This, this mash-, roast-, horseradish-, bangers-, crisps-, and goose fat-free, is one of my favorite things I ate while I was in the UK, and it’s not even British. Technically speaking, it was from a Venetian small plates restaurant, although I came to associate meals with generous helpings of gorgeously cooked spinach with the UK, as it appeared, to my delight, on so many plates. I had spinach tangled with a duck breast at a gastropub in what felt like the middle of nowhere, spinach in small tufts on another pizza (this one alongside a perfect pint) my first jet-lagged night in town, and a perfect amount of spinach at a pub on a Sunday afternoon, kissed with the horseradish sauce that had been ladled, to my glee, over my roast, but this was my favorite.
Here, spinach that has been wilted and squeezed, is re-plumped, so to speak, with creme fraiche, parmesan, salt and pepper, and is generously spread over a tiny pizza. An egg centers on this pile (and sometimes around it, at least in my kitchen) and the whole mess is baked together until the edges of the pizzette are brown, the spinach is tender, with a slight gratin-like effect, and the egg is white at the edges and just-runny-enough in the center and I think it might be my perfect meal. I would have it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner almost any day of the week (also in the rain, on a train, on a boat, with a shark…) and now that I’ve discovered that glorious late-season spinach still exists at markets around here, I might just make it happen.
The restaurant, by the way, is called Polpo and they have one of the most gorgeous cookbooks I’ve ever seen, with a raw binding almost haphazardly stitched with thin red thread. What’s between the covers seemed so simple to me that the first few times I saw it (on book tours, needless to say, you spend a lot of time in bookstores) I dismissed it, thinking it had nothing to teach me. Silly Deb. It took only one visit to the Soho location, one tiny crisp, cold runner bean salad with walnuts and pesto, to remember that some of the best meals in the world are deceptively simple with suspiciously short ingredient lists. Within these confines, great cooking shines.
One year ago: Apple Cider Caramels (and a little book I wrote was released!)
Two years ago: Gingersnaps (it is so gingersnap season again)
Three years ago: Spicy Squash Salad with Lentils and Goat Cheese and Buckeyes
Four years ago: Baked Chicken Meatballs and Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats
Five years ago: Deep, Dark Salted Butter Caramel Sauce and Pink Lady Cake
Six years ago: Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup and Cranberry, Caramel and Almond Tart
Seven years ago: Easiest Baked Mac-and-Cheese and Bretzel Rolls
Spinach and Egg Pizzette
Adapted from Polpo by Russell Norman
Yield: An awkward 5 to 6 small pizzas; each could be a light meal with salad or soup; 2 would make a hearty one
The original recipe for these pizzette is in strictly conversational terms — a handful of this, a spoonful of that, pinches, knobs, golf balls. I attempted to put this in more measured terms, for your shopping convenience, and also for nervous cooks that prefer specific measurements when blind-cooking something new, however, you can nudge this recipe this way and that — using more or less dough, spinach, cream, cheese, etc. I liked it just like this, however.
The original recipe calls for a pesky thing — small eggs. They’re available here, but not terribly much. The large eggs that I actually used absolutely spilled over the edges of the pizza, and it was kind of annoying, annoying enough that I forgot to take pictures at the end. I even attempted plopping the yolk on and only pouring in a little of the white, which worked better but, as you know, most egg whites like to stick to each other and pouring just a little off wasn’t easy. (You could whisk it to loosen them first, but really, how many steps should we add here to what was once a fairly dead-simple recipe?) Instead, I’m going to advise you to hold back a little of the egg white if you can, and bake the pizzas on parchment, so that if the eggs spill over a little, and they probably will, so be it — it will taste no less delicious. This is still, to me, the perfect breakfast, lunch, or dinner meal.
About a 3/4-recipe of Lazy Pizza Dough or 5 to 6 golf ball-sized pieces of pizza dough of your choice
About 1 pound fresh spinach with stems or 10 ounces baby spinach
1/4 cup creme fraiche
1 small garlic clove, minched
1/2 cup finely grated parmesan, plus more for garnish
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, plus more to taste
5 to 6 (one per pizza) small eggs, if you can find them, or the next smallest that you can find
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil, to finish
Heat oven to 500 degrees. Place parchment paper* on tray and sprinkle with cornmeal. Stretch pieces of dough into 6 to 7-inch thin, round-ish shapes.
If using grown-up spinach, remove coarse stems. No need to remove stems from baby spinach. Wash and drain spinach leaves but no need to fully dry. In a large skillet, cook spinach with water droplets still clinging to the leaves (if it seems too dry, add another tablespoon or two of water to the pan) until spinach just wilts. Plunge spinach in cold water, then transfer it to a colander. Press out as much liquid as you can, then squeeze the rest in small fisfuls.
Transfer to cutting board and chop spinach into small bits. In a bowl, combine it with creme fraiche, garlic, parmesan, salt and pepper.
Divide spinach mixture over each dough round, spreading almost to the edges, thinning it slightly in the center with a spoon to make an indentation to help hold the egg in place. If using small eggs, crack one into the center of each pizzette. If using larger eggs, separate the egg. Add yolk to center of spinach, then pour in egg white carefully, so not to add so much that it floods the pizza. However, if it does spill over, don’t sweat it, that’s what the parchment is for.
Either bake pizza directly on parchment covered trays or slide parchment onto pizza stones for anywhere from 6 to 8 minutes (in a very robust oven), to 10 to 13 minutes (in a regular one)**, until egg white is set and the yolk is still loose. As soon as you remove the pizzette from the oven, add a grind of black pepper, very thin drizzle of olive oil and scatter some extra parmesan over it. Eat immediately.
* Technically speaking, parchment paper should not go in an oven hotter than 450 degrees, but I’ve found that nothing bad happens, it only gets a little brown at the edges. Without the parchment, any egg run-off tends to cement the pizzette to the pan, no fun at all.
** The baking times are especially finicky here. These will work for most people, however, if your egg becomes too cooked before the pizza is remotely golden at the edges, you might want to add it later in the cooking time. Be especially cautious of this if using small eggs.
I was pleasantly surprised by all of the restaurants where we ate while in the UK, including a great pizza place in Shoreditch, coincidentally! There’s something much more rustic and earthy to the pizzerias that we’ve eaten in throughout Europe. Luckily, they’re starting to catch on back here at home. I will happily make these at home for a quick pizza fix!
So glad you love that book as well. I’ve been crazy about it for awhile. That binding is so gorgeous – my brother in law says it’s called “coptic binding” and is one of the oldest methods to bind books!
Conversational recipes are the best, great recipe looks like breakfast on a pizza..
Yum! I do think you should use the term my 3 year old daughter accidentally invented on the weekend though, which is ‘petite-za’ (petitza? petitzza?). I thought it was kind of genius :D
Last night I made pizzettes doubling Russell Norman’s dough recipe and fed 8 hungry travelers! I am so glad that you’ve discovered Polpo– I just love how the quality of the binding, the regional focus of the recipes, and the general ethos behind the restaurant all seems to tell the same story: beauty, integrity of the ingredients, and seasonality. Thank you for sharing!
Ok. you’ve convinced me. Homemade pizza will be attempted…
Thank you for the dinner inspiration for tonight! I’m going to attempt it using the little bit of leftover best baked spinach in my fridge. I’d make it as written, but eh…I really don’t want to go to the store tonight. I’ll just have to hope a blob of creme fraiche worked into the spinach will make it mostly right.
Candygram.
Where do you recommend the rack position in the oven? I usually keep mine in the middle for my pizzas, but not sure if the top or bottom is better for the integrity of the egg :) PS – God, this looks good.
So crazy that your book was released a year ago, congrats Deb!
Polpo is a great cookbook. I made the little duck & porcini meatballs last winter. It took me two days, but the result was sensational!
Ahhh I love Polpo! Great, great food. The best thing I ever ate there was a goats cheese and kale pesto piadina: a slice of pure heaven.
“pizza in the morning, pizza in the evening, pizza at supper time…”
I would imagine that you could make the pizza crust just a little bigger or, even, make a slight well with the topping to contain the egg. But, of course, I’m sure you tried all that. I love those little pizzas and have cheated by using that Grands biscuit dough to make them. The size is just right. Something happens to me when I get a big ball of pizza dough in my hands…I just seem to go into large pizza mode. Silly.
I am making these tonight! The fresh eggs I get from my moms farm always have two or three itty bitty eggs that sit in the carton because I avoid them in baking. These look perfectly devine.
Oh stop it! These recipes you do are too good, No wonder I run out food so quick when you develop recipes as quick, tasty and dare I say good for you as these.
My husband and I use your lazy pizza dough pretty much every week for pizza (and wine) on either Friday or Sunday evenings. You totally read our minds with this recipe. We were talking about spinach pizza with a white sauce and lots of parm for this week. I can’t wait to put a runny egg on top and try this! It sounds like the perfect recipe for what we were hoping to make!
Your blog tells us that one year ago today you gave us apple cider caramels. I recently made my 3d batch (the first this year). They are totally addictive. I thought it my duty to warn your readers. I’d better go have another right now, even though I just finished lunch.
Oooh, I wonder if this would work with fromage blanc instead of creme fraiche, or if it would curdle?
So fun! I love making random stuff and sticking an egg on top – so good!
What a great way to work in some greenery! With egg and cheese, even the pickiest cannot say no to this :)
I might try making slightly larger pizzas (say, 4 instead of 5-6?), put them in for a bit, THEN put the egg on. That way the crust has a chance to golden (my oven is the opposite of robust!), but the egg shouldn’t overcook or spill over in the process. ….. I hope.
Looks delicious and simple! I always love recreated restaurant recipes.
This seems so easy to make and so delicious, I can’t wait to try this!!
This is just so appealing! If you’ve got pizza dough at hand, there’s just no reason to eat “junk food”. Ever. This is a combination that would make me feel good, no matter what time of day.
Too funny! My 2yo daughter was a shark for Halloween this year too. So, so stinkin cute.
Amy P — We saw a lot of sharks! He was actually supposed to be a typical 4 year-old boy superhero, but demanded to be a shark at the last minute. I’d totally forgotten about the costume; we bought it for last year, which was washed out by Sandy. We were so delighted it still fit!
Susan — Making the pizzas larger definitely makes more sense. I was being stubborn, really, because I was so charmed by the tiny perfect size of the one I had there.
LauraP — I am not 100% positive about fromage blanc per se, but to my understanding, just about every thickened dairy product besides heavy cream and creme fraiche curdle when heated.
I wish there was a way to create “favorites” in this website! I just want to star this recipe!
Delicious! Our version of this, and one of our preschooler’s all-time favorite dinners, involves a pesto sauce on the crust, and then a mixture of spinach and mushrooms topped with some mozzarella and parmesan, in addition to the eggs on top. This reminds me we haven’t made it in awhile!
That is so simple but it looks so wonderful! Eggs on pizza are a match made in heaven.
This might be dinner tonight!
You must have been reading my mind. I have been looking for a recipe like this. Now I have a great one to try. Thank you thank you thank you. :-)
Clicked on your site to pass some time while my home made pizza dough is warming from the fridge…could this be a coincidence??! Looks so yummy! Thanks!
I would have never of thought to put eggs on pizza and I put practically anything on pizza! This would be a great breakfast version!
Oh snap – that looks straight up delicious! I would order it off any restaurant menu. And I am a fan of egg on top of almost anything!
LOVE eggs on pizza! I’ve been wanting to do this at home and now I can try it!
Yummy!
xo Jennifer
http://seekingstyleblog.wordpress.com
These pizzettes look perfect! They are the classy version of one of my favorite quickie lunches, the “spinach egg” (name needs work). english muffin-wilted spinach-parmesan-over easy egg.
We were just in London for about 8 days, but didn’t get to try anything like this! London is such an international city, it’s full of amazing foods from all over the world. I love to make little pizzas that aren’t necessarily “perfectly tossed” (mostly because I am horrible at that, so these little pizzettes are less intimidating and cute. I recently adapted your breakfast pizza to make little guys just like these, they were so delicious!!
The egg here is killer– and so happy to see another use of your great pizza dough!
Just finished making the pizza (full size, not pizzette) and had an odd experience. The bottom of the crust stuck to the parchment paper…I mean it really stuck big time and it took a lot of patience to try to peel it off, not all successfully either. How did this happen? sigh!
This looks so good! I know my husband would love this — looks like I’d better head to the grocery store to pick up some spinach… :)
Spinach, eggs, pizza that’s a holy trinity of a food combination.
have you considered using quail or another variety of eggs entirely (which are naturally smaller) to achieve the desired result? it’d probably be pricier, but might be worth it. just a thought.
Serious Eats made a suggestion to get rid of the extra liquidy white – crack an egg into the strainer and swirl around to keep just the tighter white and the yolk. Would that get rid of enough excess white? http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/03/how-to-poach-eggs-easy-way-poached-breakfast-video.html
BC — Good tip, thanks. I was concerned about adding too many steps, but I think that’s one that will definitely help if someone wants the pizza to be made with large eggs and no spillover.
I will be trying this with some spinach pistachio pesto I made and froze this weekend to use up some past-its-prime baby spinach. Thanks much!
I am a loyal reader, and have made many of your recipes but have never posted. This is brilliant! You are brilliant! I am definitely going to try this one! Thanks!
I totally misread the title as pizelles and was all WAIT WHAT until I looked at the opening picture. Although now I kind of want to try a savory pizelle! :)
I love cooked spinach on pizza! Imagining the yolky goodness spread out on the pizza is making my mouth water!
Oh my goodness, my husband will LOVE this recipe. He has recently discovered the joy of yolk (I feel like that could be a book title). I am still learning to like it. Yum!
Simple and beautiful! Can’t wait to try.
I’m always on the look-out for new vegetarian recipes that are a little different – this one certainly looks great. I’ve never had eggs on pizza, so I’ll have to give it a go.
Holy cow. I made this tonight and as soon as it came out of the oven I sat on the counter and ate two! I can honestly say this is one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had. I love you. You’re so talented and inspire me daily. Thank you for yet another recipe I’ll cook again & again. Tomorrow I’m making your ricotta ;)
Snap! I LOVE Polpo! It is one of my favourite restaurants – and their cookbook is one of my absolute favourites too. They have a great recipe for pizza dough – which is my go-to for all pizzas now – but I am looking forward to giving this recipe a go too… And the pizza stone is essential – we bought one, because it was recommended in the pizza section of the Polpo cookbook and have never turned back. All my pizzas now come out with lovely crisp edges and soft in the middle – just as it should be.
Question, is there anything that we are not doing right or it’s just that commercial oven packs a MUCH higher temperature, but often times my pizza also comes out a little “pale” on the top without the huge blistered bubbles and the slight char?
It would be nice to know that it’s not us or our dough, just the stupid oven’s fault.
Mandy — It’s the stupid oven’s fault. You can see that mine is quite pale compared to the lovely I was served at the restaurant (last picture).
Hi Deb! I got back from London one week ago. Ate at polpo in Covent Garden so I’m very excited to see this recipe, I absolutely loved the spinach pizzette. Such amazing flavours.
Having just been on one of Richard Bertinet’s bread making course I’m going through a bit of a Pizza phase at the moment and definitely will be trying these. Polpo has been a major hit in London during the last couple of years and anyone coming to London I would also recommend its sister restaurants Polpetta and Mishkins.
I am new to your blog & greatly enjoying it, I read it as smittenkitten the first time it popped into my InBox & smittenkitten it has stayed :)
PS we have just finished building a wood oven in our city courtyard (Adelaide Aust) & this will be my next pizza :))
I have a feeling this will become one of my go-to lunches from now on! I love pizza and am always looking for new, interesting toppings and flavor combos…I’m ashamed to admit I had never thought of spinach and egg but now I can’t wait to try it out, I’m sure I’ll love it!
xo, Elisa
Maybe I’ve been too lazy until now to try lazy pizza dough, but this definitely inspires me to try it out, especially since I’ve got some spinach to hand…
Your mention of the small egg caused me to wonder if you meant an egg from a chicken such as a pullet egg? Those are impossible to locate for the general public to purchase. However, there is a wonderful source of fresh quail eggs at all Asian grocery stores. One or two atop your little pizza would be perfect.
Your reference to “grown up spinach” reminds me that someone in the produce department at the nearest grocery store has a sense of humor. For a while they had a homemade sign that said “teen-aged spinach.”
This sounds amazing. One of my favorite meals is to wilt a bowlful of spinach, fry an egg and add it to the spinach with a little bit of parm cheese, so good and easy.
Gorgeous! It’s on my menu for Thursday this week. This will be a nice change of pace from my usual pizzas. AND I have one more use for my homemade creme fraiche – yay!
I cannot wait to put an egg on my next pizza!
LOVE this. It’s definitely on my list of things to try this week… yum. :-)
I just want to weigh in on this whole “put an egg on it” thing: It just creeps me out!
And Deb, didn’t you used to hate visible eggs?
Can anyone explain the allure?
knifegirl — I’ve always liked the egg-on-top thing, but there’s no reason it cannot be skipped. This would also be a delicious spinach flatbread.
I love! this cookbook. One of the prettiest ones I own. I can’t believe you got to eat there.
p.s. Make the bruschette with roasted grapes! It is wonderful.
Lovely!! Wish I had one of these for breakfast!
The first thing I thought when I saw the post was that Polpo do a lovely version of that. I’m not sure if its instantly recognisable or I’ve eaten at Polpo too many times!
oh gosh this looks incredible! my mom used to make spinach and eggs for us for dinner all the time but she never put it on a little pizza like this. So awesome, I will have to make it for my son, he’ll love it!
Now I have two more things I must do… add Polpo to my cookbook collection, and make this pizza! Thanks Deb!
I’m tempted to make these pizzettes for dinner! YUM! Cute too.
I think I wreck everything with pecorino> It’s too identifiable. But I loved this. Remind me to buy the parm!
Just by accident, my mouse hovered over your pretty pictures and I got a chuckle out of “a map of asia in chopped spinach”…I see it!
Looks and sounds delicious, as usual:)
So hearty and delicious… love anything with spinach.
Not on topic much – though the idea of the spinach mix on an English muffin is a great addition to lunch repertoire – but I wanted to thank you for solving my pie crust problem. For years, just years, I’ve been trying to get it right. Super flaky, flavorful, just enough salt. Tried buttermilk, bits of vinegar, butter/shortening, lard, even vegetable oil, some wheat flour, things I’ve forgotten by now. Nothing really worked. Finally, with some beautiful Northern Spy apples from our last farmers’ market of the year, I scrapped it all, and used your book’s recipe. I keep my butter in the freezer, so I risked shredding it in the food processor first, then adding the flour and salt, then the ice water. One bowl crust. Chilled for the full hour. Bottom line, the absolutely best pie crust ever! Pie not bad, either. Thank you!
We have free range hens, and thus are blessed with LOTS of eggs and I’m always trying to come up with new ways to serve them (they’re so delish!) that will thrill my family. This looks like a thrilling egg dish, pizza, paired with greens, how wonderful! Trying it this week!
As a retired sous chef I have to say I love just about every recipe that I read on this blog. The elegance of institutional cooking and presentation marry quite well with the casual comfort of home cooking in your writing and photography. This recipe certainly will be in the back of my head for future pairings and as a base to a good dinner with possibility of varying the greens. Thank you.
I’m so into this. I love egg on pizza, and this + spinach looks great!!
Um, parchment in a 500 degree oven? I have totally lit parchment aflame doing that. Actually it was a 450 degree oven, but maybe it ran a little hot. Anyway, be careful.
Hi Dorothy — I have a note at the bottom warning people that it’s not technically safe to use parchment over 450, however, readers tell me (and I have found myself) that when they use it under pizza, there have been no flames, it’s just the edges of the paper that get a little dark.
Delicious. I didn’t have success with the eggs, but next time – there will definitely be a next time for this recipe – I’ll add the eggs a little later. Thank you, as always!
Hooray for smaller pizzas – they are a different breed than the giants. Spinach folds in nicely to so many things!
NO WAY!! I very randomly happened into Polpo one evening, looking for a drink, while visiting London for work. They told me I had to order food even to sit at the bar. Reluctantly, I agreed. So happy I went with my gut (no pun intended). I ended up hanging out there for hours just eating and drinking anything they recommended. It was one of the best meals I ever had! I had no idea they had a cookbook. Can’t wait to make this pizza and reminisce about their flavors! Thanks for posting this.
I had a delectable pizza at a pub once – I thought it would be similar to this (sans egg), because it vaguely said “topped with spinach” – but it actually was pulled out of the oven, topped with spinach, and drizzled with a, umm, garlic aioli I believe. Oh man, was it ever so delicious. If you should come up with a similar pizza, or even an aioli, since I’m pretty clueless about those, I would be indebted. So. Good.
happy anniversary!
Anything with an egg on it will be good. It’s just the order of the universe.
Wouldn’t it be better/safer to bake over tin foil than over parchment paper?
Josh — Temperature-wise, yes. But we’re putting parchment there because it is nonstick, because if the egg runs over and bakes it will glue itself to the pan. It would glue itself to foil as well. It will release easily from parchment.
Don’t know if anyone mentioned this already, but I think quail eggs would be perfect here!
Do you think you could use arugula instead of spinach?
jean — I think so, but I don’t find the cooked flavor of arugula to be as appealing, personally. But I don’t think you asked me that. ;)
Hey Deb, just a heads up I think you left out a verb inadvertently in one of your sentences in this post. See below sentence:
“It took only one visit to the Soho location, one tiny crisp, cold runner bean salad with walnuts and pesto that some of the best meals in the world are deceptively simple with suspiciously short ingredient lists.”
:)
serana — Thanks, all fixed now.
That look delicious, I have been wanting to make a pizza with an egg on top, like I had at a resturant once, thanks for the recipe.
Would it be possible to make the “spinach flatbread” portion early and save it, then reheat it and top it with a poached egg? (for a delicious, healthy, early morning breakfast that requires relatively little groggy effort) Or would that take too much away from the experience to be worth it? (Btw, Thanks, I love your blog!)
Seamus — I think it could be. The spinach and the crust might end up a little more dry after twice-baking, but it otherwise shouldn’t be an issue.
Love homemade pizza dough and this lazy dough idea is brilliant. Thanks for sharing Deb.
I’m lazy :-( Could the spinach chopping and combining take place in a food processor?
barrie — Yes, but only pulse it a few times. You wouldn’t want pureed spinach, yech.
Made this for dinner tonight and loved it. First off, the crust. I have made countless recipes–with semolina and 00 flour and you-name-it and THIS IS THE BEST EVER. not only is it dead easy but really, really good. I made the overnight version of the lazy pizza dough and ended up having to make it the next day and it was divine. My kids pronounced it better than the pizza place. Now for the eggs on pizza–I love it. A local restaurant makes a breakfast pizza with eggs and slabs of bacon. Divine. This was as good. I used kale b/c I had some about to die in my fridge and added plain tomato sauce b/c I love it. I also made it into a larger pizza with 3 eggs and it worked perfectly. I’d say my chickens lay medium eggs but they stayed in place and didn’t run all over. Thank you for a great recipe…definite repeater in our house!
Just made this tonight and polished it off quickly. Super quick and easy and delicious. This will be a regular recipe. I used whole wheat pizza crust from a gourmet grocery store since I was in a hurry to make this. I just carved off a larger-than-golfball piece so that it was large enough to accomodate the large egg. No problem. Parchment did not light on fire. I rollled out the pizza on the parchment and slid it onto our cast iron pizza disk. Was loose with the ingredient proportions and used nearly 10 oz of spinach but less of everything else. Next time would like to try nonfat Greek yogurt instead of creme fraiche and hold back a teeny bit on the parmesan to see if I can “clean” up the dish to justify having it ALL the time. Loved hearing that kale worked well too. My pizza-fanatic husband is already demanding more. Many thanks.
I made it just this evening with Martha Stewart’s Cornmeal Pizza Crust which added a nice texture – I’m a big fan! Thanks Deb!
Looks delicious, I might have to try it soon! Just wanted to say that I tried a variation on the blueberry cornmeal butter cake from your book, and it was absolutely life-changingly fantastic. Sort of turned into a strawberry Greek yogurt cake by accident, but it was so easy and absolutely delicious that I think I might make it every month with whatever fruits I have on hand.
Deb, were you able to squeeze in a meal at Ottolenghi while in London? I had one of the. best. meals. of. my. life. there this past summer.
Krisy — We made it to Nopi. It was wonderful. I’d love to go to more next time.
Oh you’ve sold me the book! I’ve been seeing it everywhere but, like you, I didn’t think it would add anything to my collection. Well, know i want it, so Christmas gift list it is.
Mmmmmmm… Looks delish! I’ve eaten this in the UK, Italy and Australia (currently living in Adelaide, South Australia) and have often seen it referred to as Florentine Pizza… as in Eggs Florentine on a pizza. Will be giving this a try very soon!!!
I was so excited to make this as I had some spinach that had to be used up, and my husband had already suggested we reprise the most excellent pizza posted a while back this week. I decided to cut the recipe down for the two of us. I had all the ingredients except the creme fraiche,and was reluctant to make a trip to the market for one item,and didn’t have the 24+hours to make my own. I always have Fage brand*plain Greek yogurt, as well as half and half, on hand so decided to take a chance on creating a reasonable facsimile by combining the two. The result was surprisingly like creme fraiche in both taste and texture. Although this substitution might not work universally, the results for this recipe were fantastic and I thought other readers might be interested. After putting my pizettes on the parchment, I trimmed around them, leaving about an inch margin so there wasn’t much parchment to brown in the oven. I slid them onto my preheated pizza stone and the results were perfect. Thanks for another winning recipe, Deb. You are the best!
*I am specific here as other brands often are a bit chalky so might not work as well for this application
do you think this would work well with Kale? Kale & Eggs and homeade pizza are separately 2 of my kid’s favorite dinners.
Any creme fraiche alternatives? I have 2% milk, mozzarella, and extra parm in the fridge now. Is it worth an extra trip to the store, or is there a good ratio I can use to cobble together those things?
Hi Sarah — You might try making a light bechamel, just the skinniest pat (1 teaspoon) of butter melted, stir in a small spoonful (1 teaspoon) of flour, then whisk in about 1/4 cup milk until and simmer it for a few minutes and use this mixture instead of the creme fraiche. That’s the sauce often used in creamed spinach.
Naomi — Kale could be tasty. If the heavier kale, will need more cooking time to wilt. The softer kale, only a little.
I made these last night and they were fantastic. I did overcook the egg a bit (sob) so no runny yolk (double sob) but the flavor of the crust and spinach was amazing! I used cream cheese in place of the creme fraiche and it worked like a charm. I’m seriously making these again tomorrow
we did these last night ( with a couple of cheats necessary at 5:30pm ) but they turned out beautifully! thanks, deb! and happy book-a-versary!
I’m going to make these tonight. Super excited!
Looks delicious — I love egg on pizza. As an aside; pizzette is already plural in Italian. Don’t have to worry about adding that ‘s’ to the end. Singular would be pizzetta. (Sorry, I had to.)
Beth — Aaah! Thank you.
Made these last night- easy, inexpensive, and a great use of ingredients I already had in the fridge. Your simple creativity is always inspiring!
It’s Looking very delicious dish.Last time I made this recipe in my house. Polpo is my favourite restaurant.Here all the foods are very delicious tasty.Thanks for sharing this amazing dish.
So so good– and so simple! I love how versatile the spinach topping is– I didn’t have any eggs in the house, so I added some red bell pepper and shredded mozzarella and it was absolutely delicious. I really appreciate how just a few ingredients can come together so well in a dish like this. Another great recipe from smitten kitchen!
If you wanted to make this on the grill, do you think the egg would cook properly? Also, do you have any guesses as to how long it would take for the egg to be done?
I made these, forgetting to mix the creme fraiche into the spinach mixture. OOPS. I dolloped it on the side and cut the pizette into “dipping sticks” and it still tasted wonderful.
First batch: baked on a pizza stone for 10 minutes, got a heavenly crust and rubbery egg. Second batch: cracked the eggs onto the pizzas after 5 minutes in the oven, baked for 6 more. Perfect.
Brittany– I bet it would work on a grill– I’ve made grilled pizzas with this dough. Put the dough on the grill for a couple of minutes, flip it, top it. The egg shouldn’t take more than 5-6 minutes on a really hot grill.
I’m sooo excited about this recipe! I mean eggs on pizzas… Yes! Have to make it soon. Thanks for sharing, Deb!
I’m making this tonight. I have made the dough in the morning, cleaned the spinach as well. I just realized I don’t have the creme fraiche, can I use ricotta instead?
Molla — It won’t bake up as smoothly, but yes.
I loved this recipe! I used the Michael Ruhlman trick for poaching eggs (http://ruhlman.com/2011/02/egg-poaching/) where you strain off the more liquidy parts of the white with a perforated spoon before adding it to the pizzettes and it worked really well. A huge hit a brunch today and no runaway egg white.
Do they make good leftovers?
Wonderful! Maybe i will take this home for Thanksgiving!
I made this for brunch today (baked on the cookie sheet). The eggs ran a bit (not small) when I cracked them on the pizzette – so I got a bit worried. I made if for a brunch – but WOW – it was a huge hit. Easy, tasty and a little bit surprising. Thanks!
I wonder if the spinach mixture will freeze ok or not; I made 3X the recipe because we had people over last night and although they seemed to like the food, we have leftovers.
I used quail eggs (as several people suggested and because they are easier to find in France than small eggs) and the pizzettes were a great hit for lunch yesterday. Two per pizzette is great, though you could probably use three if you lean towards eggs. Of course, if it were up to my son, we would be eating quail eggs at least five days a week.
I loved the gorgeous octopus signs for this restaurant!
This was insanely delicious last week and we’re making it again tonight!
We don’t normally keep creme fraiche in the fridge (we’re not living our best lives…) so we subbed in greek yogurt and it was perfect.
PS – I made the sticky toffee date cake last week and ate it with a little greek yogurt on top a few days later once the whipped cream was all eaten up and it also was really good, can you sense a theme here?
You’re the best.
Is there a downside to using frozen spinach? I would defrost and then just combine with the other ingredients. I also want to add that I have made your broccoli pizza and summer squash pizza, and they were both delicious.
Loved this, but struggled with the dough thickness a little. Be careful to roll it out thoroughly because it rises more than you’d expect. I think 1/8″ thick is a good goal. I had dough struggles, but the little pizzas were still great. Also added prosciutto to one of them because everything is better with a little prosciutto.
Just got your newsletter with this recipe as a highlight, and smiled to myself b/c I made yesterday. The topping was super delicious and very easy (I used frozen spinach–4 “pucks”–pressed with spoon to squeeze out the liquid, a generous spoon of basil pesto, a reg spoon of sour cream, and a generous 1/2 c of parm).
The crust…I don’t use white flour normally, so used an ancient grain blend (not sure how much protein in it), trying the 24 hr method for the first time. Warning: the dough looks revolting –buckwheat-like. But not my favorite crust. I made a full batch of dough and shaped it into (two) rectangles after rising. The crust was too thin to have the dreamy texture I was looking forward to. Also, I was shocked that my stove went up to 500F…and the eggs were hard cooked at 16 min…the crust was almost burnt.
I will make the second pizza tonight, roll it thicker, and reduce baking time.
For those who are going jump on me for changing up the recipe, well, that’s the fun of being inspired to try things. And maybe these notes will help someone else. Enjoy!
What if you put the egg in a strainer and let the most watery part of the white drain off? I’ve done this for poached eggs and it works great. Just a thought 🤔
I didn’t check “I made this” because I didn’t exactly, but while making pizza the other night from a Trader Joe’s crust I said to my husband “hey! my favorite food blogger always puts eggs on pizza!” So I followed the instructions here more-or-less but with our own pizza and toppings. But ours came out with burnt crust & still-too-runny eggs. The pizza dough was undercooked and soggy under the egg. I would still try it again but starting from your recipe entirely, because I don’t know what factor made it fail!!
Had a pound of baby spinach sitting in the refrigerator when I chanced upon this recipe last evening! Made it for breakfast this morning and this turned out to be BEYOND delicious! I used a 9-inch cake pan to spread out the pizza dough (thanks Deb for your lazy pizza dough recipe too, we are forever indebted) and flattened some against the sides of the pan to contain any disobedient egg whites. My husband loves a runny yolk (especially on his pizza), so I baked the pizza with only the spinach topping for 5 minutes before breaking an egg into a sieve and topping the half-baked pizza with it. Another 3-4 minutes in the oven and we had ourselves the best breakfast in months :D
Deb- Thank you for fixing my fear of pizza making! I made a double batch and tweaked the toppings a bit (spinach/leek/feta and roasted red peppers/basil/mozzarella) for a brunch party to serve 9 friends today and it was a huge success! I put egg on 8/10 pizzas so that there would be a variety depending on people’s tastes. I also made your melting potatoes the night before, which is also when i made the dough and spinach topping. This morning all i had to do was cook bacon, reheat potatoes and top the pizzas. Add in a perfectly easy salad of mixed greens topped with super fresh summer strawberries and a thrown together balsamic dressing plus some delicious scones from a local bakery and we had a great day of conversation and food with very little fuss!