Herbed Baked Eggs

After my last post about eggs and their health benefits, I am ready to start taking advantage of this wonderful food. Today, I am going to be sharing my first favorite recipe using eggs.

This recipe is from Ina Garten's book, Barefoot in Paris. I love so many of her recipes, by the way! What I love about all of the egg dishes I am sharing this week, is that they can be quite easy to prepare, but look so fancy and seem so special. I once served this to a friend coming over for lunch with a muffin, and a small salad. She exclaimed about what a nice lunch I had made, and I had a hard time convincing her it was really quite simple. You can serve this breakfast, lunch or dinner!

I will give a dairy free variation at the end (which is actually how it is in the picture above). My notes on this recipe are to keep in mind that the more shallow the little cooking dishes, the shorter amount of time it takes to cook. The recipes calls for little individual gratin dishes, like these ones, which are quite shallow. I don't have those, but I do have little creme brulee dishes, like these ones, and they work great. You can also use ramekins, like these ones, but I feel it's better to use two eggs in this size. All to say, if you have any oven safe small dishes, use whatever you have! You can also often find these type of dishes at second hand stores for a song. Just keep in mind, I feel like using a wider little dish works better than a taller one with less width.

Despite that long paragraph about different types of dishes to use, this recipe is really straightforward. In fact, that's why she included it in her book.

Here are her notes on the recipe
"Lots of people who knew I was writing a French cookbook wanted a recipe for omelettes. I spent days making them but my heart was never really in it because I always imagined myself cooking lunch while my friends sat waiting at the table. Rori Trovato came up with the perfect solution-shirred eggs, or herb-baked eggs...It's very French and you can make them with any seasonings you like. "

Herbed -Baked Eggs

1/2 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
1/2 teaspoon minced resh thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon minced resh rosemary leavves
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese
12 extra large eggs
1/4 cup of heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the broiler for 5 minutes and place the oven rack 6 inches below the heat.

Combine the herbs and the parmesan cheese and set aside. Carefully crack 3 eggs into each of4 small bowls or teacups (you won't be baking them in these) without breaking the yolks. (It's very important to have all the eggs ready to go before you start cooking.)

Place four individual gratin dishes on a baking sheet. Place 1 tablespoon of cream and 1/2 tablespoon of butter in each dish and place under the broiler for about 3 minutes, until hot and bubbly. Quickly, but carefully, pour 3 eggs into each gratin dish and sprinkle evenly with the herb mixture, then sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Place back under the broiler for 5 to 6 minutes, until the whites of the eggs are almost cooked. (Rotate the baking sheet once if they aren't cooking evenly). The eggs will continue to cook until you take them out of the oven. Allow to set for 60 seconds and serve hot with toasted bread.

Dairy free option: Since I can't have dairy, I made this without the cheese,, and just put about a tablespoon of olive oil in, instead of the butter and cream. It worked great! The herbs add so much flavor that they were still very flavorful.

This post is part of Kitchen Tip Tuesday