Congratulations Amy!

I thought it would be fun to try Amy’s "Eggs en Cocotte" since she was the big winner. I scaled it down to one egg, even though I like eggs, I’m generally a one egg person. I cross-referenced Joy of Cooking’s recipe and baked it at 350° F for 15 minutes. It was kind of hard to tell if it was done. I learned that the cream stays liquid, which is sort of deceptive (when trying to figure out if the white is cooked). Anyway, the final consistency was sort of that of a soft-boiled egg. I didn’t make the piperade, just ate it with homemade sourdough toast. Very tasty for something so simple. The only thing I didn’t like, which is a personal preference, is that the white stays sort of slimy. This would be a great dish when you have to cook eggs for a group of people. Everyone can eat at the same time, instead of trying to cook a few eggs at a time at the stove and serving in shifts.

One of the variations in "Joy" that sounded decadent was to line the ramekin with a lightly cooked piece of bacon.

I enjoyed seeing both Amy’s and Rory’s home lives last night. I was a little disappointed that there was no mention of Amy’s French husband. She reminded me of how I grew up, living in the same place all her life, and having lots of family around. Rory’s small town in Texas looks even smaller than where I live. I thought her restaurant looked cute and the food definitely looked great, but couldn’t help but wonder how it will do in the long run. Maybe her fame will help and out-of-towners will make an effort to stop there. It seems like new restaurants come and go very quickly, specially in a place where there’s a small population. Where I live, people are willing to spend $5 on a burger combo meal at the fast-food joint yet are hesitant to pay $10+ for an entree at a sit-down restaurant.