Baked eggs with bacon, cream & thyme

Winter

My good friend Simon Wheeler, whom I’ve worked with for many years, inspired me to start cooking these baked eggs. He told me about something similar he used to be served in a big country house in Ireland when he was a boy. He said that while he was there, the house produced its own bacon, cream, eggs and thyme, but it wouldn’t be like that any more. I didn’t want just to imagine how good all that tasted, so I made a version myself. It’s a simple, quick, rich little breakfast that I like with some buttered malted brown toast.

Serves 2

Ingredients

4 thin rashers of streaky bacon
2 thyme sprigs
2 marjoram sprigs (optional)
4 tablespoons double cream
2 eggs
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

You’ll need two ramekins or similar-sized ovenproof dishes. I like to use quite shallow ones. Place two rashers of streaky bacon into each ramekin along with the thyme sprigs, and the marjoram sprigs, if using. Place the two ramekins on a baking tray, then into the hot oven. Cook for 10–12 minutes, or until the bacon is just beginning to crisp, then remove the tray.

Spoon 2 tablespoons of cream into each ramekin – it will bubble in the bacon fat. Carefully crack an egg into each and return the tray to the oven for a further 8–10 minutes, or until the egg whites are set and the yolks are still runny. Remove from the oven, season with salt and pepper, and serve straight away.

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