I made King Charles' cheesy baked eggs recipe. It was surprisingly simple but tasty, and I'd make it again with a few tweaks.
Sama Ansari Pour
- I made King Charles' cheesy baked egg recipe, which was shared by Clarence House.
- The recipe, posted in May 2020, had surprising measurements. It called for a single cherry tomato.
Ahead of King Charles' coronation last Saturday, I decided to try out his recipe for cheesy baked eggs in the week leading up to the royal event.
Clarence House, the home of Charles and Queen Camilla, previously shared the instructions on Instagram in May 2020, calling it "one of his favorite recipes."
It was surprisingly specific and called for a single cherry tomato as well as one egg, both hard and soft cheese of any kind, a large amount of wilted spinach, and double cream. It added that the dish could be served with an optional charcuterie, but I decided to keep things simple. Here's what I thought of the recipe.
As a fan of cheese and eggs, I decided to give Charles' recipe a go in the lead-up to the coronation.
The ingredients were pretty simple, and I liked that the recipe was customizable. It recommended both hard and soft cheese, but allowed you to choose which type.
To make the cheesy baked eggs according to the recipe shared by Clarence House, you'll need:
- 100g, or around 3.5 ounces, wilted spinach
- 1 cherry tomato
- 35g, or around 1.2 ounces, strong soft cheese (e.g. Tunworth, Golden Cenarth, or other strong soft cheese)
- 1 egg
- 80ml, or around, 2.7 fluid ounces, double cream
- 15g, or around 0.5 ounces, grated hard cheese (e.g. Old Winchester)
- Fresh basil leaves — torn
- Optional: Charcuterie
My local grocery store didn't stock Golden Cenarth cheese, so I stuck with basic cheddar and cream cheese. The recipe also advised using organic ingredients where possible.
I started by buttering an oven-proof dish, which was easy enough. At this point, I preheated my oven to 180 degrees Celsius, or 356 Fahrenheit.
I then lined my dish with the spinach that I'd wilted in hot water. I thought it was an unusually large amount of spinach – I guess Charles must be a fan. I made a small well in the center for the egg, per the instructions.
The recipe called for a single cherry tomato quartered on top of the spinach. This seemed unusual to me as it was such a small amount — I rebelled and added three.
I then spooned cream cheese in between the tomatoes. It was looking okay at this point.
Afterward, I added around seven torn basil leaves. I appreciated that I didn't need to dirty a chopping board for this as I'm not the biggest fan of washing up.
I then added salt and pepper to taste. This was too basic for my liking – it would've been better with some paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder. It needed more flavor in my opinion.
I cracked one egg into the center. I thought this dish needed more eggs though, at least three. There was so much going on around it you could barely notice the egg.
I poured the double cream over the egg, carefully avoiding splitting the yolk.
Afterward, I sprinkled some cheddar over the top. It was looking good and I had high hopes for it.
The recipe recommended baking the dish in the oven for eight to 10 minutes, but I found that the egg was still raw. After 16 minutes, it was cooked and I took it out.
I was surprised that I liked it, as I'd thought the proportions were off while preparing it.
The double cream and cheese complemented each other well, but it still needed more eggs to balance things out in my opinion.
I'd definitely make this again but in future, I'll add more seasoning, like paprika, and perhaps a clove or two of garlic. I'd also add at least eight cherry tomatoes next time — three (let alone one) weren't enough.
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