One of the main ingredients in this dish, crème fraiche, is new to me and I have come to love it! So much that it has become an obsession, of late, to acquire all recipes that can be made with this wonderful, velvety, luscious cultured cream. It is comparable to sour cream except that it is thicker, it does not curdle when cooking and it has a more savory flavor. The French and Italians use this luscious cream as a topping on soups instead of sour cream. And I have adopted this practice also.
For this recipe you will need the following ingredients: - 1 Egg
- 2 huge tablespoons of crème fraiche
- fresh dill (however to your taste)
- salt and pepper
- toasted or hard crusty white bread
This dish is usually served in ramekins, but I chose to use one of my tea cups. I think using a colorful tea cup makes the presentation of the food a little more elegant and appealing.
Put one large dollop of the decadent crème fraiche in the bottom of your tea cup (or whatever small dish you are using).
Crack an egg over the crème fraiche then sprinkle some salt and pepper.
Spoon another large dollop of crème fraiche on top of the egg and then sprinkle the fresh dill to your level of taste.
Place tea cup (or ramekin) in a baking dish and poor enough lukewarm water into the dish to come halfway up the sides. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until the egg yolks are set to your liking. I like my eggs a little runny so you can cook for a little longer if you want a more firm texture.
You can choose to add the dill at the end if you do not want to bake it with the eggs and instead just use the herb as a garnish.
Now this dish is usually served with crusty white bread. I did not have any on hand so I toasted whole wheat. The French would never use whole wheat! I think they consider it a sin! You can use whatever you have on hand. Just make sure that whatever bread you choose to use with this dish is either a white crusty hard loaf or one that you toast yourself to achieve the crunch.
Enjoy!
