Eggs en Cocotte

Thought I might just show you one of the dishes we served using the glut of Ceps which we stumbled upon here.

Eggs en Cocotte is a classic French dish,the name coming from the small oven proof pots which the eggs are baked in,usually with a knob of butter and perhaps some cream.

Escoffier lists variations on the original,some using different sauces such as Bechamel,or the addition of tomatoes or Asparagus.

Which gave us an idea...

Wild Mushroom and Duck Egg Pots

Ingredients

Duck eggs
Mushrooms(we used Ceps but use any type will do they don't have to be wild)
Leeks
Cream
Gruyère Cheese
White wine
Butter

Thickly sliced white bread to toast

Method:

Dice the leeks and slice your mushrooms.I haven't given quantities-we never weigh anything but work on about equal quantities.
Place in a pan,season with salt and pepper and sweat in butter until soft.



At this point the mixture can be cooled and stored in the fridge until needed.

Place some large ramekins on a tray and heat in the oven.

Meanwhile place a large tablespoon per pot of the mushroom mix into a small saucepan.Heat gently.
Next add a splash of white wine and some double cream and allow the mixture to bubble and reduce until the cream has thickened.




Remove the pots from the oven and fill with the mushroom mix to about half full.
Next crack a duck egg into each pot,grate some Gruyère cheese on top and return to the oven until the white has cooked and the yolk is still runny.
About 20 minutes.

Serve with toast soldiers.



Cough..I have a confession to make.
Cooking in a commercial kitchen isn't always as straightforward as the scenario I've described above.
In practice we found that the duck eggs being quite large took too long to cook to order in the oven.
In addition the outside of the white was overcooked whilst the inside was still way too liquid.
(If you were to use hens eggs you probably wouldn't encounter this problem)



As you can see...white still partially gloopy.



So,what we actually did was poach the duck eggs (whilst the mushroom pots were heating in the oven),then add them to the pots(grating some Gruyère on top)before finishing them off under a hot grill .



On Friday night these were flying out,were in fact sold out before 8pm.
Perfect,and at £5 per portion that's not going to do our GP any harm.


Apparently we're going 'shrooming again tomorrow, so any further recipe ideas gratefully accepted..