I've been thinking about blogging a lot lately. You see, I love doing it. When I first started, back in Bali, it was constantly on my mind. Wondering this, that or the other would be something to blog about. How I would put things. Blogging itself came out of a need to write in general, which has always been latent. So back in Bali I had something I had never had since I was a teenager: time!
So upon my return in the Netherlands I didn't have that much time anymore but I missed writing, I did and that is when I started this blog. I said to myself: Life may be less exciting but that doesn't mean it is boring!! I used my summer holiday to make a start and it made me happy..
Back to work and writing played less than a supporting role in my life. Too tired, every single day. What little did I know I actually had a health condition to blame for my fatigue!
But there we are: a weekend of peace and quite and I can feel the writing itches inside me.
As I am steadily working my way through Nigella's Lawsons Nigella Express, I remember Julie and Julia. Julie blogged about the way she cooked her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking. French cooking and express cooking are not exactly the same, I know that. But seriously: aren't recipes that are easy as well as yummy the ones that everybody wants and needs after a day of hard labour?
So let's go! It's been cold, I've been tired so how about a little comfort food? Oeufs en Cocotte. The eggs are cooked au bain marie (oven at 190 degrees, dish filled with water till halfway up the ramequin) which makes it sound complicated but really it isn't. My only problem is you can't leave them there for longer than the required 12 minutes. And I reeeeeaaaaally like dishes you can cook for as long as it suits me. First time I made them, I left the eggs for 15 minutes which left them solid instead of slightly runny. This is how it goes:
butter a ramequin per egg. Fill them up with one egg, a bit of seasalt, a splash of cream and a dollop of truffle oil. For those among you who never used that before: smell it. If you use to much of it, that is what your egg is going to taste like... If used with care, you'll get a simple egg with different layers of flavour: the egginess, the creaminess, the saltiness and finally the earthiness of the truffle oil. Oh, and what I do is add freshly ground black pepper but that may just be my personal weekness. A simple green salad with balsamico vinegar, some olive oil and a grind of sea salt goes well with it. Careful when you take them out of the dish, I managed to burn myself...
Now the first attempt to make the Oeufs en Cocotte left them somewhat solid but the taste was SO GOOD I decided I had to make them again a.s.a.p. Greedily, I wolved them down before I could think of making a picture of them. Instead, I'll leave you with Nigella's story..
