Eggs En Cocotte
For the oldie-but-goodie file, I bring you Eggs En Cocotte… again! Our theme this week is brunch and Laura reminded me of this one from last year. I was surprised to discover that it was almost exactly a year ago that I made these baked eggs. And only mildly discouraged that I’m still struggling with the same issues of how to handle the relentless requests for treats in my home. If you’ve got a tween that does this, do me a favour and don’t tell me, okay? I might just jump out of the window. But I promise if you try eggs this way it will brighten your weekend. Whether you make them for a brunch party or just for your own crew on a lazy Sunday morning, they’re so easy, so versatile and so, so delicious. Come to think of it, you could make these for dinner on a night when you need something on the table really fast. Is there anything eggs can’t do? Well, they can’t make my kids stop hounding me for chocolate. But then, neither can I.
Let us know what your favourite brunch dishes are – we love hearing from you! – C.M.
These are not the Easter Bunny’s eggs, admittedly. In true SPC fashion we’ve decided to zig while everyone else is zagging. That’s right – we’re not showcasing treats this week. I don’t know about you, but I’m weary of the full-court press that sugar puts on from Halloween to Easter. I just don’t know how parents are supposed to walk the healthy food walk during these sugar driven holidays. There’s nothing wrong with treats but I struggle with the balance between limiting them so much they become an obsession and allowing them so much they become the norm. Now, of course I’m not so high minded about it that I’m going to deny my kids the fun of digging chocolate eggs out of the sofa cushions next Sunday morning but I think I might add a few non-candy surprises to the mix. (I’d love to know how you all handle the high sugar days!)
And then I might make these eggs for a change to our usual weekend breakfast of pancakes. I’ve made eggs this way a few times and despite the fancy French name, they’re really easy to make and once you get the basic technique down can be changed up in almost any way. I like them in individual ramekins (which allows you to adjust to everyones’s tastes if you’re so inclined) but I’ve seen it done in a larger casserole and that looks really pretty, too. To celebrate spring’s reluctant arrival – it’s freaking snowing as I type up this post – I made these with leeks and asparagus but you could do a dice of zucchini and tomato, a bit of sliced ham, some thinly sliced mushrooms. Whatever you add to them should be ready to eat, so sautee your veg just a little before assembling your ramekins as they whole thing isn’t in the oven long enough to cook anything except the eggs.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp buttter
- 1 leek
- 4 asparagus spears
- 2 Tbsp Parmesan, grated
- 4 eggs
- 4 tsp creme fraiche
- salt and pepper to taste
Method
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Cut off the scraggly end of the leek and just above where it turns green.
Slice it in half lengthwise and rinse really well under running water.
Lay the washed leeks down flat on a cutting board and slice them thinly into half moons.
Cut off the tough ends of the asparagus and cut the spears into quite small pieces, maybe 1/2 inch each.
Warm up 1 Tbsp of butter in a sautee pan and add the leeks and asparagus.
Cook the veggies for a 3 to 5 minutes until they begin to soften. Take off the heat.
Put the kettle on to boil.
Butter the ramekins with the other 1 Tbsp.
Put a pinch of Parmesan on the bottom of each ramekin.
Then place a quarter of the vegetables in each.
Top each one with a an egg and then gently shake the ramekin so the whites of the eggs cover the veggies under neath.
Place a spoon of creme fraiche onto each egg and don't worry that it will slide to the side.
Finish with a small grind of salt and pepper.
Place the ramekins in a high sided roasting pan or baking tin. Carefully pour boiling water into the pan so it comes up about half way up the side of the ramekins. Place the whole works in the oven for about 15 minutes depending how runny or firm you like your yolks. At 12 minutes give the eggs a little poke to see how they’re doing. These are sneaky – they’ll look undone when they are. Serve with toast soldiers.
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We're Ceri and Laura, a couple of magazine-editors-turned-food-bloggers. Also, we're mothers obsessed with delicious, healthy, family food. We're constantly thinking of ways to make your time (and our own!) in the kitchen easier and more productive, but still nostalgic for the days when dinner was cereal eaten over the kitchen sink.
11 Comments
Zoey
April 18, 11:29Am totally going to try these!
Is the creme fraiche a must? Will it turn out yummy without?
Ceri Marsh
April 18, 11:47Hi Zoey! I’ve only ever made them with creme fraiche but, honestly, it was kind of a fluke that I had it in the fridge! I’m sure they’d be great without – and slightly less rich, which wouldn’t be the worst thing! Let me know if you try it that way.
Cynthia
April 19, 13:40I’ve made something similar – however, rather than putting the ramekins in the oven, I simply boil a shallow pot of water, stick the ramekins (with the eggs) in and let it steam/cook for 7-10 minutes.
Victoria
April 19, 22:44I’ve made these a few times, but have had one problem. Hot ramekins and young kids don’t mix that well. Make sure your kids know to be careful. It’s tempting for them to pick them up or hold them when they dip the toast. With really little kids, I show them the baked egg in the ramekin, but then scoop it out into a cooler bowl for them to eat.
Ceri Marsh
April 20, 07:34Cynthia – I was thinking that you could do them in a simmering pan of water. But do you use one so deep that you can put a lid on it? I make poached eggs similarly. I just don’t have anything deep enough for my ramekins but I can see how it would work!
Victoria – Yes, you could either run a butter nice around the edge and slide the egg out or I find just waiting for a couple of minutes cools the ramekins down enough for the kids to touch them.
Joan Semple
April 20, 13:01Saw this in my local paper yesterday and tried it this morning. I’m the Queen of substitution and naturally used whatever ingredients were available to me without a trip to the store. Instead of creme fraiche, I used cottage cheese. No leeks? Red onions worked very well in lieu. I also added a bit of orange pepper to the veggie mix. It was delicious.
Lastly, no ramekins at the cabin so I used my silicone muffin cups. Voila! No burnt fingers. Thanks for the great recipe!
Laura Keogh
April 21, 20:34Hi Joan. Thank you for the great feedback. We love to throw whatever we can in recipes too. It’s what makes cooking fun. Love the idea of silicone muffin cups. Gotta try that too. Thank you for reading SPC.
JoAnn Toupitch
April 20, 13:13Looks so good for Easter breakfast – please tell me how to make the “toast soldiers”. Thanks.
Sam
August 23, 14:58Lovely!
Mocha
April 18, 10:39This one’s a keeper!
Ceri
April 18, 10:41Hi Mocha,
Glad you like them! I love any kind of egg but these are pretty great.
Ceri