cheddar egg nests

I love eggs. I love that they are comfort food, that they are a food that almost everyone eats, and I love that they can go from as simple as a hard boiled egg to this gorgeous, elegant egg nest.  These look like souffles gone crazy, and I love it.  You can't prepare them ahead because the eggs need to be freshly whipped, but unlike souffles, these won't deflate so quickly.  While it's always a race to get a good photo of a souffle before it collapses, the photos of these were more of a brisk, efficient process.  But not a race, whew.

A few months ago, I posted a recipe for truffled eggs en cocotte -- these are basically the exact opposite.  While those eggs were cramped tightly into ramekins, these explode outwards, forming clouds of stiff egg foam above them.  Leave plenty of room in your oven when you're cooking them.  But aren't they cool?

And they're healthy, and they're delicious, and they look good.  What more do you really need?

Souffled Cheddar Egg Nests

Adapted from eating/sf (who also has lovely photos of them)

INGREDIENTS

2 large eggs

pinch or two of salt

pinch or two of freshly-grated black pepper

1/3 cup of coarsely grated white cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Fill a small bowl with cold water and set aside. Separate the eggs, putting the eggs whites in a large bowl and gently slipping the egg yolks into the small bowl of cold water.

Season the egg whites with the salt, and pepper and whisk at high speed using an electric mixer until the whites hold stiff peaks. Gently fold in the cheese (reserving some as a garnish) and evenly divide the mixture between the two ramekins. Make a small little hole/nest in the middle of each of the ramekins. Use a spoon to gently remove the yolks from the water and slip one into each of the nests. Add some additional cheese onto the tops.

Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and bake for 10-14 minutes, until the whites are puffed and lightly golden and the yolks resemble sunny-side up eggs.

Serves two.