Mmm.... eggs

I recently read about a way to make eggs that I had never tried before! I mean, I know that eggs are pretty versatile (over easy, poached, scrambled, in a frittata, quiche...), but this dish sounded delightfully decadent and yet simple. And so... eggs en cocotte!

To start off, I buttered the insides of two individual-sized ramekins. I dropped a little cheese in there as well (traditionally done with gruyere, but can be done with any cheese available. I had a sharp Vermont cheddar), and put the ramekins in the oven to warm up.

Butter-y!

The warming up is actually a fairly important step. The more traditional way of making this dish involves cooking the eggs very slowly in the oven in a bain-marie (water bath), but heating up the ramekin first largely takes this step out of the equation. After everything got warm and bubbly, I retrieved the ramekins and dropped an egg in each. I then topped each egg with about a tablespoon of heavy cream, added some more shredded cheese, and sprinkled on a little salt and pepper.

Eggs and cream (no cheese yet)

I put the ramekins back into the oven, this time under the broiler. Now, my oven is OLD and doesn't even have temperature numbers, so I have no idea what temperature I cooked the eggs at, unfortunately. I just kept checking until everything looked about right.

I was looking for a slightly browned top (from the cheese), with the egg whites just set and the yolk still runny. I ended up taking the ramekin from the broiler to the oven for a few extra minutes just to make sure the egg whites were cooked. All in all, it took maybe about 7-10 minutes.

It is starting to look delicious!!

I ate this served with toast. Each ingredient made for a sum greater than its parts; the rich yolk, decadent cream, slightly salty cheese... all combined for a really fantastic bite of food. It was warm and somehow delicate tasting (even with the cream and butter!).

I think I'll definitely make this dish again. It lends to endless variations (add bacon, or herbs, or mushrooms, or tomato, etc), and is pretty easy to do in a larger, oven-proof container if I wanted a bigger serving. Yay, eggs!

Nom nomnom