Little Pillows of Heaven

Today we started our conquest of the "incredible edible egg." We will spend all week with eggs, which is fine by me. I heart them. It was obvious that there were others in class who did not share my sentiment for eggs. You could see fear in some eyes, disgust in others, and hear frustration in many voices when eggs had cooked either too long or not long enough.

Our first attempts to conquer the egg today were Oeufs Farcis Chimay and Oeufs Mollet Florentine.

Let's start with Oeufs Farcis Chimay. It's kind of like a fancy deviled egg in a way. You hardboil some eggs, take out the hardened yolk and finely chop. Then you duxelle some mushrooms and sauté in butter and shallots. Mix the mushrooms and the chopped yolk, season and then add the greatest binding agent to ever exist in my mind - bechamel sauce. Why use anything else when you can make a creamy white sauce that will do the trick? Spoon the mixture on top of the boiled eggs, cover with a ridiculous amount of bechamel and top with cheese. Broil for several minutes.

Eggs just went from healthy to heart attack central in a matter of seconds. And I LOVE it! When in France, eat as the French and drink as the French. That's my motto.


Duxelle of mushrooms.



Shallots and butter. Yum.

Mix in the mushrooms.

Finely chop the cooked yolk.

Make a roux.

Whisk in some milk.

And as if by magic, this delicious velvety sauce appears.

How cute is that copper pan? I want to kitchen-nap it and bring it home with me.

Eggs stuffed with mushroom mixture on bed of bechamel.

Cover with bechamel and cheese.

Let the eggs get their broil on.

Voila!

The Oeufs Mollet Florentine just steps things up a notch. Eggs are softboiled instead of hardboiled. Spinach is sautéed with butter and garlic - nothing wrong with that. Eggs top the spinach. Bechamel covers everything and don't forget the cheese! Broil for several minutes and you have what my friend, Carleta, calls, "Little Pillows of Heaven."



Somehow, after all these years, it still amazes me that you start with this much spinach.



And end up with this much.

Starting to look good, but it is missing something...

Yep. You guessed it - the bechamel and cheese.

Hot out of the broiler. Little pillows of heaven.

Luckily, today I cooked the eggs perfectly so you can see what they should be like when you break into them. There is definitely a deep sigh of relief when you have done something right after hours and hours of cooking. So, take that eggs. Today, I conquered you. Tomorrow might be another story, but today's score is me-1 and eggs-0.