Baked Creamy Egg in a Crispy Cup

This is a quick and tasty way to cook egg. It's similar to cottage eggs, where the egg is baked in a ramekin without a bread lining, which is still delicious, but you have baked-on egg to contend with when washing up.

Ingredients (per egg)

1 egg

1 slice of bread

butter

2 tsp double cream

1 grind of salt

1 grind of black pepper

Method

Cut the crusts off the slice of bread and roll flat with a rolling pin.

Spread with butter.

Push the bread, butter side down, into a ramekin dish or a muffin tin.

As you push the bread down, folds of bread will form.  You can just press these to the edges.

If you make any holes in the bread as you press it into the tin, rip off a little bread from the top and press it down over the hole.

Crack in one egg.

Season with salt and pepper.

Add the cream.

Bake for 15 minutes at 180 C.

Serve.

My kids love these.  Some eat them with their fingers, some eat them with a spoon, before eating the bread cup.  Come to think of it, I love these with a salad for a lunch or light dinner.

You could vary the seasoning of the egg to your personal taste.  Perhaps some finely chopped parsley or smoked paprika.

Soft White Olive Oil Bread Rolls, Over-night method

Makes: 15 little rolls

Prep time: 5 to 10 minutes the night before and 10 to 15 minutes the next morning.

Cooking time: 21 minutes

Skill level: Not Master of the rolls

Equipment: Mixing bowl; scales and measuring jug; hands or a mixer with dough hook; kitchen knife; baking parchment; pastry brush

Ingredients

500g Spelt Flour (or strong white flour)
1 tsp Salt
2 tbsp Olive oil
7g Sachet Yeast
2 tsp honey
300ml Luke warm water

Method

Mix all the dry ingredients and the oil together by hand or with a mixer fitted with a dough hook.
Add the honey and the water gradually while mixing / kneeding to get a moist, elastic dough.

Cover the bowl and place in the fridge over-night.

In the morning, get the dough out of the fridge and light the oven.

Kneed by hand on a clean work-top smeared with olive oil so the warmth from your hands warms up the dough.  When the dough is elastic again and the chill has gone from it, roll the dough into a long sausage shape before cutting into 15 pieces.  Shape each one into a ball and place on a baing sheet lined with parchment and oiled with olive oil.  Place about a centimetre apart and leave to rise in a warm place.

When the rolls are just kissing together, place in the oven at gas mark 7 for 7 minutes.

Reduce the heat to gas mark 5 for 14 minutes.

Remove from the oven and brush with olive oil whilst still warm.

Leave to cool and absorb the oil (this adds flavour, a slight sheen and softens the crust).

When they are just warm or fully cooled, they're ready to go.