Well Fed Buff: Herb baked egg
Ah, the herb-baked egg! Yet another mainstay of the leveling WoW cook, and it's not a bad way to work on leveling your cooking skills in real life, either. Tasty, simple, and it looks good, too. This recipe is great for a lazy day's breakfast, or in my case, dinner on a night when I really didn't want to do a whole lot. It's basically eggs and bacon in a cute little dish, baked in the oven instead of fried in a pan. It's got plenty of protein, and is quite filling despite the tiny dish means of delivery.
Ingredients (serves four):
butter
4 strips of bacon
A small handful of parsley
2-4 sprigs of thyme
8 eggs
salt
pepper
Shredded cheese
Equipment:
Roasting tray
4 ramekins, or other small, oven-proof dish
You can really use any type of herbs or cheese that you want to for this recipe. I chose thyme and parsley for my herbs, because I like them, and pecorino for my cheese, because it is delicious and was on sale. You could equally use other herbs like dill or even tarragon, and for cheeses I'm sure that parmesan, gruyere, jack, or cheddar would all work, too. It's a very forgiving recipe.
Preheat your oven to 350 F (180 C). Butter the insides of your ramekins to help prevent sticking. Cut the bacon into small chunks and roughly chop the herbs, then divide both bacon bits and herbs equally among the four ramekins. Place the ramekins into a roasting tray that's about half-filled with water. (Please ignore the state of my roasting tray in the picture; it's been well-loved.)
Crack all eight eggs into a mixing bowl and season them to your taste with salt and pepper. Whisk them until the whites and yolks are well-incorporated. Pour the egg mixture into the ramekins, just make sure to leave a bit of space from the top. The egg mixture will dome up a little bit as it cooks in the oven. Sprinkle some of your shredded cheese over the top of the egg mixture, then place the roasting tray in the oven on the middle rack.
The eggs should take about 30 minutes to cook, mine took a little longer. The water in the roasting tray will help steam the eggs in their ramekins, giving them a nice fluffy texture. You will be able to tell when they're cooked when the egg mixture is no longer translucent at all and the top of the baked eggs has domed up a little bit. Be careful when removing the roasting tray from the oven, the water will be hot. Serve up with a nice hunk of bread and/or some salad, if you like. Don't be deceived by how small the ramekins look -- there are two eggs and a strip of bacon in each one! This is a great way to fancy up a basic scrambled eggs recipe, and extra ramekins keep well in the fridge for a couple of days. Happy eating!
