it actually is an omelette for sure, but I agree with the writer that eggs Florentine sounds cooler

[cimorene]

Something I read recently - I think a vintage women's magazine from the 20s, but I'm not positive - mentioned "eggs Florentine". I did a quick web search, not having heard of this before, and learned that this, also called a Florentine omelette, is an omelette with cheese (traditionally swiss or gruyere) and spinach filling. Dishes named "Florentine" often have spinach in them, apparently. I found a recipe to try, because I love spinach dishes, and we had it for dinner today with bread rolls. I made the filling with pepper gouda and a bit of parmesan because that's the cheese we had, and it came out great!

Now Wax is baking an almond layer cake with lemon curd buttercream because her favorite aunt is coming to stay on Monday. She asked me what kind of cake, and almond layer cake with vanilla was my suggestion. I subsequently remembered I've been craving carrot cake and she said she'd make one of those too, but we'll have to buy cream cheese first.

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

I have no idea how spinach became Florentine but yes! It is a thing!

All this sounds yummy.

[cimorene]

I did a little bit more searching and found that according to Wikipedia science doesn't know why it's called that but there's a probably- apocryphal story about Catherine de Medici bringing Florentine chefs to France: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florentine_(culinary_term)

[wychwood]

In the UK eggs Florentine is not an omelette! It's eggs benedict but with spinach instead of the meat - so poached eggs on spinach and muffins with hollandaise sauce on top. It's my favourite brunch food. (example recipe)

[cimorene]

Weird that no English results came up at the top of the search!

[wychwood]

Yes! Anyway you should try both types because while you're right that cheese and spinach omelette is delicious, eggs Florentine is next level 😍

[cimorene]

It sounds like slightly more trouble to make for all the same flavors, so it shouldn't taste that different? Hollandaise looks like a lot of work just to change the consistency of eggs and butter and then they're likely to ooze off and drip all over everything! I would definitely try it if I had the opportunity to at a restaurant though.

[wychwood]

I just buy the hollandaise, tbh! You're right, it's a real faff. And I don't often make them at home because the logistics of trying to get the poached eggs, spinach, and toasted muffin all hot at the same time are ridiculous. But I will basically always buy it if it's an option.

It's similar flavours to the omelette, but it's a very different experience with the textures and whatnot.

[cimorene]

I do love a poached egg. Mine are indifferent at best... However, I think you can buy a little silicone container that makes them easy; I could use a bagel maybe, or a sandwich roll, since you can't get English muffins here... but I'm not sure if you can buy hollandaise here, and it would be the most fiddly part. Just the kind of dish that's ideal for a restaurant or diner, but a hassle at home.

[mildred_of_midgard]

That is also what I (USA) think of when I think of eggs Florentine! But I just checked my DoorDash app, and a random sampling of restaurants indicates that it can apparently go either way. TIL!

[wychwood]

So interesting! I've definitely never seen it for an omelette, and would be very disappointed if someone gave me one when I'd ordered eggs Florentine 😂. Although omelettes are delicious.

[isilya]

That all sounds delicious! Same in Australia, eggs Florentine is toasted English muffin, poached egg, sautéed spinach, and hollandaise--and up to this very moment I thought it was also smoked salmon! The salmon is apparently "eggs Anderson"--but I can't actually recall having the spinach version offered with no protein at all in any cafe I've been to in Australia.

I make homemade hollandaise quite often (and from homemade cultured butter because the difference in flavour is actually mind-blowing). The trickiest thing for eggs Benedict/Florentine/Anderson etc is the timing, but the actual skills are not too difficult if you have good quality equipment--although I would never do it for a crowd!

If, however, you want the flavour of eggs Florentine without the faff of hollandaise, then you can just add extra butter and a touch of vinegar or lemon juice to the spinach after sautéing. The yolk of the poached egg is sufficient to create the unctuous sauciness--hollandaise AND poached egg yolk is totally gilding the lily for sure.

[cimorene]

So now I wonder if it's ever the same as the omelette at all and the first few results were just wrong😂 but I'm glad I read the omelette first anyway! I couldn't achieve the sandwich without a lot more work than I typically put into any meal, or substituting different bread I guess, but none of the breads I can buy would be very much like English muffins.

I did a few more searches and read more about the history though, trying to find out why it's called Florentine, and learned that nobody actually knows and there's a popular story about Catherine de Medici that has been (probably?) debunked. And that the oldest known X Florentine dish of this type is apparently chicken Florentine, which sounds really good and now I'm going to try that too.

Also that it experienced a surge in popularity in America in midcentury resulting in the most common version of the recipe today using cream sauce because apparently bechamel ("moray") is too hard... and a lot of "easy" versions in midcentury that used cream of mushroom soup instead of moray sauce, which made me laugh and explains why a nonzero fraction of modern recipes still include mushrooms.

[wychwood]

I've seen the salmon version (without spinach) as "Eggs royale".

The spinach version has protein! There's still eggs! :D The brunch place I go to most often here started adding mushrooms to their eggs florentine, which is OK but I wouldn't bother personally.

[cimorene]

Yeah, it doesn't sound bad, just unnecessary. Though, that said, one of my favorite pastas is with sauteed spinach, mushrooms, and peas.

[cesy]

I came here to say this as well