Oeufs

86. Eggs en Cocotte

'Cocotte' is the French word for 'casserole', according to Google's ever-handy Translate feature. Eggs en Cocotte is, basically, a dish of eggs baked in a ramekin or other small, ovenproof vessel (like a cocotte, oddly enough). The buttered ramekin, containing the eggs and whatever flavouring agent you like--parsley, say--sits in a bain marie in a 200 degree oven for 6-8 minutes.

At least, that's the theory. After 8 minutes I opened the oven (and yes, I'd pre-heated it) and found myself looking at a ramekin that housed two raw eggs. Raw. After 16 minutes they were quite rare but getting there. Slowly.

I'm now starting to suspect that this may be the reason why Larousse Gastronomique has a few recipes for baked eggs that instruct cooks to separate the eggs and slip the yolks and whites into different cooking vessels. Sounds perfectionist but probably it's for the best.

Still, baked eggs are nice.