Bread Tartlets with Eggs
Yesterday I realised experiments and discoveries have recently dominated my blog (hence the overwhelming presence of the Japanese cuisine I become more and more fond of). Meanwhile, I was forgetting write about the dishes I have been preparing for years… I have decided to look through my old recipe notebook more often and share with you more simple but delicious dishes I have been preparing for years.
This messy-looking bread tartlet is one of my beloved lunch or brunch dishes. Sliced bread formed into a basket, filled with egg and ham, is simple, amusing and can be adapted to everyone’s taste. I still remember I found this recipe several years ago in “Si simple, si bon!” (So good, so simple) by Josée di Stasio, a Québec tv food program star and I highly recommend this book to everyone looking for easy recipes with sometimes very impressing results (unfortunately I have no idea if it was published in English).
Josée di Stasio calls this dish “ramekins”, but I thought the word “tartlet” was more appropriate (I think it could also be called a “basket”). She also recommends baking the bread tartlets in muffin moulds, but I usually prefer individual baking dishes (ramekins) which are higher and make bigger baskets. Retrieving the tartlets from the ramekins may be delicate, but somehow even such a clumsy person like me has always succeeded, helping myself with a spoon.
Special equipment:
muffin moulds or individual round baking dishes, about 8 cm diameter (if the bread slices are 10×10 cm, but if they are bigger, take bigger ramekins)
Preparation: 25-30 minutes
Ingredients (for one bread basket):
1 slice sandwich bread
1 big (or several smaller) slice(s) ham or other cold meat (salami, chorizo, bacon), I used smoked pork loin here
1 egg
butter
salt, pepper
(mustard)
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Roll out the bread thinly with a rolling pin.
Cut off the crust (it burns easily).
Spread some butter on one side of the slice.
Butter the ramekin or the muffin mould.
Arrange the slice, buttered side out, in the ramekin so that it forms a basket.
(Put some mustard at the bottom if you like to spice up the dish.)
Line the bread “basket” with a slice or slices of ham.
Break one egg into the tartlet.
Put into the oven and bake until the egg white is set (this depends to your preference: I prefer the runny yolk but the white must be completely set).
Take out of the baked tartlets (separating from the walls with a knife and then scooping out with a spoon should do the trick), season with salt and pepper, and serve hot with a green salad, for example Tomato Shiso Salad.
This is a fantastic breakfast for a crowd. A little hollandaise sauce and everyone is happy. 🙂
That’s a delicious photo!
Thank you Maureen! I have never made hollandaise sauce (although I love it!). I must try it one day. Thanks for the idea.
This looks wonderful Sissi. I made a similar thing a few times which I posted about here – I love your idea of using bread as the “basket” though. No washing up afterwards… I like it!
Thank you Charles! Unfortunately there are the ramekins or muffin moulds to wash, but the container of the egg and ham is edible of course!
I have just looked at your recipe. It looks delicious and very original! I always have chutneys in my pantry (although I have never made the one you mention), so I must try your baked eggs.
I love it….I am making this for lunch tomorrow – (without the ham of course!).It looks so pretty….yummy,yummy ! It has given me another idea of stuffing it with potatoes (my all time favourite)….You do have a brilliant collection of recipes.
Thanks for you tip regarding not cooking Miso. I been looking at bread recipes with Miso…so, all the benefits are lost then. What is the best way of having Miso? I added it to a veg stir-fry..that would be not good then as miso would be cooked…maybe, I’ll just go through your recipes and find the best use of Miso…I love its flavour and really want to use it for all its health benefits
Thank you so much Shilpa! I am very happy you appreciate my recipes! As a vegetarian you can substitute the ham with fried (and well dried) mushrooms or vegetables. The most important is to avoid things which might make the baskets soggy. As an amateur of healthy grains you might like the Buckwheat with Miso I posted. Otherwise I love the shira ae dressing I found on Nami’s’blog (I have posted sweet peas with shira ae). There is also the Aubergine gratin with miso, Mackerel simmered in miso (you can simmer a root vegetable instead), but frankly it is a very versatile product and I am sure with your creativity you will make up your own recipes. (I’m sorry I’ll give you the exact links for the recipes I mentioned a bit later, I’m out and answering from my phone). Let me know if you have any questions and good luck! Miso is a miraculous product!
Shilpa, I am back and here are the links to the dishes I have mentioned:
Buckwheat with Miso (http://www.withaglass.com/?p=4819): miso is perfect with buckwheat hazelnutty flavour
Aubergine Gratin (but I think you have already found it: http://www.withaglass.com/?p=1996)
Shira ae dressing, which can be adapted to any blanched or cooked vegetable (http://www.withaglass.com/?p=5095)
Mackerel Simmered in Miso, but you can simmer any root vegetable in this sauce (http://www.withaglass.com/?p=4619)
There is also Miso Soup of course (simplified version: http://www.withaglass.com/?p=1907)
I hope it helps!
This recipe is really really awesome, using simple ingredients. Great idea to use bread instead of puff pastry. I will try with bacon and egg perhaps since bacon and egg is my favourite pie and I don’t always have puff pastry in the freezer, actually I seldom have puff pastry:)
Thank you so much, Mr Three-Cookies! This is also one of the rare recipes where the sliced, unhealthy, soft supermarket bread has its moment of glory 🙂 I also love egg and bacon and in general egg with smoked pork. The raw smoked bacon or leaner cut cooks here and gives a wonderful taste to the rest.
That looks wonderful. I do something similar, but mine looks like truck stop fare, not a work of art. It’s good, just not as pretty. I have the urge to reach through the screen and pick it up right now!
Thank you, Greg! I am very flattered! I often obtain very messy results, but they always taste good (yours too, I’m sure!).
Hi There, This is looking absolutely delightful. A very well made post with beautiful pictures. Loved the new combo of ingredients and the recipe is so nicely made and presented. Its always fun to see ur appetizing recipes. Saving this recipe of urs and wud love to give ur version a try on the coming weekend. Have a wonderful week ahead….Thanks & Regards, Sonia !!!
Thank you, Sonia.
Sissi,
This really looks “Si Simple, Si Bon!” I can see myself making it for myself and my little girl on a lazy weekend day, should be a wonderful brunch food!
N’est-ce pas ??? Thank you, Jeno! You are right, it is perfect for a lazy Sunday brunch or breakfast…
Hi Sissi! This is a fabulous idea for Brunch… sometimes we do that with friends (maybe not so often after everyone is having their 2nd kid tho). It looks easy to prepare for a lot of people and the great part is it looks “fancy”!!! You know, it doesn’t have to be complicated to be fancy and this is a good example. Your egg is perfectly cooked…little runny. 😉 Have a great weekend Sissi! (p.s. I was right! You know what I mean!)
Thank you Nami! The shape plays here a big part, you are right! Apart from the fact that I love egg and ham/bacon in any form, I wouldn’t do this so often if it wasn’t for the fancy shape! Have a wonderful weekend too! (p.s. I know 😉 )
Hi Sissi, you are absolutely correct about the experimenting part. Since the time I started blogging, i just don’t feel like trying out our normal curry .. always looking for something new and diff 🙂 I am glad you shared something so simple and pretty looking.
Thank you, Kankana, and welcome to my blog! It’s funny, but the rare curries I make are for me the opposite: a big, exotic experience 😉
I saw a lot of these types of recipes lately, It’s looking like its becoming a new replacement for the common bacon and egg toast.
Frankly, I have never had “the common bacon and egg toast” and if I have egg and ham, I never take the industrial toast bread with it, but some good French baguette. Unfortunately here baguette doesn’t work. Only the sliced toast bread can be rolled and formed into a basket.
This looks so pretty, Sissi!! I’ve never eaten bacon (or deli meat)/egg/toast in such forms – I am sure breakfast would taste even better with such a feast in front of your eyes :D)!
Thank you CG! It’s so much fun cutting up a basket made of bread… but you must know better than anyone what fun it is to eat beautiful food 🙂
ohhh.. yummy! i’ve tried this before!
Amanda
Thank you, Amanda and welcome!