There are a couple of places in Seattle – Café Presse and Le Pichet- I like to go for a particular dish: Œufs plats, jamon et fromage…baked eggs with ham and cheese. A cup of great coffee, lightly toasted French demi baguette and this is the perfect breakfast when I am craving something warm, gooey and homey.  We don’t often have breakfast for dinner but when we do it is usually some kind of hash with poached eggs. Decided to do a vegetable variation of the baked eggs I love so much which provided the opportunity to use up the handful of ‘leftover’ vegetables in the fridge. A quick yummy dinner of baked eggs with a little toasted bread was just what we needed on a chilly night. Didn’t even miss the ham. {Wait! Did I really just say that! Wow!}

Vegetable Herbed Baked Eggs
serves 2

1 ½ tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tsp. olive oil
½ cup yellow onions, diced {about ½ a small onion}
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup mushrooms, sliced {I used a combination of cremini + chanterelles}
1 cup asparagus, cut into 2″ pieces
3 cups baby spinach
Kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
4 eggs
2 tbsp. heavy cream
¼ cup parmesan, grated or shaved
¼ tsp. fresh rosemary, minced
¼ tsp. fresh thyme, minced

Preheat broiler and place rack about 10″ from the top.  Grease two individual gratin dishes with 1 tbsp. of the butter. Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the remaining butter and oil over medium high heat. Add onions and garlic; sauté for 3-4 minutes or until onions are translucent. Add mushrooms and asparagus. Cook for 4 minutes stirring often. Add spinach to the pan and cook just until it starts to wilt; about 1 – 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and strain entire mixture with a colander to eliminate any cooking liquid from the spinach.  Divide mixture between the two gratin dishes. 

Crack one egg at a time into a small shallow bowl to then smoothly add to the top of the vegetable mixture…two eggs per dish.  Spoon 1 tbsp. of heavy cream over the top of each dish. Sprinkle each with half the parmesan and half the herbs.  

Broil for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 2 minutes. The eggs will continue to cook once removed from the oven. Serve with warm or toasted French bread.