Convent Eggs on Brioche
At age eleven I was sent to an all girls boarding school, not the rolling countryside keep your pony at school kind of place. But a small site with a playing field and plenty of space for the music school and Chapel. We were kept firmly ensconced behind tall gates only allowed out on sundays for a crocodile walk ( in a line, two by two).
Oddly enough, I enjoyed my time there, although I do remember being constantly hungry. Initially, because the food portions were fairly small and there wasn’t a tuck shop to fill up with in-between meals. Then, as we got older, we became fussier, I like to think more discerning and realised that much of the food was really awful. Toast for breakfast, barely browned and kept ‘warm’ on long trays waiting for a single tinned tomato to be dropped onto it, completing the soggy, slightly metallic flavoured concoction. Or pasties, which were really vol au vents with lids, that were exceptionally greasy and filled with what looked like old newspaper. And Convent Eggs, not the wonderful baked eggs with a topping of cream that you find if you google the recipe, but a hard bullet of a boiled egg, black around the solid yolk, clothed in a spoonful of pale yellow sauce tasting more of flour than the cheese it was supposed to be. This was also served on the infamous toast, but this time as our last meal of the day at 5.30 for tea. The only dish that was more universally dreaded was Fridays fish lunch, which was truly unsalvageable.
Convent eggs have potential and worth a make over.
Made Over Convent Eggs With Cheese Tuilles
Convent Eggs
Serves 4
- 6 eggs at room temperature
- 400mls milk
- 1/2 onion
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 carrot finely diced
- 3 cloves
- 5 black peppercorns
- 25g unsalted butter
- 25g plain flour
- 100mls double cream
- 150g emmental cheese, grated
- 50g cheddar cheese grated
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 brioche rolls
- Place the milk, onion, bay leaf, carrot, cloves and peppercorns and bring to just a simmer. Remove from the heat, cover and infuse for 30 minutes
- Melt the butter in a medium sized pan
- Add the flour and cook together, stirring vigorously, for 2 – 3 minutes, remove from the heat
- Strain and retain the milk, disposing of the vegetables and spices
- Add the milk to the flour and butter a little at a time stirring to completely combine before adding the next amount
- Once all the milk has been added, pour the cream into the mixture and return to a medium heat stirring constantly
- When the sauce begins to thicken remove from the heat and add 75g of the emmental and all the cheddar, stir into the sauce and return to the heat
- Continue stirring until the cheese has melted and the sauce is like thick custard, set aside
- Line a baking sheet with baking paper and sprinkle the remaining emmental cheese in 2 wide-ish rows and place in a hot oven 220c for about 7-10 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool
- Bring a pan of water to the boil and carefully add the eggs, boil for 6 minutes and remove to cold water to stop the cooking
- Cut the brioche rolls in half lengthways and toast
- Meanwhile Peel the eggs
- Place one half of the brioche on each plate, cut two of the eggs in half lengthways
- Place 1 and 1/2 eggs on each plate with the half brioche and pour over the cheese sauce.
- Break the cheese tuilles in two or four
- Top with the other half of the brioche and add a cheese tuille
Convent Eggs With Cheese sauce
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Thank you for your very sweet comment on my blog. I am very thankful for our friendship and hope one day we will get a chance to meet.
So, which boarding school did you go to? Our school had boarding too and a handful of girls boarded. Since we lived in London and my school was on Harley Street, it wasn’t an issue. My dinners at school were wonderful, we had some amazing lunch ladies and cooks. The convent I went to in my primary years had absolutely awful food however.
I am quite sure these eggs are elevated to a totally different level from what you experienced. They look divine. I love baked eggs with cream or with cheese sauce. Yum!
Nazneen xx
It would be great to meet and compare our London notes! There was just one day girl at school who seemed to miss out as there wasn’t much time for friends and we always had to be silent in school academic buildings, she became a bit of a fish out of water. My junior school was in central London too, slightly west of you in Sloane Square. I loved it and all the teachers. I’m off to make your bread pudding. GG xx
Your boarding school food sounds dreadful. You must have been so thin! I can’t imagine having my dinner at 5.30 only to have nothing to eat for the rest of the day/night. No wonder you will always hungry. Your eggs look amazing and a great improvement from what you described xx
I have to admit there weren’t any overweight girls at the school! That 5.30 last meal of the day was tough but you just got used to it. GG
Oh my those meals sound awful! No wonder you guys were hungry! Now as for your convent eggs, these would be the polar opposite of awful. Divine or delectable I’d say!
Thank you, those school meals really taught you to appreciate food and if you did domestic science you were sooo popular. GG
I have never understood why most boarding schools treat their kids so abominably, feeding them awful food and near starving them. These convent eggs look delicious.
I think cooking for large numbers is much easier now and I have to assume budgets were tight. It meant that we really appreciated good food. GG
Now that’s a BREAKFAST! Nutritious and wholesome!
I think it would do breakfast, lunch or supper. Very versatile. GG
Lordy, I can’t imagine being served bad food as a child… wishing you a lifetime of good food experiences!
Thank you – I’ve certainly made up for it since. GG
Oh boy Tomatoes on toast is one of my favorite things ever from boarding school. Wow what a memory. I was served fish pie the other day with an egg in it had flashbacks for days!!
It’s funny what we loved at school. I have to admit to liking school stew and cabbage!!! Everyone thought I was mad. GG xx
Oh god, what an awful experience from a boarding school – I hope you never eat a bad breakfast again!
This brekkie would be perfect on cold days
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I can assure you I’ve made up for it since! I made this for supper for everyone after having been out for an early lunch. It went down very well. GG
It must be a convent thing. My school dinners were inedible; to this day I don’t know what the thing we nicknamed ‘kitekat’ was.
I can only imagine, probably similar to the contents of that pastie we had! Still, it made us really appreciate the good things. GG