HAM & VEGETABLE EGG CUPS

I was a bit skeptical of making this recipe at first, as the sheer amount of eggs (12) seems a little confronting. A version of these egg cups caught my eye in the September edition of ‘Recipes’ as the egg yolks seemed to be staring up at me. I decided to give it a go. You can add any filling you like to these ham and egg cups, such as ricotta, feta, red onion, green onion, parsley, capsicum…I opted for less cheese and more vegetables and herbs. The great thing about this recipe is that you put these little babies in the oven and your job is done- you just wait for the eggs to set and voila. Also transferring the egg cups from the muffin tin to a serving plate is much easier than I anticipated; every egg cup made it unscathed. To be totally honest, I only got one bite out of these egg ups as my boyfriend eat them all within the space of 24 hours! But I can vouch for the fact that that one bite was superb – packed with flavour, super cute and the egg taste was not overwhelming at all. I’m actually off to make them again right now. 

INGREDIENTS

• 100g baby spinach leaves
• 1 teaspoon onion flakes
• 2-3 tablespoons fresh basil or chives, finely chopped
• 1 large tomato, finely chopped
• 250g gluten-free ham
• 12 free range eggs
• 60g mozzarella, grated or cut into even cubes (to avoid dairy use buffalo mozzarella with no cow's milk)

COOKING 

1. Preheat a fan-forced oven to 180 degrees celsius. Lightly grease a 12-hole muffin tray with oil (I used coconut oil). Put spinach in a heatproof bowl and cover with boiling hot water. Rinse under cold water and drain well. Finely chop spinach and add to a bowl with tomato, onion flakes, basil/chives, mozzarella and a pinch of sea salt. 

2. Place 2 slices of ham into each prepared muffin hole, overlapping the ham slightly. Divide the spinach mixture evenly between with holes. Gently crack an egg over each individual muffin hole. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes or until egg is set and yolks are cooked to your liking. Stand for 10 minutes, then gently remove to a serving plate. Serve warm. 

Makes  / 12

Total Preparation time / 20 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 12 minutes (plus 10 minutes to stand)

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