Baked Eggs in Baguette- Brunch on a Lazy Saturday

Don't you just love weekends?  I've had a rather slow start to mine.  I woke up this morning at around ten (whoops!) to a winter wonderland.  It snowed!  For the first time since October!  As beautiful as it made the view from my balcony, it also made the prospect of grocery shopping completely undesirable.  (Really though it is quite a harrowing experience on the best of days.  Grocery shopping via subway is really a pain.)

So I made the smart decision to procrastinate, and instead of shopping I whipped up this:

Baked Eggs in Baguette- featuring bacon, green onions, roasted garlic, tomatoes, and jalapenos.

I was inspired earlier this week by spoon fork bacon's Baked Egg Boats.  The idea of eggs baked in a bread bowl sounded so quaint and delicious, I just knew I had to give it a try.  While her recipe sounded great with gruyere, pancetta, and green onions I had some other tastes in mind.  (Also, I never have the luxury of having pancetta and gruyere on hand *tear*.)

Originally I was planning on just adding raw tomatoes, jalapenos, and garlic to the mix.  Then a moment of genius struck.  I already cook my bacon in the toaster oven (so much better without the splatter!), why not roast all of the vegetables with the bacon?  Honestly, it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.  Not only did I have the awesomeness of the roasted vegetables, I also had the jalapeno, garlic, tomato infused oil.  What's so great about this?

Well, in order to fill your baguette, you must first remove the top and hollow it out.  This of course leaves you with a silly piece of bread- that's absolutely perfect for dipping in the delicious bacon, jalapeno, tomato oil.  Which is exactly what I did.  SO GOOD!  Honestly, I may consider in the future just making the oil to have to dip bread in.  It's seriously that good.

This recipe takes a while (about an hour) so the little bread snack made the wait not so bad.  Anyway, the next time you have a leisurely morning, take advantage of it and make this special breakfast/ brunch.  It's definitely worth it.

Baked Eggs in Baguette

Ingredients

1-2 strips of bacon (I only used one because it was massive)

1 jalapeno, cut in half

1 clove of garlic

8-9 cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1 tsp olive oil

1 demi-baguette

3 eggs

2 tbsp half and half

1/3 cup grated cheddar cheese

3 green onions, thinly sliced

 salt and pepper

Directions

1.  Preheat an oven or toaster oven to 400F.  On a baking sheet lined with foil toss the garlic, jalapeno, and tomatoes in the olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Place the bacon strip on the sheet and arrange the vegetables around it.  Bake for 14-15 minutes, or until bacon has reached desired crispness.

2.  Preheat the oven to 350F.  Take your baguette and make a diagonally slanting cut into the top all the way around, leaving about a half an inch all around the top (see picture).  Remove the top and hollow out (reserve bread to dip in the bacon jalapeno oil!)  Once the bacon and vegetables have cooled, dice the bacon and jalapenos (seeding the jalapenos if you'd like less heat), and smash the garlic into a paste.

3.  In a large measuring cup with a spout beat together the eggs and half and half.  Once combined add the garlic, jalapeno, tomatoes, and green onions.  Stir well to combine, and then stir in 3/4 of the cheese.   Salt and pepper to taste.

4.  Bake in the oven for about 30-35 minutes until the eggs have set in the middle; check using a toothpick or sharp knife.  Sprinkle on the rest of the cheese and a little more salt, and bake another five minutes.  Let cool five minutes and then slice into pieces.  

Serves two.

This was a truly amazing meal.  The contrast of the crisp bread and the fluffy eggs makes this a textural delight, and the combination of the roasted vegetables, bacon, and onions all wrapped in sharp cheddar cheese make for an incredibly complex and flavorful mouthful.  Seriously, give this a try!

Also be sure to check out more egg recipes at Mom's Crazy Cooking.