Herbolace: Baked Herb & Cheese Eggs

Name: Herbolace: Baked Herb & Cheese Eggs
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 12 squares
Ingredients: 1 tbsp butter, plus more for the dish; 1 small leek, thinly sliced and washed; 10 large eggs; ½ cup milk; ½ tsp kosher salt; ¼ tsp black pepper; 1 cup grated aged cheddar or Gruyère (90 g); ½ cup chopped soft herbs (parsley, chives, dill and a little sage); 2 cups baby spinach, chopped

The Hedge-Witch's Breakfast

A recipe from a cookbook of the 1390s: eggs beaten with garden herbs and cheese and baked in a buttered dish. This one adds spinach and a soft leek and cuts into neat squares.

One-handMake-aheadVegetarianProtein-forward

Prep15 min

Cook25 min

Total40 min

Yield12 squares

At the table: Room temperature up to 2 hours.

Not yet table-tested. This recipe is written from standard, well-known methods and has not been through our test tables yet. The badge changes when it has.

Crafting formula

Challenge★★☆☆☆

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Prestige ranks

As written: baked in one dish.
Cook it on the stove as a rolled herb omelette, one per person, finished with a little brown butter.
Make a fresh curd cheese the day before (warm milk and lemon juice, strained through a cloth) and fold it in.
Bake in buttered ramekins, turn out onto warm plates, and serve with dressed salad greens and herb flowers.

Cooking at Hearth. The dish as written. Simple, honest, done well.

Stock your pantry to see what you are missing.

Hero sheet

Why nowEggs, greens and cheese make a protein breakfast that holds all week, and it really is a dish from a fourteenth-century royal kitchen.

Herbolace: Baked Herb & Cheese Eggs — Illustration generated with AI, not a photo of this recipe.

Ingredients

Party size

One batch: 12 squares.

1 tbsp butter, plus more for the dish
1 small leek, thinly sliced and washed
10 large eggs
½ cup milk
½ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp black pepper
1 cup grated aged cheddar or Gruyère (90 g)
½ cup chopped soft herbs (parsley, chives, dill and a little sage)
2 cups baby spinach, chopped

Kosher salt means Diamond Crystal. With Morton kosher salt, use about half.

Method

Heat the oven to 350°F. Rub an 8-inch square baking dish with butter.
Melt the butter in a small skillet over medium heat and cook the leek 5 minutes until soft. Let it cool a little.
Whisk the eggs, milk, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
Stir in the cheese, herbs, spinach and leek, and pour into the dish.
Bake 22 to 28 minutes.
Look forThe center is set and springs back, with no wet egg when you tip the dish. 160°F in the middle.
Cool 10 minutes, then cut into 12 squares.

Make ahead

Keeps 4 days in the fridge. Reheat a square 30 to 45 seconds in the microwave, or eat it cold.

Holding

Room temperature up to 2 hours.

Allergens

Contains egg, milk. Always check labels on packaged ingredients.

Notes

The original, herbolace, is in The Forme of Cury, written by Richard II's cooks around 1390.

Dairy-free: use an unsweetened plant milk and skip the cheese, or use a dairy-free cheese.

Tavern Night

This dish's twist table (d6)

1–2	The classic stands. No twist. Cook it as written.
3	Herb swap. Use all dill and chives
4	Acid strike. A spoon of grainy mustard whisked into the eggs
5	Plating challenge. Bake in a muffin tin, 18 to 20 minutes, for one-bite portions
6	Host's boon. The Host picks any twist above, or the table invents one. The safety rule still applies.

Roll before you start cooking. No twist ever changes a time, a temperature or how done something must be.