New Year's Day 2017 dawned wet and cold...we were meeting friends about mid-day for their traditional First Sunday of the Month Beach Day, and this Sunday just happened to also be the first day of the year... As usual, it was fun to get together with friends, good food, lots of fun conversations and loads of laughs...I can say we did welcome the year with lots of happy laughs!
Meantime, I was wondering what to prepare for our very first meal of the New Year...and considering what I had in the fridge, it didn't take a lot of imagination to decide...This is a little dish I first tried a long time ago, when I was living in Florida...Last time I made it was for a Christmas morning brunch at our Inn in Honomu quite a few years ago, with our friends Cathy & Georgia.
The recipe comes from a fun cookbook, "The Silver Palate Good Times" by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins (c) 1984. I have all three of their cookbooks and at one time, (back in the day), used to cook from them quite a bit... I had forgotten about them, through the years, but several of the recipes have become part of my own repertoire de cuisine ;-)
The recipe as it can be found on page 122 of the above mentioned cookbook and below, how I made it this time. Listed are the ingredient amounts for EACH portion, so you will need to make allowances for however many portions you will be preparing.
Sunny Baked Eggs, toasted baguette slices and Virgin Mango Mimosa
Preheat oven to 400 F
For each serving, toss the parsley, ham, and Brie together in a 3-inch-wide ramekin. Break the eggs over the ham and Brie mixture and drizzle the cream over the eggs. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste.
Place the ramekins in a baking pan and pour hot water into the pan to come 1 inch up (to the rim of) the ramekin. Bake 15 - 20 minutes. depending on how set you like your eggs. Serve immediately.
My version:
I did not chop the parsley, just used the top leaf clusters. I cubed the ham and the Brie. I used just one egg for each of us. I did not have cream on hand, but had sour cream...I dabbed a bit of sour cream and mixed it in with the ham and Brie...it worked well. I did not bake them using the bain marie (water bath in the pan) method; I just placed the clay cazuelitas on the oven rack....that also worked well.
I like to serve them with slices of toasted baguette. I prefer my eggs slightly runny and cooked my casserole just 15 minutes.
Bon Appétit!
