Another Hallmark holiday bites the dust

This past Sunday was Father's Day - a day like no other. A day when more socks, jocks and Old Spice are exchanged than you can swing a cat at. I have one colleague who bought enough Toblerone to choke a horse (no, Father's Day has not sent me into an animal killing analogy frenzy), and hid it in the filing cabinet for safe-keeping before the big weekend. She was lucky Phil from accounting didn't come around looking for cabcharge receipts or 'dad' would have had to make do with shaving soap and Y-fronts without any real return for looking surprised and grateful on the day. 

Anyway, what I got up to on Dad's Day was making breakfast, which at 10.30am felt better labelled as brunch, but by the time I got to it, it was lunch. And not for my father, but for the adoptive father of my four-legged kid. 

And that leads nicely into the subject of baked egg pots...

I got the idea for these from Jamie Oliver's 'Jamie at Home' series. I made baked egg pots ages ago and we both really enjoyed them and thought it was a fitting dish for a special Sunday breakfast (I know!).  It's so simple I haven't included a recipe, but instructions on how anyone could do this. This one really is idiot-proof!

First, dig out your ramekins that never see the light of day. Not the tiny ones used for smart dinner parties that hold exactly 2.5 mouthfuls of creme brulee. Ones that hold about a cup (250ml) or so. I have cheery red ones that came out last time I did this. I could tell Tim did the washing on that day. (Why do men not rinse???)

So after washing the ramekins out, I rubbed the inside with olive oil and then coated with polenta.  In the background, a pot was boiling up two medium sized potatoes with which I made up enough mashed potato to fill the ramekins, and moulded a well into each one big enough for an egg. It's kind of cool moulding hot mashed pots into ramekins, fighting against the polenta that will not let anything stick. Very satisfying. 

I then cracked an egg from my lovely mother's chooks into each, sprinkled with a little bit of parsley, salt and coarse black pepper, and put these into a large baking tin with enough water in it to come about 2/3 of the way  up the ramekins. Then into the oven for about 15 minutes at 180 degrees celsius. Or longer if you like a less runny egg yolk.

I served with some exquisite pork sausages from our local butcher, and some portobello mushrooms that I sauteed with some leek in butter. I know olive oil is much better for you, but butter goes with mushrooms and leeks and it was father's day!!!