Vs. Baked Eggs in Cream

by Frankie

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I love little food. Cute, individually-portioned grub makes my toes curl with glee. I’m beginning to think this is one of the dangers of nearing thirty: my biological clock is screaming at me, making me coo and giggle at the sight of any child, with their widdle fingers and toes, which I must threaten to eat at every opportunity. So I figure, my womb is spreading it’s pro-tiny-things propaganda to the rest of my body. Why else do women feel a need to nom down on baby hands and feet? I’m just glad something in my maternal instinct pulls me away from full-on cannibalism and opts instead for a little homemade haute cuisine.

I am also obsessed with poached eggs (Freud would have a field day with me, wouldn’t he?) and would eat them every day, with every meal, over anything if I had the patience and the time to make them. So, when I stumbled over Camino’s Eggs in Cream @ The Wednesday Chef, I felt compelled to make this dish a breakfast staple. The recipe is simple and lovely, but the leeks… well, the leeks had to go. Not that I’m not a fan, mind you; they’re just an absolute pain the ass to clean and I am, at my heart, a bit of a slacker.

… ok, fine. I’m a HUGE slacker. But that’s the beauty part of this: you can toss anything into this mix and bake it. I went with mushrooms and a slice of camembert one day, corn and bacon another and never felt bad about sometimes making two. So get creative with it and indulge! And don’t forget to let me know what you’ve tried out. Until then, to a full stomach smoothing the ringing of the bio-clock, cheers!

Baked Eggs in Cream
[adapted from "The Wednesday Chef"]

1 tablespoon butter
3 medium-sized mushrooms
1 large egg, farm fresh if you can get it
2 tablespoons half-and-half (I sometimes use a heavy cream)
Salt & Pepper

Put your rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400ºF.

In a saute pan, melt the butter and add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt (or whatever other seasonings you prefer), until the mushrooms are nicely browned. Place the mushrooms in the bottom of a ramekin. From here, it’s a piling game. Add anything else you want in the dish right now. Usually with mushrooms I do a thin slice of camembert. Once you have piled in all the extra ingredients (and be sure not to over fill the ramekin), crack the egg into the center and then pour the cream over it.

Salt & pepper to taste and then cook until the white of the egg has set, around 8-12 minutes. Serve with grilled bread or toast to mop the dish clean.