This is a simple but filling recipe. Popularized in WWII ration cookbooks, it was probably also popular in the Great Depression years before the war. The Victory Cookbook was first published in 1943 but had existed before under a different name. It was simple cooking that American women could do on a budget—and under the food rationing system that was started in 1942.
The original recipe is for six portions, but it is easily downsized to whatever you need.
If you had backyard hens, you had eggs. Rice was grown in Texas and Louisiana, so easier to source. It’s a simple recipe, yet so very tasty. It is so nourishing. This is a keeper of a recipe, one for when you feel down or getting over a sick stomach.
My middle son commented he’d like each bowl to have 2 eggs, and I would agree with him. But, of course, that wasn’t allowed with rationing I told him.
Eggs In Rice Nests
Ingredients:
- 2 cups cooked rice, hot
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup grated cheese, cheddar or similar
- Fine sea salt
- Ground black pepper
- Paprika
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Divide the rice between 4 ramekins (oven-safe) and make a gentle depression into each cup.
Break the eggs individually into a bowl, then slip them into each ramekin.
Sprinkle on a bit of salt and pepper, then divide the cheese on top.
Sprinkle a bit of paprika on top.
Place the dishes on a rimmed baking sheet and place in the oven.
Bake for about 17 minutes (check at 15). Ours had the whites set, and the yolks were in the lovely jelly stage, where they were 85% set.
Enjoy!
Serve 4.
~Sarah