Saturday, March 20, 2010

Eggs en Cocotte with Pesto

Our beautiful weather here has given way to a grey and depressing day ... right in time for the weekend!  But that's okay, I need to rest this weekend and get over this head cold that doesn't seem to want to leave.  At least the weather will no longer be a temptation to go outside.

So in lieu of a delicious brunch out, I decided to make my own.  I've changed this recipe quite a bit from the original, so feel free to click the link for a different take on this dish.  Eggs en Cocotte should be cooked with one egg in an individual ramekin, but I wanted a heartier breakfast and decided to use a slightly larger dish and eat it all.  If you have some bread and other breakfast sides, I'd say this serves two, but if this is your entire brunch, this is a serving for one.

Eggs en Cocotte with Pesto (very loosely adapted from Ceramic Canvas)

Ingredients
1 tbsp butter
2/3 cup potato, finely diced into cubes (you can do a larger dice, but will need to cook it longer)
1/4 tsp onion powder
dash of dried thyme
2 cups baby spinach
2 large eggs
2 tbsp red pepper pesto (or other pesto of your choosing)
2 tsp heavy cream
Salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.
2. In a medium sized nonstick sauté pan, melt butter.  Add potatoes, thyme, and onion powder and cook until the potatoes are almost cooked through, about 7 minutes for a fine dice.
3. Add spinach and cook for a couple more minutes until spinach is wilted.
4. Place the potato/spinach mixture in baking dish or dishes.  Spoon on pesto. Crack eggs into dish/dishes and season lightly with salt and pepper. Spoon cream over each egg.
5. Put ramekin(s) in a shallow baking pan and bake, rotating pan halfway through baking, until whites are just set but yolks are still runny, 15 to 20 minutes, removing from oven as cooked.

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