smoked mackerel dippy eggs

Smoked mackerel dippy eggs

Well I got quite busy with my Easter baking yesterday, after posting the sourdough recipe; I then went on to make hot cross buns and orange marmalade loaf. I wanted to make sour cherry and chocolate hot cross buns but my Mum didn't like the idea of starting the day off with chocolate so I settled for plain and used Paul Hollywood's recipe but added sour cherries and cranberries instead of sultanas and next time I'll be adding more cinnamon as I like them a little more spicy. I also made a marmalade loaf because when my parents made their stock of marmalade for the year they made a tad too much (we'll be using it until the 22nd century at this rate!) so I found this recipe. It ended up using quite a lot of marmalade and being quite orangey because I read the recipe wrong and put an extra 3 table spoons in the cake by mistake, tastes okay though.

Paul Hollywood definitely not chocolate buns

So anyway, on with the real recipe I'm going to post: smoked mackerel dippy eggs (or eggs en cocotte if you want to be posh/ french about it). I know I said yesterday at the end of my sourdough post this accompaniment to sourdough toast would have an Easter theme, and it does, to an extent. It uses eggs, chicks and chickens are Easter related so I figured it could be called Easter themed, also it uses nutmeg which is a spice. I absolutely love smoked mackerel, it's saltiness works great with the sour bread and this would be great to have for tea after a big Sunday dinner or for brunch if you're having a big Sunday tea.

Smoked mackerel dippy eggs (serves 4)

• butter to grease
• a bag of spinach
• a pinch of nutmeg
• 5 tablespoons of double cream
• smoked mackerel (about 2 slices)
• 4 eggs
• 4 medium tomatoes halved 
• 4 slices of sourdough

1. preheat the oven to 220oC/425oF/gas mark 7 and grease 4 ramekins with the butter
2. put the spinach in a pan with a little water and place over the heat until wilted. Stir in a tablespoon of double cream and a good pinch of nutmeg before splitting and putting some in the bottom of each ramekin
3. flake some of the smoked mackerel on top of the spinach (skin removed) try to leave it is fairly largish pieces
4. crack an egg on the top of each and put on the tomato halves before grinding on some black pepper (you won't need any salt because of the mackerel)
5. place in a bain marie in the oven for 12 minutes until the white is cooked but the yolk runny. While at the end of cooking remember to pop your sourdough in the toaster too!
6. carefully put the ramekins onto the plates, butter the toast and enjoy!

Smoked mackerel dippy eggs with sourdough toast