Supper from 1810 ~ Eggs and Ham, Wild Mushrooms & Sorrel.

 

 Come and enjoy "Supper" from Carlton Hall, a plantation just down "Little Mountain" from Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's famous home, near Charlottesville,  in Virginia.  This recipe comes from Anne, Jefferson's granddaughter, who brought all her family recipes with her when she married. She was a very hard working mother to four children and manager of a busy farm.  The main meal, back in the 1800s, was taken at two and then a lighter "supper" was served at six or seven.  This quick and easy dish is great to have in mind for emergencies because most of the ingredients may be in your refrigerator right now. In place of sorrel, use spinach or a thin chiffonade of chard.  Anne was known as "the Mistress of the Gardens" at Monticello, where unending varieties of ultra fresh vegetables were just waiting to be used for the creative, half French ~ half American dishes that made dinning there amazing. 

 Anne Cary Randolph Bankhead ~ 1791-1826 ~ Thomas Jefferson's Granddaughter

Eggs & Ham with 

Wild Mushrooms & Sorrel

Ingredients: 2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup chopped shallots

Salt & white pepper

Cayenne pepper

2/3 C. Smithfield style ham

sliced thin 

1 cup sorrel, tough 

stems removed

(spinach works too.) 

6-12 wild mushrooms

Chanterelles, Morels, Shitaki, or Cremini

3 T. fresh parsley chopped

12 large eggs

2 1/2 cups heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 400. In a large flat baking pan, put

the butter and olive oil, the chopped shallots and 1 cup

of the heavy cream.  Sprinkle very lightly with white 

pepper.   Add the slices of ham and create 

little pockets with the sorrel leaves.  Quickly saute the 

mushrooms in butter and sprinkle lightly with salt

and the cayenne pepper.  Crack the eggs into the 

pockets and then top with the mushrooms and the 

rest of the heavy cream.  Put in the oven to bake for

18-20 minutes or until the whites of the eggs are

firm but the yolks are still soft.  Serve with a shower

of fresh chopped parsely. 

Comments

[5 Star Foodie]

Such a lovely recipe from Thomas Jefferson's granddaughter! The wild mushrooms sound perfect in this dish!

[Heavenly Housewife]

Wow, that is so cool that you used such an old recipe. i love egg based dishes.
*kisses* HH