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Thursday 22 January 2015

Les oeufs en cocotte à la crème ...

I've got a bad case of the January blues. A very bad case indeed.

I do try, but I just can't get enthusiastic about the month of January. It's my bleuch month, something to be endured, rather than enjoyed. And that's coming from someone who's hardwired to be positive and look on the bright side, but January defeats me. I hate her cold, grey skies and hard, unforgiving weather. I hate all those New Year resolutions that only serve to suck the joy out of life and leave us all feeling slightly inadequate. And I hate the fact that she doesn't even offer us an excuse for one good party. Heck I've been reduced to pulling out my Scottish ancestry - that's about three hundred years' removed from the present day - and rolling in my friends for a Burn's Night party. And, to be very honest, I don't even like the great man's poems. Promise you won't tell.

So what to do? Well my answer for today is ... comfort food, and it doesn't get any more comforting than this:


I give you oeufs with a side order of soldiers. It's got to be the ultimate fusion food, combining a great British food idea (soldiers to dip in your egg and mop up the runny yolk) with a lovely French one (pseudo steamed/ baked eggs in a cup).

I'm a great fan of scruffy old second hand book shops, and the other day I happened upon a lovely volume of Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking. Of course it had to come home.



It's a real classic. Elizabeth David was one of the greats. Her books are wonderfully wordy, written in a light conversational tone that frequently wanders away from the recipe to tell anecdotes and sound forth on issues that mattered to her. They give you a window onto what it must have been like to live here after the War. From their tone I'm guessing that her readership at the time were respectable ladies in twin-sets and pearls who subscribed to improving publications like Reader's Digest and were Ottolenghi-ed by her wonderful Mediterranean-inspired offerings

Now, to get back to the point in hand, what surprised me about Elizabeth David's account of how to make oeufs en cocotte was that she suggested the à la crème was an add-on. In our house a big dollop of double cream always came as standard. And, in my considered view, there's no way this baby could pass for proper comfort food without it.

If you'd like to make some you'll need some eggs (duck eggs with their great, big, orange yolks are really, really good, but hen eggs will do too), some double cream (or, if you prefer, you could use crème fraîche) and a knob of butter.

The first thing to do is turn your oven on to about 200 º C/ 390º F/ Gas Mark 6, and allow it to heat up.

Next boil the kettle, and pour the boiling water into a heavy-bottomed sauté pan. I use a cast iron oven-to-table casserole dish because its dimensions are just right and it fits easily into the oven. The water should be to a depth that will not flood your ramekins when you place them in the pan.

Place the ramekins in the pan of boiling water with a knob of butter in each. When the butter melts brush it around the ramekins and add a big dollop of fresh cream or crème fraîche. Then crack an egg into each ramekin. Season your eggs and put the pan with the ramekins into the preheated oven.


Leave in the oven for about 10 to 12 minutes (15 to 18 minutes if you've got great, big, gorgeous duck eggs) or until the eggs are cooked to your liking.

The eggs are ready for most people when the white has set and the yolk is still nice and runny, but if you don't like them that way you can always leave them to cook for longer.



Enjoy with some nice crusty bread toast, lashings of butter and a good cup of tea. As you can see my New Year/ New Me diet has been postponed until ... February!

All the best for now,

Bonny x

As shared on Friday Finds

20 comments:

  1. That looks delicious. I love dipping my toast in my runny egg yolk. I will try your recipe (I can definitely make these eggs!).

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  2. Go for it, Christa! If you can boil water, you can make these babies. Best of luck and thanks for stopping by, Bonny

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  3. Thank you for the wonderful chuckle from your closing line! I too have always battle the winter blues. This year I decided to just go with it and create a "Winter's Blues" art journal. I'm thinking I like your idea better!

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    1. Whaow! That sounds very creative, Diane. All the best and thanks for stopping by, Bonny

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  4. This looks like something my son would absolutely LOVE!

    January? Is our party month. I have at least two parties to prepare for --two birthdays within a week of each other!

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    1. Lovely. Well at least you'll be too busy to notice how grey and gloomy it is. All the best and thanks for stopping by, Bonny

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  5. Well that looks like it pulled you out of some January doldrums!

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    1. Absolutely! And if all else fails ... there's always chocolate! All the best and thanks for stopping by, Bonny

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  6. The name of the eggs and toast is just the cutest ever!! The sliced toast sticks look like soldiers. Such a tasty sounding way to fix eggs too. I've never baked them, only had them poached on top of the stop in a steam bath. Only one more week of January Bonny!

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    1. Yes! You're right: only one more week to go. Yippee! All the best and thanks for stopping by, Bonny

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  7. These look delicious. I recently started feeding my 11 month old granddaughter "poached eggs". She loves them! They're probably much like yours......but your recipe has more of the "good stuff" in it. Lovely images to go with a lovely shared recipe! Thanks!

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    1. They're not a million miles removed from a poached egg. I'm sure your granddaughter would love them. All the best and thanks for dropping by, Bonny

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  8. Looks so good! And I love your Portmeirion plate--I collect (or at least used to collect until I had no more room!) Portmeirion

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    1. Thank you Roxanne. These are our everyday plates. Some of them are getting a bit faded with having been through the eco-cycle in the dishwasher so many times. All the best and thanks for stopping by, Bonny

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  9. If we can survive January we can survive anything.

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    1. Too right! All the best and thanks for stopping by, Bonny

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  10. My husband would love the runny eggs and crusty bread! He complains I cook eggs too long. :) January is almost over, hang tight, February will be here before you know it. February is usually our coldest month, I am not looking forward to February...

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  11. The only thing better than comfort food for the January Blues {and we all get them} is sunshine. Lots and lots and lots. Preferably with mild temperatures. We don't ask for much, do we?

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  12. These look delicious. I agree that January is certainly the month for comfort food.

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  13. Bonny, You are truly a delightful friend! Your blog posts are a very genuine combination of information, inspiration, and slices of your personal life. I'm with you on the month of January - not my favorite - though I'm rethinking the month if comfort food can become the focus. I LOVE eggs in all forms and cannot wait to try this recipe (so nice of you to share). You make me laugh and lift my spirits. And to describe a cookbook as "wonderfully wordy" tells me that we would be fast friends in real life (my favorite cookbooks are really storybooks). Can't wait to read what you write next . . .

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