Growing up I didn’t like eggs. Actually I didn’t like breakfast food in general and could usually be found groggily heating up leftovers prior to my dreaded 7 AM departure for school. I blame my dislike of breakfast on persistent motion sickness. Rides to school and early morning plane flights (which seem unrealistically frequent in my memory – probably due to how torturous I found them) were always plagued with nausea. Thus anything I’d eaten that morning became associated with feeling poorly and voila, a food phobia was born.
Luckily, I’ve grown out of all my childhood food dislikes with only one big exception: seafood. Sorry fish-lovers but I don’t see that one changing anytime soon. But I will eat eggs any time of day now and actually rely on them regularly as a non-meat source of protein. These egg cups are a mismash of a recipe from this cookbook for baked eggs and this recipe from Cooking Light. The method is what’s important here; you can put any combination of cooked, slightly liquid-y vegetables over toasted bread in an ovenproof cup, break an egg over it, bake it, and get the same basic result. Getting the egg cooked properly is the trickiest part. In the photo above the white looks like it’s not completely set, but I assure you it was. It’s easy to overcook the yolk trying to get the white completely opaque. It helps to poke the white gently with a fork. If the fork comes out with runny white on it you need to cook it longer but if it comes out clean or with chunks of white, you’re golden.
Personally this version of the recipe is my favorite combination and uses ingredients we have available pretty much through the winter: beets and sweet potatoes. I’ve also made a delicious version with mustard greens, mushrooms, and red wine. Experimentation is encouraged here.
