Egg Nests

I found this gem in an old Martha Stewart magazine from the 90s, as I cleaned out the last of the pages saved in notebooks. (Which was an improvement from the boxes of magazines I saved before that. We have the internet now; that's where we save things!) So here I save this delicious, simple egg recipe, of an egg yolk, lightly baked in a nest of its own savory meringue.

If you don't eat dairy, leave the cheese out and up the herbs for more flavor, and grease the ramekin with olive oil.

For 2 servings:

2 eggs
butter
grated cheese, 3-4 Tablespoons
1/4 t salt
1 T each chopped parsley and scallion (or whatever herbs you enjoy)

Preheat oven to 375F.
Butter/oil 2 4-ounce ramekins, and coat with grated cheese. Gently separate 2 eggs, setting the yolks aside, and whip the whites until foamy. Add 1/4 t salt and whip until firm but not dry - so a bit past soft peak, but not all the way to hard peak. (This is easiest to do with an electric mixer, but you can use a whisk. I once watched my brother make meringue with chop sticks, so anything's possible!) Toss in the chopped herbs before the meringue is finished, but if you miss that, fold them in gently.

Divide egg whites into the 2 ramekins and make an indentation for the yolk to sit in. Gently slide the yolk into the indentation, and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake until white puffs up and is golden brown on the peaks, 6-8 minutes depending on your oven. For ours I think it would be 7 if we hadn't been opening it every few minutes to check on it!

This is simple enough for a weekend morning, but fancy enough for formal brunch. Enjoy!

Above, I doubled the recipe. In these shallow ramekins 2 eggs still takes 7 minutes, longer if you want the yolk less runny.