I have been planning on cooking up some Oeufs en Cocotte for the blog for a little while now. It’s a dish that I love, perfect for a swish breakfast or even a light supper. Gooey, oozy eggs, baked with some cream, eaten with a spoon and lots of lovely fresh bread.
I have made them before for Christmas day breakfast, with little slivers of smoked salmon and some chives. The nifty thing about oeufs en cocotte is that you can be really creative with what you want to add to them. I have seen recipes including spinach, ham, foie gras and ratatouille to name but a few (but not all together!)
I wanted to create a truly Gascon version and so I decided to add gesiers de canard, not an ingredient readily available in the UK. So if you do want to follow this recipe but can’t get any gesiers, why not add some bits of bacon or parma ham instead.
I was also recently sent a beautiful Maldon Salt Season box and asked to take part in their #Flavourofspring campaign and share some Spring inspired recipes. This dish fits as eggs are actually in season! Chickens do not just lay all year round happily, they prefer Spring, Summer and early Autumn. All my chicken owning friends have a plentiful supply right now so this dish should come at just the right time to use some up.
And so, I settled on this dish as a #Flavourofspring, made all the better by a liberal sprinkling of Maldon Sea Salt and a healthy grind of ground Maldon Peppercorns. The Gesiers are little chunks of moist and super flavoursome duck and they work really well with the creamy eggs. All topped with parmesan and served with bread to soak up all the eggy gooeyness, this made a terrific quick supper for me.
So get yourself some super fresh organic eggs and make a delicious and satisfying meal with them and just a few extra ingredients.
Gascon Oeufs en Cocotte with Gesiers de Canard
(Serves 2)
100g Gesiers de Canard (or use anything else you fancy, for example bacon or ham)
5 tbsp cream
2 eggs
2 handfuls of grated Parmesan
2 pinches of Maldon sea salt
Generous grind of black pepper
Heat your oven to 180F/200C. Then prepare your additional ingredient. In this case, I gently fried my gesiers for 6 minutes until cooked and tender. If you are using bits of bacon, cook them now.
Place your gesiers into the base of two ramekins or similar small oven proof dishes. Then drizzle over 4 tablespoons of cream into each pot.
Crack a nice big fresh egg into each pot and then drizzle 1 tablespoon of cream over the top of each.
Cover the eggs with grated Parmesan and sprinkle with Maldon sea salt and be generous with the black pepper. Place in an oven dish and pour in boiling water to fill to half way up the sides of the dish and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
Serve with plenty of crusty bread.
How funny – I’ve been meaning to do oeufs en cocotte for a while as well. I saw a lovely recipe with cheesy mashed sweet potato which I wanted to try, but haven’t got around to. I love the sound of yours and you’re right -eggs and salt and heavenly, which is why I love eggs and anchovies…
Mmmm, cheesy mashed sweet potato and baked eggs?!! Sounds delicious. Thank you my anchovy sister 🙂 xx
Our friend just gave us two dozen fresh eggs and this is a great idea of how to use some. I’ll substitute some parma ham for the gesiers.
Excellent!! I hope you enjoy it!
That looks just gorgeous Anneli. I don’t think we can buy gizzards here… I never saw them at least, and we don’t really have butcher stores alas up here so I’d need to sub in something. Any suggestions? I’m not such a fan of ham as Karen would do…
Hi Charles. You could substitute some smoked salmon? Or some bacon bits? Or even some roasted peppers for a veggie version? Or spinach. Possibilities are plentiful. x
Oh, this might be nice for an Easter breakfast (but might be too late for this year!) I’ve never heard of the duck gizzards, but I might substitute ham instead!
Hi Fran, yes this dish makes for a lovely breakfast. Ham would be lovely too. I hope you enjoy it and Happy Easter to you x
Oooh I love baked eggs. That looks absolutely gorgeous. Have you ever tried coddled eggs? I have a set of egg coddlers from my mother that I use occasionally and the addition of bacon bits or mushrooms a bit like this makes a lovely change
No I have never tried them but I do love the word – coddled! I shall investigate xx
I’m too lazy to do them for breakfast – but they would be great for a starter (fewer gesiers) Looks delicious!
Absolutely! A great starter indeed. Infact, I had them as a starter in one of my favourite local restaurants nearby – with foie gras. Decadently delicious 🙂
Oh doesn’t this look such a treat. Though I have to admit to never actually being that partial to gesiers, so a little good ham for me please. The perfect lazy brunch.
Just throw in whatever you have! Crispy bacon bits would suit a lazy brunch. xx