Uova in Cocotte ai Porri - Eggs en Cocotte with Leeks

As I think I've mentioned before, we love eggs with dinner in our household. Loooove them! So when I got my C.S.A. box yesterday, with fresh new half dozen eggs as well as several bunches of leeks, this recipe seemed like the obvious choice.

And oh my god, was it good! This is going to be my new go-to favourite - even more exciting that because I serve it in a little ramekin, it can even look presentable and even elegant to serve to dinner guests. So exciting.

Also so easy: I halved two leeks lengthwise, then thinly sliced them. I've had trouble with the leeks from Eatwell before because they are often packed with mud, but I discovered that if I slice it half lengthwise, then rinse them before doing the slicing, it's quite easy for me to get all of the mud off. I did the same with a couple of garlic greens, since I had a few of them in the box and they looked so yummy. I melted a couple of tablespoons of butter and sautéed the whole lot for about five minutes.

After that, I added a few tablespoons of water, some freshly ground nutmeg, salt and pepper and let it simmer, covered,
till they were all nice and soft (I think it was about 20 minutes). At this point, I tasted it to make sure it was properly seasoned and I promptly got so excited about how tasty this was going to be once there a soft-baked egg on top!

I split the leeks between three ramekins (one for me, two for Big E) and broke an egg onto each. I hoarded a bit more of the leeks for mine, since I was only getting one - It seemed only fair.

I stuck them in a 350º pre-heated oven and cooked for the allotted 4 minutes. At this point, according to SS, it's only supposed to sit for two more minutes, but the whites were still completely translucid. It really took much longer for the eggs to set (I did a little poke test to the whites to make sure they were set, but tried to make sure the yolks were still soft).

It was fantastic! Really fun to eat, because you had to break through the egg to uncover the soft, buttery almost caramelized leeks underneath. And when you broke the yolk, it mixed in with the rest and was just warm and flavourful - I think it is definitely a newly discovered comfort food for me.

I served them with some polenta with mushroom broth and polenta and Butternut Squash with Rosemary (from SS - coming soon!) and the whole dinner was just incredibly satisfying and comforting.

I don't know if the garlic greens made much of a difference - they definitely didn't stand out, though they did blend in nicely. I can imagine different variations where I throw other veggies or even nuts or mushrooms into the mix, but it really was quite perfect as is. And there's a whole Eggs en Cocotte section!!! I can't wait to try another one.

Tasty Factory: A+ Ease of Preparation: A Modifications: Yes. Added some garlic greens and much longer cooking time for the eggs.

PS. While I was surfing the Egg section of SS, I realized that with 2000 recipes to go through, there were certain recipes that I might keep putting off for quite a while, such as Eggs with Ketchup. No really - Eggs with Ketchup. Uova con Ketchup. What's up with that?!

Spaghetti con il Tonno - Spaghetti with Tuna

This was the best ever "I just got back into town and haven't had time to go shopping yet" dish. We'd just gotten back from the holidays, mid-morning on a saturday, and were a bit too exhausted from our trip to head to the supermarket.

These are times when having a well-stocked pantry can really come in handy. The recipe required very few ingredients and most of them dried or canned. Sure, I didn't have spaghetti, but I seem to enjoy to like rotini or other shorter pasta a lot better these days.

I heated a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, added a clove of garlic and cooked it until it browned. I then added a can of tuna (in oil, generally Spanish or Italian - I really like Ortiz), drained and flaked.

I stirred in a can of crushed tomatoes (the recipe only called for 3 tablespoons of table paste, but since this was our entire meal, I was really hoping for some lycopene or other healthful redeeming value). I cooked the sauce for about 15 minutes, stirred in some chopped parsley and seasoned it with salt & pepper.

We scarfed the rotini and sauce down and it was perfect! Very flavourful, very satisfying - exactly what we needed.

Tasty Factor: A Ease of Preparation: A+ Modifications: Yes. Used full can of crushed tomatoes instead of 3 tablespoons of tomato paste.

PS. Clearly by the description, you can tell I made this a while ago (over a month) which means I'm still working my way through old photos. Almost onto the new though! In the meantime, however, if you want to see some newer photography, head on over to my other blog for a meal from another source.