Saveur Recipe: Baked Eggs with Chanterelles
Garlic is used in three different ways – sautéed, as a confit, and rubbed onto toast – to build depth of flavor in this French bistro classic of eggs, spinach, and mushrooms gently cooked in a cream bath.
Serves 4
Ingredients
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
8 oz. spinach, stemmed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
8 oz. chanterelle mushrooms, quartered
1/3 cup heavy cream
4 eggs
1 baguette, cut on the diagonal into thick slices
Method
- Make the garlic confit: Heat oil in a 1-qt. saucepan over medium-low-heat. Add 2 cloves garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is tender, 15-20 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer garlic to a cutting board; let cool. Thinly slice garlic confit lengthwise. (Reserve garlic-flavored oil for another use, such a making vinaigrette or poaching fish.)
- Melt 2 tbsp. butter in a 12” skillet over medium heat until foamy. Add spinach and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer spinach to a tea towel and wipe out skillet. Gather up ends of towel and squeeze out excess liquid; set spinach aside.
- Melt remaining butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add 1 clove garlic and the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and cook; stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add heavy cream and cook 5 minutes more. Remove pan from heat, cover, and let mushrooms steep for 15 minutes. Discard garlic.
- Heat oven to 400 degrees. Divide the spinach and mushrooms between four 6-oz. ramekins. Add reserved slices of garlic confit. Crack 1 egg into each ramekin. Transfer ramekins to a 9” x 13” baking pan and pour enough boiling water into pan to come halfway up the side of the ramekins. Cover pan with aluminum foil and transfer to oven; cook until whites are set and yolks are still runny, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, toast the baguette slices and rub them with the remaining garlic clove. To serve, divide ramekins and slices of toasted baguettes between four plates, and season eggs with salt and pepper.
Reprinted with permission from Weldon Owen Publishing.
Image by Landon Nordeman
