Baked Eggs in Ham Cups
May 25, 2009 posted by David Leite
by Gale Gand
from Gale Gand’s Brunch!: 100 Fantastic Recipes for the Weekend’s Best Meal
(Clarkson Potter, 2009)
Serves 4
This dish is simple to make but very attractive—the pastry chef in me loves that. Lining muffin tins with ham serves two purposes: It creates an edible container for the eggs, and it adds flavor. You can replace the mozzarella with another kind of cheese if you want a stronger cheese flavor; using fresh mozzarella makes this an authentic Italian dish, but its flavor is quite mild. When you’re eating with guests, these are probably going to be knife-and-fork food—but when I was testing the recipe, I ate them with my hands, and that works too.—Gale Gand
convert Ingredients
1 teaspoon unsalted butter for the tins
Four 1/16-inch thick round ham slices (the largest you can find at the deli)
1 teaspoon pesto, homemade or store-bought
8 large eggs
Eight 1/4-inch cubes fresh mozzarella
4 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
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Method
1. Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
2. Butter 4 compartments of a metal muffin tin. Fold each ham slice into quarters, insert the point end in a buttered muffin cup, and let it open—it will have a ruffled look. Place 1/4 teaspoon pesto in the bottom of each ham cup, then carefully crack 2 eggs into each cup. (Sometimes I crack my eggs into a pitcher with a pour spout or into a small paper cup and pour them into the ham cup from there.) Tuck 2 mozzarella cubes and two cherry tomato halves into each cup on top of the eggs, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. (Remember that the ham and pesto both lend saltiness to the dish.)
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the egg white looks set but the yolk is still a bit runny. Remove the ham cups from the muffin tin and serve them in small bowls or lined up on a platter.
Recipe © 2009 Gale Gand. All rights reserved.
© 2009 Leite’s Culinaria, Inc. All rights reserved. Terms of use.
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This is a real ‘wow!’ factor for a brunch. Have just sent it to my son and family in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. They often have friends staying for the weekend, and this egg dish would put a whole new slant on their brunches.
Thank you.
[Adrienne L.] For this recipe, I used homemade pesto and Boar’s Head ham from the deli. The flavor and mixture of textures was fantastic. Ham takes the place of puff pastry or phyllo dough to make the cups, and it really adds something to the dish. The only problem I had was that 2 eggs wouldn’t fit into each cup, so I cracked just 1 egg into each and they were just fine. You can also change the ingredients to get many different variations on this fantastic dish.