One of life's greatest pleasures has to be settling in for a lazy Saturday morning brunch, and it would appear that King Charles III very much agrees.
The King's love of eggs is well-documented and, according to some accounts, he enjoys one with every meal. In a fitting ode to his love for them, the then-prince shared his personal cheesy baked eggs recipe via Instagram back in 2020, to show support for local cheesemakers amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Keen to add a touch of regalness to my own weekend, I decided to whip up a batch for myself - and they weren't at all what I was expecting.
You won't need Buckingham Palace chefs to source ingredients, and I managed to pick up everything I needed with relative ease at my local Tesco.
You'll need 100g of wilted spinach, as well as one cherry tomato or some sundried tomatoes. I had quite a few on-the-cusp cherry tomatoes to use up in my salad drawer, so just chucked the lot in. Passionate anti-food waste advocate King Charles would surely appreciate the move.
Given that His Majesty is a long-time patron of the Speciality Cheesemakers' Association, it's unsurprising that his brunch of preference is cheese-heavy, combining both hard and soft with lashings of cream.
The recipe calls for 35g of strong soft cheese and suggests Tunworth or Golden Cenarth. Now, I couldn't find either when out and about, so settled on a good old-fashioned block of brie.
For the hard cheese - which you'll need 15g of - I went for parmesan, but if you really want to breakfast like a king, then maybe try and track down some Old Winchester, as recommended in the recipe.
You'll also need some fresh basil leaves to tear up, 8ml of cream, and an egg. King Charles is said to collect his eggs from the hens he keeps, but shop-bought is fine. If you fancy it, then you can also chuck some optional charcuterie in your basket, but I decided to go veggie on this occasion.
First things first, I buttered an overproof dish, which I lined around the outside with my wilted spinach. It's worth mentioning at this point that I used double quantities of everything for my take, which I'm sure Charles himself does when he has family over.
I dotted my quartered cherry tomatoes all over the leafy greenery before adding little chopped pieces of brie. This was the most perilous part as I ended up nibbling away at my carefully measured ingredients.
After sprinkling on my torn basil leaves, I seasoned eveything generously and marvelled at how fresh and pretty it all looked so far. Then I cracked an egg in the well at the centre of the spinach, covering this with double cream and grated parmesan.
Now, I'm not a morning person, and while King Charles has a professional team to assist him with his morning routine, I only have my bleary-eyed self.
Therefore, I did end up getting the cream and parmesan steps mixed up, rectifying this by simply adding an additional sprinkling of cheese on top.
I then popped my dish in the oven for the recommended eight to 10 minutes - before giving it a bit extra to account for the double quantities.
Honestly, when it went in, I didn't have super high hopes and thought it might be a little bit too eggy for my liking. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a boiled egg as much as the next person, but the way the yolk spilled all over the other ingredients left me a bit queasy.
When it came out of the oven, however, it was a different story and reminded me more of a rich, sizzling lasagne than the flabby omelette-esque meal I'd been dreading.
Again, I felt a little tentative. Would this be a bit too heavy and indulgent before 11am? Thankfully, after just one forkful, I was won over completely.
The cream gave the dish a gorgeously silky texture, and it was also much lighter than I'd expected, with none of the stodgy egginess that I'd feared. It was also satisfyingly cheesy, and, given the relative versatility of this meal, I'd be keen to replicate it with other, more adventurous cheese pairings.
This delicate mouthfeel, paired with the classic, classy combination of flavours, made this feel like a real posh treat, and a very luxurious way to kick off my Saturday.
Yes, I was plonked on my sofa in front of Saturday Kitchen, memorabilia paper plate in hand, but for a moment, I could have been sat up in the state dining room at Windsor Castle, preparing for the day of solemn royal duties.
If you're looking for a simple brunch idea with a touch of elegance, then I'd absolutely recommend cheesy baked eggs. A wonderful recommendation from the foodie monarch.
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