Eggs cocotte is a French classic which is very appreciated for brunch or breakfast in Australia where it is called baked eggs. It is a very simple recipe which involves cream on which you crack fresh eggs and sprinkle any nice ingredient you can find.
For this version, I simply added tomato, speck (or bacon), red onion, cumin gouda and a serious selection of herbs from my garden: oregano, chives, parsley and lemon thyme.
Check out this other Eggs cocotte recipe of mine HERE. At the bottom of it you’ll see more ideas to make this dish over and over again without getting bored.
What I like to do is to butter each ramekin, then make a little bed of cream, crack 2 eggs per ramekin (except for little one who get one egg only), then I cover the eggs with all the ingredients and finally cover the ingredients with cream.
In our house it is a week-end brunch treat. I make a special darker bread from it the day before and we toast it. Eggs cocotte are then murdered stabbed by the warm crispy tartines (toasts).
As you work each ramekin individually you can accommodate for personal preferences. Nilou doesn’t like bacon (I know… How weird…) and Alex doesn’t like mushrooms. So I make a special one for each.
I like my Eggs Cocotte a bit undercooked, don’t hesitate to test your oven and after a few goes, you will know what the exact temperature and time are to get your ideal texture. Note that using eggs straight from the fridge or room temperature ones will make a difference.
Enjoy!
- A slither of butter to grease the ramekin,
- 2 eggs,
- ½ a tomato, chopped,
- ¼ red onion chopped,
- A few pieces of speck or ham or bacon,
- A few cubes of cumin gouda or any cheese,
- Herbs to sprinkle: chives, oregano, lemon thyme and parsley, chopped,
- Enough pouring cream to reach 1cm (0.4in) under the top of the ramekin,
- Salt & Pepper.
- Preheat oven at 190°C.
- Grease 1 ramekin or mini cast iron casserole per person with butter.
- Pour 2 cm (0.8in) of cream in every ramekin.
- Crack the 2 eggs in each.
- Add all the other ingredients and top up with cream up to 1 cm (0.4in) below the top of the ramekin.
- Place the ramekins on an oven tray, fill tray with boiling water.
- Cooking time depends entirely on the temperature of your ingredients and how you oven works. I usually put 12 mins with porcelain and 10 mins with cast iron. Do not hesitate to check with a small spoon if the egg whites are stiff. Cream and yolks should remain runny.
- For the first time check after 10 mins, every min so you know the proper cooking time for every other time :)
- Eat with toasted and buttered bread or pain d'épices (French cake full of spices and honey).
oh my gosh this is such a lush way to start the day! How beautiful. Your photos… le sigh…
Thanks Belinda :)
You can skip the bacon of course… replace with mushrooms. It’s lovely.
Hope to see you after the break!