Baked Eggs with Mushrooms and Gruyere

Each Thursday on Food52, Emily Vikre shares a new way to love breakfast -- because breakfast isn't just the most important meal of the day. It's also the most awesome.

Today: A breakfast to sustain anyone -- even a new mom.

Baked eggs from Food52
Baked eggs from Food52

Have I mentioned I have a 7-week old baby at home? Since having him our lives have been turned topsy-turvy, as lives with a newborn are wont to be. It's great fun and hugely exhausting and every minute is, shall we say, a learning opportunity. After the storm of the first couple weeks with him, I've started to get back to cooking us dinners. Just barely. On the other hand, from the very first day we got home with him, breakfasts were imperative.

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I've never felt so hungry as each morning when I get up, or should I say "get up," after having spent a good chunk of the night awake and nursing. Mornings have been punctuated by an even more intense than usual need to replenish with a hardy breakfast (nursing really takes it out of you!). Compounded by the fact that I'm never sure when or if I'll manage to fit in lunch.

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Basically this has meant eggs even more often than usual. Eggs cracked over some leftover cooked vegetables then showered with cheese, drizzled with cream, and baked until they are velvety and just barely runny really fit the bill. I especially like this combination with sautéed mushrooms that give the dish meatiness and go nicely with the appealing funk of Gruyere. It can seriously keep you going all day, especially if that whole day is spent on your feet bouncing a little baby boy!

Baked Eggs from Food52
Baked Eggs from Food52

Baked Eggs with Mushrooms and Gruyere

Serves 2 to 4

1 tablespoon butter
8 ounces of mushrooms (any sort you want), sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and pepper
4 eggs
1/3 cup shredded Gruyere
2 tablespoons heavy cream

1. Heat your oven to 400F. Melt the butter in a medium sauté pan over medium high heat. When the butter is foaming, add the mushrooms and sprinkle them generously with salt and pepper. Cook until tender, about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the garlic and the thyme in the last 2 minutes of cooking.

2. Grease an 8X8" or other smallish baking dish. Scrape the mushrooms into the baking dish.

3. Crack the eggs over the mushrooms and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the cheese over the eggs, then drizzle the cream over the top. Bake in the oven until the whites are set and the yolks are velvety and just barely runny, about 10-12 minutes. Serve warm.

Save and print the full recipe on Food52.

Photos by Emily Vikre

This article originally appeared on Food52.com: Baked Eggs with Mushrooms and Gruyere