Edinburgh Evening News 71 - Eggs en Cocotte

Next month Marie Curie is inviting you to host a dinner down memory lane to raise money for Marie Curie nurses. It is a truly worthy cause and a fun project to get behind by revisiting retro dishes and inviting your friends over to sample them.

Often it is interesting to look back over old recipes and tweak them to suit the modern diner. Classic recipes can teach so much in the ways of flavour combinations and techniques. It is also interesting to research the origins of dishes, so many of the dishes that we know and love from the past come with a really fascinating history. Retro recipes can be a source of great amusement and nostalgia but so many of the classic principles of cookery can be found in them and so with a little update you can create some truly amazing dishes.

This week’s recipe is a long forgotten French dish but using duck eggs really elevates it to new heights with the richness of the yolk and the creaminess of the white - it really is a treat. This dish could be served as a starter at your retro feast with some delicious bread but it would work equally well for a brunch or light lunch.

Full details of how to host your dinner down memory lane can be found at www.mariecurie.org.uk/dinner

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 duck eggs

1 fillet of smoked haddock, flaked

150ml double cream

Half a shallot, finely diced

1 tsp chopped dill

Salt and pepper

Method

• Preheat the oven to 185C

• Crack the duck eggs into 4 ramekins

• Sprinkle a little of the diced shallot, some salt and pepper over each egg

• Divide the flaked haddock among the ramekins

• Top each ramekin with double cream

• Bake the eggs in the oven for 18 minutes

• Sprinkle with dill

• Serve immediately