A recipe for Shirred Eggs and Pasta with Pesto Cream Sauce! Eggs are baked in a pesto cream sauce with elbow macaroni and crumbled goat cheese.
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My aunts came to visit right after Christmas and brought some of their homemade Chèvre. I was looking through cookbooks for new ideas on how to use it and found inspiration in my newly acquired Melt: The Art of Macaroni and Cheese with a recipe for Shirred Eggs with Pesto, Pasta, and Chèvre.
I had actually never heard of Shirred Eggs before and it was such a fun use for the goat cheese.
Shirred eggs (baked eggs) get their name from the original dish they were baked in, a shirrer (a shallow gratin dish). Shirred eggs differ from eggs en cocotte in that they are not cooked in a water bath.
For this recipe, the eggs are baked in a pesto cream sauce over a delicious bed of al dente pasta and crumbled goat cheese until just set.
When stirred together, the ingredients create a rich and creamy sauce to coat the pasta. It is perfect as a brunch side or even a light lunch.
A Few Tips
I used a store-bought basil pesto for the recipe. For a homemade version, The Pasta Project has a guide on how to make basil pesto.
If avoiding nuts, Pistou (Provençal Basil Paste) would also work well.
The salt content was perfect for me with the use of the store-bought pesto, but add more salt and a bit of freshly ground black pepper if desired.
In the book, the eggs are cooked in the cream and the pesto is used as a garnish after removing from the oven. I slightly increased the amount of pesto and whisked it right into the cream to get that notable flavor in every bite.
I also decreased the eggs from two per ramekin to one.
Cook the pasta just until al dente, barely tender. The noodles will continue to soften slightly while baking in the oven with the cream.
Bake the eggs to desired consistency. Consuming raw eggs may increase your risk of foodborne illness, particularly with certain medical conditions.
This recipe can easily be halved to serve 2-3 people.
Looking for more recipes with pesto?
Try my:
This recipe was originally posted in January 2015 and updated in June 2023.
Shirred Eggs and Pasta with Pesto Cream Sauce Recipe
Adapted from Melt: The Art of Macaroni and Cheese
Shirred Eggs and Pasta with Pesto Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- Butter for greasing ramekins
- 6 ounces (170 grams) dried elbow macaroni
- 8 ounces (227 grams) goat cheese
- 6 large eggs
- 1/2 cup (120 milliliters) heavy cream
- 6.35 ounces (180 grams) Pesto homemade or store-bought
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325˚F (165˚C). Grease 6 (6 ounce, 177 milliliter) ramekins with butter and arrange on baking sheet.
- Fill a large pot with salted water and bring to a boil. Add the elbow macaroni and cook until just barely tender, al dente.
- Drain well and divide the pasta among the buttered ramekins, about 1/3 cup (45 grams) for each.
- Divide the goat cheese into 6 equal pieces and crumble each over the pasta in the ramekins.
- Make a slight well in the center and crack an egg into each ramekin.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the heavy cream and pesto until well blended.
- Pour about 3 tablespoons (44 milliliters) of the pesto cream evenly over the eggs in each ramekin, avoiding the yolks as much as possible.
- Bake in preheated oven just until egg whites are set and white, about 20 minutes. The yolks should still jiggle and be slightly runny in the center.
- Serve immediately.
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