Eggs en Cocotte with Green Garlic and Asparagus
Everything is coming up roses green garlic. This little gem is a tell tale sign that spring has arrived, but sadly only sticks around for a very short time. Kind of like that pesky groundhog, except it doesn't get scared by its own shadow. If you've never seen green garlic before, it resembles a spring onion and has a milder, sweeter, garlicky taste than it's mature counterpart. I can't seem to get enough of the stuff and want to make as many things with green garlic as I can before it vanishes from the farmers market.
Last Sunday I decided to dust off the ramekins sitting in the cupboard and make some baked eggs, or eggs en cocotte, if you want to get all fancy pants. The eggs are baked on a bed of roasted green garlic and asparagus, a hint of goat cheese, and then topped off with a touch of cream and a hefty sprinkling of lavender salt and cracked pepper. The eggs are soft and creamy, with the yolks still runny, perfect for mopping up with some buttered toast.
I'll be honest, this was the first time I've ever made a baked egg, and it will definitely not be my last. This dish was so good I even had to restrain myself from doing a little happy dance and licking the tiny dish clean. Ok, so I didn't have that much restraint and licked the little sucker until every last morsel was on a roller coaster ride into my belly. And I was not ashamed, not one little bit.
Eggs en Cocotte with Green Garlic and Asparagus
Ingredients:
1 bunch asparagus
2 bunches green garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
goat cheese
kosher salt
pepper
1 tablespoon butter
8 eggs
2 tablespoons cream
lavender salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cut asparagus and green garlic into 1 1/2" pieces. Put onto baking sheet, coat with olive oil, and season with kosher salt and pepper. Roast veggies in oven for about 20 minutes until lightly browned and softened. Next butter 4 ramekins and divide vegetable mixture into equal parts in each dish. Top with just a few crumbles of goat cheese. Crack 2 eggs into each dish and drizzle 1/2 tablespoon of cream on top. Season with lavender salt and pepper. Then place ramekins into a rectangular cake pan and fill with about 2 1/2-3 cups of hot water or until the water goes halfway up the side of each dish. Cook the eggs in the water bath in the oven at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes or until the whites of the eggs have firmed up and the yolks are still soft and runny. Serve with slices of buttered toast.