Saturday, April 30, 2005

Do Three 'Reallys' Equal Four Stars?

It's the end of the month which means only one thing. Eggs on toast Extravaganza!
photograph picture of oeufs en cocotte with creamy sherry & thyme mushrooms and prosciutto recipe
"It's really, really, really good. It's amazing. It's like a starter you could have in a fancy restaurant" -Fred, April 2005

This is a simple, quick & easy supper dish that will be on the table in less than 30 minutes. This recipe idea serves two.

Oeufs en Cocotte, Creamy Mushrooms with Sherry & Thyme, Prosciutto & Toasted Levain

Creamy Mushrooms with Sherry & Thyme This part of the recipe is based on my memory of a dish I used to make from a Sainsbury's Vegetarian Cook Book circa the late 80s. It always tastes superb, but I never measure the ingredients. If you want to replicate it, just do so by following your heart and tasting as you go along. I gently sauteed one small, thinly sliced shallot and one minced clove of garlic in some butter. I added a large handful of sliced white button mushrooms, some minced fresh thyme and seasoning and continued to saute until the mushrooms were soft. I poured in a large glug of sherry and cooked further until the alcohol had evaporated. I then added a large dollop of creme fraiche and gently simmered until the sauce was thick.

Oeufs en Cocotte I greased the insides of two ramekins with softened butter. I carefully added an egg to each, taking care not break the yolk. I placed the ramekins in a baine marie (in my case an oven proof pyrex dish) and filled it with boiling water up to a level 2/3rds the height of the ramekins. I placed it in a 325F oven for about 8 minutes until the whites were opaque but the yolks were still soft.

Assembling the Dish After removing the ramekins from the oven, I gently topped the eggs with the mushroom mixture. I garnished with strips of prosciutto and finely chopped chives and parsley. This dish is good served with a thick slice of toasted levain.



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Do Three 'Reallys' Equal Four Stars?

4 Comments:

  • At 3/5/05 02:37, Blogger Anthony said…

    The beautiful thing about, well actually they are beautiful, but about them is that you can make a stack of them and serve them up fto a bunch of people for breakfast using a muffin tin if you run out of ramekins. Trying to cook a dozen eggs at the same time and getting them all nice and runny otherwise is just doomed.

     
  • At 4/5/05 05:55, Blogger Jeanne said…

    Wow - looks delish! And what I like about it is that with a salad, this could be lunch or dinner; but with a slice of toast, some marmalade and coffee, it's breakfast! Voila!

     
  • At 26/5/05 12:06, Blogger Lady Amalthea said…

    This looks super-yummy. What kinds of seasonings do you use? I really like dill with my eggs, but I'm wondering how they would go with this...

     
  • At 26/5/05 12:18, Blogger Sam said…

    I was bought up to think of salt and pepper as the only seasnonigs, sorry. I will make sure to specify what I mean by that next time.
    It might work with dill, but with the cream mushroom and sherry, thyme is fantastic.
    the other day I made a version with just an onion instead of mushroom (it was all i has in the house) and mixed it with pasta and peas. It was good too.
    for me the important things that make this recipe are sherry+thyme+cream but it would be interesting to try with different herbs

     

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