Eggs en Cocotte with Creamed Mushrooms

If you've never tried cognac creamed mushrooms before, I suggest you do so soon. It's easily one of the world's best flavor combinations.

I happened to catch an episode of Jacque Pepin's show on PBS while TA and I were staying in temp lodging when we first moved to North Carolina. As he was putting together the creamed mushrooms I decided that it looked delicious and that I absolutely had to try this out.

Then I realized that I already had.

I had made a pasta sauce from scratch to enter in the Buitoni pasta contest - it's exactly the same ingredients. If you try the eggs and enjoy, you'll definitely love my wild mushroom agnolotti with cognac-cream sauce and baby pea shoots.

Even if I had already discovered this medley of deliciousness on my own, I still had to try Jacque Pepin's eggs. He's easily one of my favorite chefs - a pillar of the French culinary community - and definitely worth learning from. If culinary prowess could be measured (and I think it can) he would be worth approximately three Rachel's, 4 Paula's, both the Neely's, and about 14 Guy Fieri's.

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Bistro Christine

I love French food.

Love it. Could nearly eat that and only that every day for the rest of my life.

It would be an even easier decision to make were the French to suddenly include noodles and potstickers to their repertoire.

That being said, I am hypercritical of every single thing that enters my mouth - whether it's a burger or a soufflé, it must be well executed. I'm ever vigilant of the quality of my own cooking, which frequently disappoints me, and equally so with other's. I'm the worst, however, at restaurants.

I worked in the food industry for nearly all of my very short adult life up until two years ago. With the knowledge of what goes on in the back of the house, I see little reason for poorly composed or inadequately cooked foods. In fact I visited a restaurant this week that I adored in the past, only to be severely disappointed with nearly everything ordered.

With that preface, I must introduce you to Bistro Christine.

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