Herbed Baked Eggs in a Bread “Bowl” with Avocado

topped with Havarti and Gorgonzola cheese & a Balsamic Sundried Tomato “Ketchup”

It wasn’t very long ago I saw this great idea for baking eggs in a bread bowl … just hollow out some hard rolls, crack your egg in there, add some seasonings and voila! A beautiful breakfast. But you know me, I couldn’t stop there. I added some herbs and some cheeses and a gorgeous sundried tomato vinaigrette (a recipe I got from my friend Melissa at ChinDeep), which I had intended to drizzle over the baked egg, but I added some extra sundried tomatoes so the vinaigrette turned out kind of thick, more like the consistency of a ketchup. I’ve never liked ketchup on my eggs, but I loved this balsamic sundried tomato ketchup!

It took me a few tries to get this right. The first time I didn’t hollow out enough of the hard roll and then I overbaked it and the yolk was hard and dry. I wanted a runny, messy yolk that you could sop up with the bread. So I tried again, and this time I got the yolk just about right, but the hard roll got way too brown on top. I had cut just a tiny bit of the top off, and our toaster oven is too small; it over-toasted the top. It was delicious, but definitely not photo-worthy. The third time I finally got it right. Perfectly sized hole, perfectly brown crusty hard roll, perfectly cooked egg. The texture of the egg white was amazing, and when I tore into the yolk and it ran all over the plate, my heart just jumped with joy. A perfectly-cooked egg with toasted bread and avocado is pure pleasure in my book.

Herbed Baked Eggs in a Bread “Bowl” with Avocado

• Hard rolls
• Eggs
• Fresh basil & oregano
• Red Robin Seasoning (or your favorite seasoned salt)
• Freshly ground pepper
• Shredded Havarti cheese
• Crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
• Avocado slices
• Balsamic Sundried Tomato Ketchup (recipe below)

Cut tops off the hard rolls and hollow out the bottom half so there is enough room for an egg to fit in there. Set the hard rolls on a baking sheet sprayed lightly with cooking spray. Crack an egg into each roll.

Sprinkle with fresh basil, oregano leaves, the seasoning and fresh ground pepper. Top each egg with a Tablespoon or two of shredded Havarti cheese, then a sprinkle of Gorgonzola (maybe 1/2 Tablespoon per egg?). Bake at 350 F for about 15 minutes or until the white is set but the yolk is still soft. (If you want your yolk cooked through-not runny, let it cook another 5 minutes.)

In the last 5 minutes of cooking, put the tops of the hard rolls in the oven alongside to toast them.

Remove from oven. Set each egg on a plate, top with avocado slices, garnish with fresh basil or oregano leaves and serve immediately with plenty of the balsamic sundried tomato ketchup.

Balsamic Sundried Tomato “Ketchup”

Adapted from ChinDeep

• 1/4 cup good quality balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup minced  sun-dried tomatoes
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon fresh chopped oregano
• 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons honey
• water, as needed

Soak the tomatoes in the vinegar and wine for 15 minutes or so to soften them up, then put all ingredients into a food processor or handi chopper and blend till mostly smooth. Add water as needed to get it to the desired consistency.

This recipe was shared at Scrumptious Sundays, Everyday Mom’s Meals, Egg Blog Hop and Manic Mondays.