brown. Add the oregano and cook for another 20 seconds, until fragrant. Remove from heat immediately and transfer to a small bowl -- if you keep it in the hot skillet, you risk burning the spices.
  8. When the eggs are cooked, remove from the oven, drizzle with spiced butter, and serve with a dollop of garlic yogurt. Some toasted pita or other bread on the side to sop up the yolk doesn’t hurt!

Serves 4. Adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi. 

 

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