Monday, December 3, 2012

The precious few...

Eggs that is.
With three of our four hens molting and the days getting shorter we are only collecting 3 to 4 eggs per week instead of 3 to 4 eggs per day.  I needed to purchase eggs for the 1st time in over a year just to get the holiday baking started.  What had become a staple is now a special treat and the few organic eggs from our backyard flock deserves some special attention. I finally got around to experimenting with this dish I spotted in the NY Times Magazine a few weeks back and it couldn't have been simpler or more delicious.  The article only gives a hand drawn diagram for the dish but a little searching on the internet helped me figure out the rest and I am sure this is something I will make over and over.  I only had two eggs and I filled both egg cups with the same filling of pesto, egg, parmesan, chives and thyme.  I made one cup out of whole wheat bread (which ended up being a bit to sweet) and the other out of sourdough (which was fabulous and balanced).  The possibility for variation are endless and this is a complete little dish which can be made ahead and reheated for a quick weekday breakfast but would also be beautiful (and delicious) as part of a lovely Sunday brunch.  Here is the basic recipe:


Baked Egg Cups
pre-heat oven to 350
spray or grease muffin/popover tin
remove crust from a slice of bread and mold into tin
put in pesto or filling and then crack egg into the cup
sprinkle herbs and/or cheese on top
bake approximately 15 minutes or until egg is set
Enjoy!

2 comments:

Celeste Kemmerer said...

We also have our own chickens. It had been some time since we had gotten young ones and they had pretty much quit laying eggs. I recently got myself some vegan cookbooks, so that I can still bake when my chickens are not laying and not have to buy eggs.

tangled sky studio said...

oh i can't imagine a christmas season without russian teacakes, thumbprint and sugar cookies. it takes me back to when i was little and i love that my kiddos may bake these same cookies once a year when they are grown and out in the world.