Baked Eggs

I love baked eggs.  They are really simple to make.  And they are a particularly good option when you have half a gallon of cream.  The basic ingredients are eggs, butter, cream, a bain-marie and ramekins.  Plus anything else you want to throw in and if you don't have ramekins, like me, then some other appropriate vessel.

For the first round of eggs, about two weeks ago, I used a pyrex bowl, which worked satisfactorily, but failed to cook the eggs evenly.  This weekend, I used a muffin tin, which actually worked quite well.

The first time I made use of some picnic leftovers: namely, chorizo and Big Ed's cheese, a firm, washed-rind, raw cow's milk cheese from Wisconsin.  I also threw in some basil and parmesan, in addition to the requisite butter and cream.

To make:

You need 4 eggs, 6 tablespoons of cream, a small knob of butter, some sliced chorizo, Big Ed's or substitute cheese, basil, parmesan, salt and pepper.

Smear butter around the bottom and sides of the cooking vessel.
Grate parmesan over it.
Throw in some chorizo and basil.  I used whole slices of chorizo, but I would probably cut them up more next time.
Pour in about 3 tablespoons of heavy cream.
Break in four eggs.

Add grated cheese.

Add salt and pepper to taste and more parmesan and basil.

Add the remaining cream.

Cook in a bain-marie in a 350 degree oven.

I used a larger pyrex bowl for the bain-marie.

Served with crusty bread and lettuce dressed with a mustard vinaigrette.

The chorizo eggs were pretty delicious, but it took about half an hour in the oven, one of the yolks was slightly overcooked, and the center was a little runny.  I would really like to get some ramekins, but in the meantime, I figured that a muffin tin would serve my purpose.

These eggs were made with bacon and a homemade pesto.

I didn't measure things out, but the procedure is basically the same: smear butter, grate parmesan, add pesto and some bacon, add cream, add egg, add salt, more bacon, parmesan and cream.  Bake in a bain-marie at 350 degrees.

 These guys were ready in about 11-12 minutes I think. 

 Beautiful.  You can see the pesto underneath and a supplementary dollop on top.  I just wish I had had some crusty bread.  I had to settle for fried potatoes.