Eggs à la Maraîchère (Market Gardener's Style)

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon chiffonade (finely shredded ribbons) of lettuce, sorrel, and chervil
• 2 eggs
• 2 small rectangles lean lard (lean bacon), blanched and sautéed in butter
• 2 tablespoons blanched spinach, coarsely chopped
• 1 handful lettuce leaves
• 1 handful sorrel leaves
• 1 small leaf chervil plume (fresh chervil leaf)
• butter

Instructions

1. This recipe offers two cooking methods.
2. SUR LE PLAT (baked on a plate): Spread the base of a shallow baking dish with a chiffonade (finely shredded ribbons) of lettuce, sorrel, and chervil. Crack the eggs onto this bed, cook them, and place a small rectangle of lean lard (blanched and sautéed in butter) on either side of each yolk. Serve directly from the dish.
3. EN COCOTTE (in individual cocotte dishes): Line the cocottes with blanched spinach that has been coarsely chopped and braised gently in butter (étuvé au beurre), mixed with lettuce and sorrel leaves. Crack the eggs into the preparation, poach them gently, and crown each yolk with a small plume of fresh chervil just before serving.