Breakfast fit for the holiday break

Welp, the holidays are over. And I have to go back to my real world job tomorrow morning. Boo hiss. Thursday seemed so far away but now it will be here in just a few hours. Rats!

But, I won’t dwell on the end of the season. Instead I’ll reminisce about the greatness of my holiday break. And one of the all-time best things about both me and Mike being home together for over a week were the breakfasts. I made KILLER breakfasts almost every morning. Eggs-in-a-hole, egg tacos, egg sandwiches, waffles. It was all delicious. But the one breakfast I loved the most was fancy baked eggs a la Julia Child.

Eggs are the perfect food. They are my very favorite food.The incredible, edible egg – they weren’t lying about that. And since we have chickens and I can go get fresh eggs every day I feel like the luckiest gal on Earth.

Just look at these beauties!

Otherwise known as oeufs en cocotte fancy baked eggs are among my tippy top favorite ways to prepare eggs. They are superb. Creamy. Velvety. I wish I had some right now! And added bonus – you can do them straight up or you spruce them up a zillion different ways.

Ok, so holiday break breakfast.

First things first – the potatoes. I snagged some baby potatoes from Birdsong Farm and par-boiled them to get started. Put your taters in a saucepan, cover with water, and simmer over medium heat until fork tender. Once tender slice, cube, chunk – whatever you want. I roasted them in some melted duck fat. Mmm….

I waxed poetic about duck fat back in my homemade holiday gifts post. The stuff really is awesome. Especially for roasting potatoes. They get nice and crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Delicious. And the par boiling helps with the crispness too.

While the potatoes were roasting I sauteed some Birdsong spinach with some onions and garlic and buttered some ramekins. I also preheated my oven to 350 and started some water in my tea kettle.

The spinach went into the ramekins first. Always a good idea to have a good base.

And then I added the eggs and dairy. Each ramekin got two eggs, a little heavy cream, some fresh grated Parmesan cheese, and some salt & pepper.

At this stage you want to add some boiling water to the larger baking dish. Pour it in until it comes about halfway up the sides of your ramekins. Then it all goes into the oven.

Baking times vary. Mike doesn’t like a super runny yolk while I like my yolks very dippy. So, I cook his a bit longer. They usually take about 15-25 minutes depending on how done you want your eggs. Just shake the dish a bit and check to see if they’re setting up.

While the eggs were baking I took us over the top with some fresh squeezed juice. Citrus is great right now and I did a juice with some tangerines and grapefruits. Mmm…

This was our best breakfast by far. Just look at it! Perfection.

Coffee with homemade Irish Cream, fresh squeezed juice, fancy baked eggs with spinach and Parmesan cheese, duck fat roasted potatoes, and whole wheat toast.

Tomorrow it’s back to cereal and coffee out the door in a travel mug. Oh well. I guess all good things must come to an end.

Happy New Year everyone!