It Only Took a Pandemic {Recipe: Eggs Orsini or Oeufs Orsini}

We just finished week three of social distancing due to the corona virus pandemic. One positive outcome of all this is I am trying recipes from cook books I've had forever, but never made a recipe out of; Monet's Table, The Cooking Journals of Claude Monet by Claire Joyes is one such book. I was given this book years ago and love looking through it, but it wasn't until now that I actually tried a recipe from it. 

Apparently Eggs Orsini was one of the French impressionist artist Claude Monet's favorite egg dishes to serve to guests at his house in Giverny. It is a simple, but elegant, egg dish to impress guests. It is a fun dish to try just to change things up from ordinary scrambles or fried eggs. 

Eggs Orsini or Oeufs Orsini

This recipe is adapted from one found in the book: Monet's Table; The Cooking Journals of Claude Monet.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons Gruyère cheese, grated 

Fresh ground pepper

Chives for garnish (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 300ºF. Generously butter 4 ramekins; set aside.

Separate egg whites from egg yolks into a medium size mixing bowl. Place egg yolks still in egg shells carefully on a scrunched up clean kitchen towel as shown in photo below; set aside.

Add salt to egg whites, then beat until stiff (can be done by hand or mixer). The egg whites should be firm enough to support the weight of a small spoon when gently placed on top.

Gently spoon egg whites into prepared ramekins, then carefully spread with the back of a small spoon to the edges of the ramekins.  Using the back of the spoon, make indentations into center of the egg white deep enough to delicately slip the egg yolk into. 

Sprinkle tops of eggs with grated cheese and dot with butter. Grind a bit of fresh pepper onto to each. 

Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until egg whites turn golden brown and yolks are just set. Top with chopped chives, if using, and serve immediately. Like a soufflé, the eggs will collapse if left to sit too long. 

Makes 4 servings

Bon Appétit