Sunday Feast № 1 | Eggs in Pots

Happy New Year, and if your December was full of boozy festivities or you topped it all off with a New Year’s Eve celebration that carried into the weekend, by this Sunday morning hangover and you may be well acquainted frenemies. It’s time for breakfast, to end that relationship and to ease into New Year, provided you can get up, stand up, and hold your food.       This is usually when I hear of cravings for greasy anything and “hair of the dog” remedy, and maybe there is credence to both, but personally I subscribe to a steady trickle of water and toast with honey, followed by an indulgence that will not weigh down my already suffering innards. No thanks to running, dripping grease fest, but eggs are good. Very good. Hello œufs en cocotte! Yes, you will challenge yourself a tad beyond quick frying or scrambling, treat that as part of the recovery process, but at a leisurely speed, which you will appreciate while you are hydrating, while that toast with honey is making you sweeter (oh, angel you!), and while your loved ones are asking for attention you literally do not possess this morning. Focus. You can stumble through it. If you have an oven with a glass door and a light, treat it like TV – just like the real thing, staring is welcome, in fact encouraged, as you get to know the water temperature and the time it takes to set the eggs to taste, so you can repeat not as a hangover breakfast but as part of weekend feast to start the day. The cream with eggs will hug your tummy just right.       The recipe is adapted for one egg from “The Little Paris Kitchen” by Rachel Khoo, so you can multiply it as needed and, just like Rachel, if you do not have ramekins, use ceramic cups instead.

4 × 1 dsp / 40 ml crème fraiche Salt and pepper Nutmeg Chopped dill 1 egg Salmon caviar Small sprigs of dill

Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C. Season the crème fraiche with salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg. Place ¾ of seasoned crème fraiche in a bottom of a ramekin or your cup, followed by a little dill. Crack the egg on top, add the remaining ¼ of seasoned crème fraiche, and sprinkle with a pinch each of salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Place the ramekin or your cup in a baking dish and pour enough lukewarm water into the dish to come halfway up to the sides of the ramekin or your cup. Original recipe suggested baking for 15 min for a runny egg, but I found that if the water was not quite at room temperature, hence not even lukewarm, it may take 35 min, while using water boiled much earlier, so possibly warmer than lukewarm, 25-30 min will give a set yolk and 20 min will give a runny one. Watch it if you can to find what works for you. Finish the serving with a teaspoon of salmon caviar and a sprig or two if dill. Serve with crispy baguette, ciabatta, or toast.