Eggs On Cocotte by Tom Kitchin

In the first of our videos featuring recipes donated by celebrity chefs we have a lovely, and relatively easy, Egg On Cocotte donated by the Michelin starred Edinburgh based Tom Kitchin. The full recipe is listed below,

Serves 4

You will need four 12cm ovenproof dishes for this recipe.

350g button mushrooms

100g bacon rashers

100g broad beans

250g fresh spinach

2 teaspoons olive oil

4 free-range eggs

Mornay sauce

60g butter

60g plain flour

1 litre of milk

4 gratings of nutmeg

salt and pepper

100g Mull Cheddar, grated

To make the mornay sauce

• In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and add the flour. Whisk over a low heat for 2-3 minutes until there are no lumps. Bring the milk to the boil with a little grated nutmeg and pour over the cooked roux. Bring to the boil and cook for 10 minutes, stirring gently. Season, pass through a sieve and stir in the grated cheese.

To prepare the vegetables and bacon

• Wipe the mushrooms and cut them into quarters. Cut the bacon into 1cm batons and sauté together with mushrooms for 3 or 4 minutes. Pod the broad beans and blanch them for 1 minute in boiling salted water. Refresh them in a bowl of iced water and then peel off the tough outer skins. Wash the spinach and dry on some paper towel. Heat the olive oil in a medium pan, add the spinach and a pinch of salt, and cook until spinach is wilted.

Assembling the dish

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4. Place some spinach in each dish and cover with mornay sauce. Crack an egg on top, sprinkle with broad beans and bacon, and season with salt and pepper. Put the dishes in a baking tin, pour in boiling water to come half way up the sides of the dishes and bake for 8-10 minutes.

The egg yolks should still be soft.