Sometimes you just can't beat a perfectly cooked egg for breakfast or brunch, and we're loving this recipe for baked eggs by Tom Parker-Bowles, which was cooked for him by his mother, the Duchess of Cornwall, when he was a boy. Tom shared the recipe in his cookbook Let's Eat (Pavillion Books) and we think it's the ideal Saturday morning family brunch dish.
Tom writes: "This is one of my mother’s ‘signature’ dishes, although she’d be perplexed as to what a ‘signature’ dish is. When we used to arrive home, late, from holiday, the house would be cold and dark, the fridge bare. But my sister and I would collect the eggs, and my mother would break them into ramekins, splosh in a little cream from the top of the milk bottle and dot with butter."
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INGREDIENTS
Serves 2
Ingredients for the Duchess of Cornwall's baked eggs
- A little chopped ham or cooked asparagus (optional)
- 4 eggs
- 2–3 tablespoons double cream
- 4 teaspoons butter
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Hot toast, to serve
A similar baked egg and asparagus dish
INSTRUCTIONS
Instructions for the Duchess of Cornwall's baked eggs
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4.
Step 2
If using ham or asparagus, divide this between 2 ramekins. Break the eggs into the ramekins, then add the cream, butter, salt and pepper.
Step 3
Put into a small roasting pan and pour in some just-boiled water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
Step 4
Bake for 7–10 minutes, until the yolk is wobbling and the white just set. Serve with toast.
This recipe features in Tom Parker Bowles’ Let’s Eat cookbook (Pavilion Books)
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