Baked Eggs With Crème Fraîche and Smoked Salmon
- Total Time
- 45 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the ramekins
- ⅔cup thinly sliced shallot (2 to 3 shallots)
- ½teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¾cup heavy cream
- ⅓cup crème fraîche
- 1tablespoon chopped fresh dill, plus more for serving
- ½teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
- 12large eggs, at room temperature
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 4ounces smoked salmon
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
339 calories; 27 grams fat; 14 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 8 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 6 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 18 grams protein; 429 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 400 degrees, and brush six 8-ounce ramekins or ovenproof custard cups with butter. Place the ramekins or cups on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Step 2
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Stir in shallots and ¼ teaspoon salt, and cook until very soft, 7 to 10 minutes, reducing heat if necessary to prevent browning.
- Step 3
Stir in 6 tablespoons cream, the crème fraîche, dill, lemon zest and remaining ¼ teaspoon. Remove from heat. Divide mixture among the ramekins.
- Step 4
Crack 2 eggs into each ramekin and float 1 tablespoon of cream on top of each, then sprinkle tops with salt and pepper. Bake until egg whites are just set, and yolk is still runny, 12 to 16 minutes. (The eggs will look slightly puffed at the sides of the ramekins, but still jiggly in the center and that’s O.K. The eggs will continue to cook once out of the oven.) Remove from oven and transfer ramekins onto individual plates for serving.
- Step 5
To serve, top each ramekin with some of the smoked salmon and a little more dill. Serve warm.
Private Notes
Comments
To make ahead, I would prepare the shallot base and portion it into the ramekins the night before, then refrigerate. Take out the next morning while the oven preheats, then add the eggs and cream. Even half-asleep and stumbling around, I could manage that! It might take a minute or two longer to cook, since the base and the ramekins will be cold, but that will just give your first cup of coffee time to work so you’re awake to enjoy breakfast.
Really easy, able to be scaled up or down easily and super delicious. Can't wait to see the whining about the fat content. Too much fat? Don't eat it - even I wouldn't make this a daily meal. But it's perfect for a special weekend brunch and makes a lovely occasional supper with a salad.
Wonderful recipe for a special-occasion brunch but deceptively hard to get the timing right. After 3 tries (two of which yielded hard yolks), the baking time required for perfect runny yolks seems to be 9-10 minutes. The eggs start cooking as soon as they are added to the hot cream sauce and the ramekins retain a lot of heat. Best to slightly undercook so the whites are still not quite set when removed from the oven, let sit for a few minutes on the counter, then add the smoked salmon and serve.
I haven’t made it yet but am about to try as a test for an upcoming brunch gathering. A tip if you have trouble spreading “ribboned” recipes like this is to put the batter in a large piping bag and pipe into the pan instead of trying to spread over a loose layer. This technique works especially well if you are making multiple cakes for gifts or parties and even better if you are converting to muffins or mini cakes. You can usually still get the middle crumble layer without the whole muffin falling apart if you just spoon it into the center of the muffin so the batter will “meet” around the edge to contain it. Piping the batter may sound like a fussy extra step but it works SUPER fast and keeps everything perfectly neat if you already have the large bags on hand.
I have anxiety about the timing and don’t want to waste all the ingredients with over- or under-cooked eggs! Can someone who has this recipe down pat do me a huge favor next time you make it and take the temp of the egg white part with an instant-read thermo when they are ready to come out of the oven and post your finding? You will be my hero!
Made this to the recipe for Xmas brunch minus crème fraiche which wasn’t available. Sour cream worked just fine. Yolks were perfectly runny/jammy at around 13 mins in my oven. Served with toasted buttered sourdough.