This recipe started out because I had some left over crème fraiche that I needed to use up. I saw some recipes for baked eggs that had cream in them and I decided to try with the crème fraiche instead. It would be slightly healthier if nothing else! It seems that anything goes with baked eggs, you can out in whatever you have to hand. I made these with ordinary baked ham but you could use cooked bacon or parma ham to give a different flavour. Leave out the meat altogether and use spinach for a meat free version. Some of the recipes I saw used a water bath to cook the eggs evenly but I didn’t and they turned out fine. Do keep an eye on them though as the you want to take them out of the oven as soon as the whites set. These make a great breakfast or light brunch.
Makes 4, serving 2
Ingredients:
- 3 thin slices of cooked ham
- 200ml light crème fraiche
- 4 large eggs
- Salt and pepper
- Freshly grated parmesan
- Butter for greasing
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4.
- Butter 4 ramekins.
- Chop your ham into small pieces and sprinkle a layer on the bottom of the greased ramekins.
- Layer the crème fraiche onto the ham. Season with some salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. You don’t want to use too much salt as the ham may be salty and the parmesan will also be salty if you are using it.
- Sprinkle another layer of the ham on top.
- Break an egg into each ramekin and season again with pepper.
- Put the ramekins into the oven. The cooking times varied wildly in each recipe I looked at so do watch them after ten minutes. Mine took 13 minutes to cook. You want the whites to be fully set but the yolks still soft.
- When cooked grate over some parmesan cheese and serve with toast.
