Oeufs en Cocotte

Anyone who is a regular viewer of Saturday Kitchen on BBC 1, would have seen Rachel Khoo knock this up a few weeks ago. It's a great brunch dish and is something different to your standard fried eggs on toast or Sunday morning scrambled eggs. Oeufs en Cocotte is typical Parisian fare and can be served up with any combination of herbs, toppings, side dishes and sauces. The dish is basically eggs baked in the oven. Simple to prepare and cooked in less than 15 minutes.

Rachel's version which is also available on the BBC food website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/eggs_in_pots_93154) is garnished with lumpfish roe and dill. She also uses creme fraiche instead of double cream, which also works well. You can pretty much use anything you fancy in this: as an alternative, try grilling a large slice of portabello mushroom and tomato and adding to the bottom of the ramekin, or just a few thin slices of salmon.

I decided to serve mine with crispy bacon and pan fried asparagus, and garnish with tarragon. The crispy bacon gives a different texture and natural saltiness to the soft, runny eggs and is well balanced to the fresh sweetness of the asparagus. Tarragon is a herb that goes very well with eggs but you don't need too much of it. Like Rachel, I also used creme fraiche - simply because I'd bought some for a chilli con carne I was planning to make for dinner as well. Don't forget the soldiers!

This is for two.
Ingredients:
- 2 medium sized eggs (obviously the larger they are, the longer they'll take to cook)
- Creme fraiche
- Nutmeg
- Salt and pepper
- A few leaves of tarragon
- 6 slices of streaky bacon
- a dozen baby asparagus
- half a dozen slices of baguette

Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 180C and boil about a litre of water. Put one tablespoon of creme fraiche in a ramekin and season with salt, pepper, some tarragon leaves (torn) and a pinch of nutmeg.

Crack open the egg into the ramekin, be careful not to break the yolk. Add another dollop of creme fraiche and repeat the seasoning. Do the same for the second ramekin.

Put both ramekins in the centre of the baking dish and pour the boiled water into the baking dish so it is covering the ramekins about halfway up. Pop that into the oven for 12-15 minutes. Check on the consistency towards the end by pressing the back of a teaspoon gently against the surface. Slice up the bread and lay on another level for the last few minutes.

Once you've put the eggs in, you can get started on the bacon and asparagus. In a dry pan, fry the streaky bacon on both sides over a high heat until it is nice and crispy.

A few minutes from the end, add the asparagus to fry briefly - only for a minute or so otherwise they will lose their crunch.

Remove from the pan and allow to drain on paper towels before arranging everything as you like it and serve hot.