If you’re on Pinterest you would have seen, at some point, images of baked avocado and eggs.
While the idea of avocado baked eggs sounded interesting, intriguing even, the thought of a simple mix of avocado and egg sounded, quite frankly, not that exciting! I also wasn’t sure about the idea of cooked avocado. So, after a bit of tinkering and the addition of crème fraîche and herbs my avocado egg bake was a revelation.
The inspiration was oeufs en cocotte using the avocado in place of a ramekin, I guess, making oeufs en avocat, and adding a few herbs. I also added a naughty, but delicious, sprinkling of grated cheese.
The trick with this dish is to use large avocados (very large) AND to hollow out a bit of room in the avocado to accommodate the egg and crème fraîche. Hollow out more than you think you will need and don’t even think about attempting this with a small avocado! You’ll end up with a mess. Trust me!! Let’s just say I learned from experience!!
Bake the avocado inside ramekins as you will be baking them in a water bath. You also want the avocados to be a tight fit in the ramekin so they don’t topple over and lose their filling. If you don’t have ramekins carefully wrap the avocado, before adding the filling, with foil to make a stand so that the avocados will be steady and safe from the water in the water bath.
Serve with toast soldiers or steamed asparagus spears.
Avocado baked eggs with creme fraiche and herbs
Ingredients
- 2 very large avocados halved and stone removed
- 4 tbs crème fraîche or double cream
- 3 leaves sprigs of thyme picked
- 2 tsp parsley chopped
- salt and pepper
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 celsius (350 Fahrenheit) and boil the kettle.
- Scoop out roughly 1/3 of the flesh of the avocado (reserve to use in another recipe, such as my chickpea pancakes with avocado). Place the avocados inside the ramekins and ensure they fit tightly so that they won't topple over and spill the filling everywhere. Alternatively, wrap the avocado base well in foil, making a stand to keep the avocado steady and out of the water.
- Combine the crème fraîche, thyme, parsley and salt and pepper in a bowl and stir well to combine. Divide half the mixture between the avocados. Carefully crack an egg into each of the avocados. Top with the remaining crème fraîche and grated cheese.
- Place the ramekins inside a large roasting tray and place on the shelf in the oven and add the boiling water from the kettle so that the water comes up to half the height of the ramekins. Bake for 15 minutes and serve immediately with toast soldiers or steamed asparagus spears.
Nutrition
