Baked Eggs are for Lovers

They say the way to man's heart is through his stomach. The way to my man's heart, in the most specific terms possible, is by way of baked eggs. I first made these for dinner one night with some chicken sausage and some biscuits and Paul proclaimed it the "best dinner ever." This made me like him even more so than I already did because not only is he complimentary (the way to a girl's heart is through compliments) his tastes, without even intending to be so, are budget conscious. Perfect for the New Depression Wife. The variation on baked eggs I made on Monday was even better than the original recipe.



The first go round I made these with some garlic, chives a bit of half and half and some goat cheese. This time 'round, I used what I had in the fridge in an attempt to clear it out before we go on vacation (tomorrow!!!). What I had was some blistered balsalmic cherry tomatoes, some left over store bought pesto and eggs. The pesto was so rich and gave off a bit of oil, so they really didn't need any cheese. The end result was really something tasty to behold:



BAKED EGGS WITH PESTO AND TOMATOES

I used some blistered, super sweet balsalmic cherry tomatoes, but any good ripe summer tomatoes will do.

Preheat oven to 375
Coat oven-safe skillet with a spray of olive oil and heat over med-low heat
Melt 1 tsp. butter and swirl skillet to coat the bottom
Add handful of tomatoes and generous tablespoon of pesto (probably more like 2 tbs.)
Carefully break four large eggs into skillet, you want the yolks in tact
Add another teaspoon of pesto, salt and a few turns fresh pepper
Top with a small splash half and half

Bake for about 9-10 minutes and then start to keep an eye on it. My fear for salmonella and my love for runny yolks go head to head here in a battle of wits. In the past, salmonella fear has won out and I ended up with fully cooked yolks; however, on this day I was ready to take my chances so that I could have some nice dippin' yolks. At approximately 10 minutes, I took the skillet off the middle rack and placed it on the bottom rack. I then turned the oven to broil so I could make toast. Some of you may have an invention known as a "toaster" which oyu turn to in times like this. For those of you with a toaster, this juggling and burning of fingers in the name of both carbs and protein being simultaneously served will not be necessary. Long story long the toast took about three minutes to toast on both sides, under my close and watchful eye. Just as the toast was finishing I took the eggs out of the oven. Voila! Runny yolks and solid whites. Upon closer examination, there was a lil looseness in my whites but I ate it all nonetheless and have lived to tell the tale. I am open to suggestions on cooking temperature and time. Varied recipes for baked eggs have suggested 350 to 400, so I figured 375 was a nice neutral temp. For those that don't crave a runny yolk so much, you could prolly bake em for 15 without a look; but personally, I really feel like the thing that makes baked eggs so dreamy is the nice solid white with the runny yolks, paired with the (for lack of better word) toppings. It's the best thing about omelettes (i.e. the addition of other tasty things) meets the best part of poached. If an Italian omelette and a poached egg had a baby it's name would be Baked Eggs with Pesto and Tomatoes (although that sounds like a celebrity baby name and lawd knows, I hate that). Make these for your lover asap.