Herbed Baked Eggs
If you consider a golden, creamy, runny egg yolk to be one of life’s great breakfast pleasures, then you will love this fast and simple recipe, which I’ve adapted from Ina Garten’s Barefoot in Paris cookbook.
Something about the simple goodness of baked eggs makes me picture sitting at my breakfast table 30 years from now, enjoying them with my husband as we sip coffee, read a newspaper, and quietly muse about our highly successful children, our delightful grandchildren, and our upcoming stay at our vacation home in the French countryside. (I realize there are a lot of big presumptions in that daydream…. the biggest of which is that there will still be newspapers in 30 years.)
Like nearly all simple recipes, this one is really easy to mess up. The tricky part is the cooking time, because if you do it right, the eggs will NOT look at all done when you pull them out. Watch them closely, and when the egg white has almost completely set, pull it. I assure you, if you wait until it looks ready, you’ll be smearing crumbly egg yolks on your toast sure as I’m standing here.
Individual gratin dishes are the ideal vessel for this recipe. A wide, shallow dish allows for quicker, more even cooking, and allows you to spread the herb mixture and brown it over a larger surface area. But use what you have – custard cups or other types of ramekins will work fine.
- ¼ teaspoon minced garlic
- ¼ teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
- ¼ teaspoon crushed rosemary
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan
- 6 eggs
- 3 tablespoons half-and-half
- 1½ tablespoons butter or margarine
- Salt and pepper
- Sourdough bread – sliced, buttered and toasted
- Preheat your broiler for 5 minutes and move the oven rack to 6 inches below the heat source.
- Combine the garlic, thyme, rosemary, parsley, and Parmesan. Set aside.
- Crack two eggs each into three small bowls, being careful not to break the yolks.
- Place 3 individual-size gratin dishes on a baking sheet. Add 1 tablespoon of half-and-half and ½ tablespoon of butter or margarine to each dish. Put under broiler for 3-4 minutes, or until melted and starting to bubble.
- Working quickly, remove from oven and pour two eggs into each gratin dish. Top each with ⅓ of the herb and Parmesan mixture, then top generously with salt and pepper.
- Return to the broiler for 5-6 minutes, or until the egg white is almost set. Remove from oven and allow the eggs to set for a minute or two. Serve with toasted sourdough bread.