I made these oeufs cocotte while I was back in France last June, the days were long, day light lasted until 10:30 pm. I love the month of June, it’s the longest and the most exciting of all the months where people have not left on vacation yet, unlike July or August when most large Northern cities are empty, everyone goes dans le midi! and we celebrate summer with Music Festival, music bands play all over the country on June 21, the streets are filled with happiness and excitement. June is always so vibrant and colorful with such a special ambiance.

June is over now, and August is around the corner…so it’s about time for another oeuf cocotte!

When I feel like eating eggs, most of the time they come in this cocotte form. You break the yolk and you dig further down the little cocotte to find more exciting bites. In France we call those containers cocotte, in this case, it’s a mini cocotte.

I used morbier cheese, made with raw milk and has a line of black ashes in the center of the cheese, it has a sweet taste and somehow a creamy texture. Its fabrication has been traced back to 1795 where documents found describe a round cheese from 8 kilos to 10 kilos and called “Petit Morbier“. The great news is that you can find Morbier in the US!

The combination of the bitterness of endives and sweetness of Morbier complement each other to perfection. I also used crème allégée, which is a “light” heavy cream with 5% fat. I haven’t found anything similar in the US, so just use heavy cream or regular crème fraîche.

Not only oeufs cocotte are delicious but they’re fun to eat, so just play with ingredients and have fun! But do not overcook the yolks or they’ll be ruined.

Ingredients for 4 cocottes

• 2 shallots, chopped
• 3 small endives, finely sliced crosswise
• 4 tbs crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• 1 tbs olive oil or butter
• 150 g morbier cheese sliced
• 4 eggs
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat olive oil in a pan and brown shallots. Add endives, salt and pepper and cover with a lid. Cook at medium heat until the endives are soft.  Divide the endives in mini cocottes or ramequins. Add 1 tbs crème fraîche on each ramequin and top with a few pieces of morbier cheese. Break the egg, adjust with salt and pepper and add the rest of the cheese.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at 370F for about 7 minutes. The egg whites need the be slightly runny when you remove the eggs from the oven, they will keep cooking when outside of the oven. Serve immediately.