RECIPE - Eggs Degas!

Merry Christmas!!

This was the scene that greeted us this morning! We got about six inches of snow over night! What better way to warm up in the morning than a delicious and beautiful breakfast full of protein?

I've mentioned, once or twice, Eggs Degas which is Svein Arild's new favorite breakfast for me to make. I made it for my bachelorette brunch and my girlfriends all loved it and I've been asked many times for the recipe/process so I'm going to use this post to explain the deliciousness that is EGGS DEGAS!

First, a little history: It is called Eggs Degas because it is from The Degas House in New Orleans. My mom visited the bed and breakfast a few years ago and bought the cookbook. This recipe was in there and since then I've made it for many Christmas brunches over the years. It looks very fancy and all "Martha Stewart" when you pull it out to serve it but it is really very easy to make! 

Here is the recipe from the book:

EGGS DEGAS:

12 slices Canadian bacon

12 ounces shredded Swiss cheese

12 large eggs

1 cup whipping cream

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 tsp paprika

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In a greased 9x13 inch baking dish place a single layer of bacon slices, cover with shredded Swiss cheese. Gently break the eggs onto the cheese layer, spacing them evenly apart, careful not to break the yolks. Pour the cream over the eggs. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake ten minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan and paprika.

Bake ten minutes more or until set.

Remove from oven. Let stand for ten minutes before cutting into 12 egg-centered portions.

Can be served alone or on toast or English muffins.

Americans can use the above recipe and just follow the pictures below for the process. I make it a little differently and I've adapted it to my liking so I'll explain the process here:

Swiss and parmesan cheeses as well as Canadian bacon are kinda hard to find here in Norway. I substitute them with Jarlsberg for the Swiss (they have a very similar taste), Norvegia for the parmesan and kokt skinke (it's basically ham) for the Canadian bacon. You'll also need some butter (brelett), eggs, and krem fløte (heavy cream).

Preheat the oven to 275 C. Our oven is quite old so you might want to just keep an eye on your first batch to see what temp works best for your oven.

Norwegian ingredients.

Next, take a paper towel and lightly spread some butter on all edges of the pan including the sides. You don't want to have the food stick to the dish! It just takes a light coating and if you have cooking spray, you can use that too.

Our pan is small because our oven is small so we can only make four a time instead of twelve.

 Next, take your shredded Jarlsberg cheese and pile it high on each piece of ham.

Next, use your finger to make little "nests for the birdies." Make the hole just big enough to fit an egg yolk on each piece of ham. The whites of the egg will ooze through the cheese.

Nests for the birdies!

 Crack an egg into each little nest. The cheese will hold it in place. This is important. Oh, and be careful not to puncture the yolk!

Oh, dear, here comes the part where you start to feel guilty about cooking this! Drizzle some heavy cream over the nests - being sure to coat each yolk. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper.

Cheese *and* cream!? It's divinely evil!

Pop the pan in the oven and set the timer for about 7 minutes. We like our egg yolks to be oozy delicious but if you want a harder yolk, leave it in for a little longer.

I like to use the large shredder for the Jarlsberg then the fine shredder for the Norvegia...just a side note!

While you're waiting for them to cook, pull out some whole grain bread and set the table. English muffins are also hard to find around here so we use homemade bread. I need to find a recipe for English muffins that I can make here...(note to self!)

When the timer goes off, check it to see if the eggs are set to your liking. As I said, we like ours a little runny so I pull them a little early (according to the original recipe).

Now, take the finely shredded Norvegia (or parmesan) and sprinkle it on each egg. Then sprinkle the whole thing with some paprika. Return it to the hot oven for just a couple minutes until the cheese is browned.

When you pull it out, it should look something like this (without the large amount of paprika on the left! Oops!) Let the eggs rest in the pan for a couple minutes so the cheesy cream can set up a little bit. Doing this will make them easier to serve.

Finally, using a large spatula, remove the eggs from the pan being sure to take the ham with them! Then place them on the bread or English muffins and enjoy!

I let these sit a little too long in the pan so the yolks hardened a little. But they were still delicious!

We finished off our breakfast this morning with some Nidar Sfinx chocolates from Svein Arild's best man! Tusen takk Tor Åge! 

Here is the recipe with Norwegian conversions (as best as I can...)

For serving 12 people:

12 slices kokt skinke

600 grams shredded Jarlsberg cheese

12 large eggs

2.5 dl krem fløte

salt and pepper to taste

200 grams finely shredded Norvegia

paprika to taste

Again, I just use my eyes to gauge how much of each ingredient to use but you can use the above as a rough guideline. If you have any questions about this recipe please leave a comment below and I'll answer it for you! 

This recipe is so easy but ends up making you look like quite the chef! I hope you enjoy it!!