Baked Eggs and Toast

Source: Martha Stewart's Everyday Food
Serves 4.



Variations:
Asparagus, Fontina, and Dijon Mustard: Divide 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard, 8 stalks blanced asparagus, cut into 1-inch lengths and 1 1/2 cups grated fontina cheese among toasts.

Tomato, Cheddar, and Canadian Bacon: Divide 2 chopped plum tomatoes, 4 ounces diced Canadian bacon, and 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese among toasts.

Ham and Gruyere: Divide 4 ounces thinly sliced ham and 1 1/2 cups grated Gruyere cheese among toasts.

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425º. Spread 1/2 tablespoon softened butter over one side of each of 4 slices (1 inch thick) hearty white bread. Place each piece fo bread buttered side down, on a baking sheet.

2. Using your fingers, creat a well in the center of the bread, being careful not to tear it. (I simply made a well by pressing the bread, not by tearing it.)

3. Break 1 large egg into each well, keeping yolk intact; cover bread with desired topping, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

4. Bake until the cheese has melted and the egg is set but slightly runny when pierced with the tip of a paring knife, 15 to 20 minutes. Check the toasts frequently because eggs set quickly.

My notes and lessons learned: I made the asparagus version for DH and me and a cheddar and bacon version for the boys.

This is the second time I've made this recipe and it still hasn't come out quite right - the eggs set up on me both times, even though I didn't leave them in as long this time. Next time I will take them out just as soon as the cheese is melted. I think part of the problem is that the eggs continue to cook when you take them out of the oven.

Use bigger slices of bread and use parchment paper! My egg ran over my toasts and caused the edges of the bread to stick to the baking sheet. Using parchment would make clean-up a snap. I need to find a good bread for this - one that is thick and fairly large. What would probably work best is to cut an unsliced loaf and slice it myself....not sure if I can find that around here as there aren't any bread bakeries - all of our bread comes from the supermarket.