Guiltless Spinach "Gratin" with Poached Eggs (aka heaven)

I have a confession to make.

I haven't been cooking much at all lately.

Last week we ordered take-out 6 times, the 7th night P. cooked.
I know, right?

I actually love to cook. It's relaxing & I think that food cooked at home tastes better than a restaurant's anyway. (And of course is stupidly cheaper) But lately I'm just too darn tired. You know what it is? It's the grocery shopping required that gets to me, the thought of planning meals & then shopping with two kids is enough to make Chinese delivery again sound like the best meal ever. Last night while blog cruising however I stumbled onto a recipe that called to me. I had to have it. Even if it meant grocery shopping.So today sweet Soph made the sacrifice of taking her morning nap on the run so I could grocery shop with her while Samster was at school...I don't know if she'd agree but judging by the bulging bellies of everyone in my house right now I'd say it was soooo worth it.

The recipe is Julia Child's which normally I'd be completely intimidated by but it actually wasn't bad at all. You can find it all on my favorite food blog, Smitten Kitchen. It really is true too that you don't even miss the cream in this recipe! The only thing I'd add is to take your time with the step where you stir the spinach in the pot while waiting for the water to evaporate. I probably would've given it a few more minutes because it was a tad stewy. Oh, & don't you dare forget the crusty baguette to sop up all that yolky goodness.

Deb also has a wonderful post on how to poach an egg. If you don't mind let me blabber about this for a minute. If you do mind then you can check out here, I won't be offended.
Egg chat isn't exactly a titillating topic.
In the 10+ years I've been cooking I've never poached an egg. I never really had one that was that great & fried eggs seem so much easier. Then a year ago we were at our annual amazing anniversary dinner & they served poached eggs with raviolis as one of the courses.
IT WAS SEX ON A PLATE.
Seriously. The rich egg yolk was a decadent sauce in itself, & the whites were so delicately light they were almost an airy embrace around the yolk. (heehee, how ridiculous was that last sentence?!) Ever since then I've been obsessed but have been too intimidated to try them at home. Even when I called my mom this morning to ask how to make them she warned me about how hard they are but this recipe was burned in my brain & a fried egg just wouldn't do.
So I gave it a try...
And guess what?
It worked on the first try!
And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th...6 little ducks that I once knew...

And THEY WERE GOOD.
I think it has a lot to do with the vinegar & Deb's sliding egg bowl method perhaps.

Me thinks this post is getting really chatty. Basically I just wanted to tell you that dinner was amazing & thanks to this recipe I've got my cooking groove back (for now). Please go try it, I know it may sound weird to some of you (my girlfriend Megan who happened to stop by at dinnertime & P both looked at me with that cocked head confused doggie look when I told them what we were having for dinner) but I gotta say, every plate was licked clean.

Please do not copy & paste any of my content without prior permission, pictures of Samster & Sophie are strictly prohibited. Links to my post however are always welcome!