shirred eggs

Sirred = baked.  

Yesterday somebody said, "My grandma used to make us shirred eggs." That caused me to look up the word shirred. Looked at pictures. Learned that apparently anything at all can go under the eggs. I'd prefer spinach and some kind of ham but I don't have any spinach. I do have Walla Walla onion and I'm long on sweet peppers, so I used that. Caramelized half an onion with mirepoix including garlic. Elaborated a veloute sauce from home-made broth and threw in frozen chicken bits.

But Bo, how did you manage to avoid the yolk from becoming cooked firm, a problem many people note on the photos you essayed in researching the word shirred? Easy. I separated them, and watched them like a hawk in the convection oven -- a hawk intent on perfect eggs. Bwaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

I took a fine set of photos of the final dish, all set up real purdy and well lit. Then, when I'm done and began eating my shirred eggs, my camera goes, "Memory card needs to be formatted." The pictures gone. Bastard! Eww, that makes me so mad I could pull out somebody else's hair.

So I blithly persisted and took a photo of the shirred eggs in progress of being consumed, which has the advantage of showing off the inside of the egg and the chicken and vegetable stew underneath, although it looks something of a mess. Hey! Old Dutch masters painted still life pictures like this. Well, not exactly like this, but they painted still life pictures of meals abandoned in progress. <--- 100% of historical fact. Sourdough from yesterday, oh my God that stuff is good, with olive oil and parmigiano cheese.