Fridge Friday: Breakfast!

It's clean-out-the-fridge Friday, and I woke up hungry today, after days of no appetite due to cold and seasonal allergies.  In my fridge and freezer I found eggs, 1/4 container of heavy cream, bit of bacon, basil on its last legs, shaved parmesan, and bit of chopped parseley. 

Thanks to my friend, Melissa Stewart, I have a new cookbook which showed me how to make real butter.  And speaking of real butter, the baked eggs recipe is adapted from the recipe on a great site called Use Real Butter.  Finally, strawberries are in the stores but NOT in season -- I've created a basil honey sauce to enliven them a bit. 

Baked Eggs

Ingredients:
1 tsp. unsalted butter, softened
Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 tsp. fresh parsley, minced
2 eggs
2 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Heat oven to 375°F.  Butter one large or two small ramekins.  Combine the cheese and herbs in a small bowl.  Crack eggs into a bowl or cup, taking care not to break the yolks.  Pour the two eggs into a large ramekin, then sprinkle bacon, cheese and parseley over the top.  Finish with a dash of salt and freshly ground pepper.  Bake the eggs for 10-15 minutes until the eggs have achieved desired doneness.

Homemade Butter

Put heavy cream into a mixer and whip on high until the butter starts to separate from the liquid.  Remove liquid, then take butter in your hands and pat it dry.  You can put back in mixer if you want to make flavored butters -- I added a bit of preserves to my batch. 


Honey Basil Syrup

Ingredients:
3 T honey
1/4 cup water
2 basil leaves, chiffonade

Instructions:
Place the honey, water and basil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring
to combine. Bring mixture to a low boil and then reduce heat to simmer gently.  Strain syrup through a sieve to remove basil leaves.