Baked eggs with leeks and smoked salmon

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4.

Heat the butter in a small, heavy-based saucepan. Add in the leek or spring onions, cover the pan and cook very gently, stirring now and then, until softened, around 5 minutes.

Arrange four ramekins in a large, deep ovenproof dish and divide the cooked leeks evenly between the ramekins.

Spoon 1 teaspoon of cream over the leeks in each ramekin, and season with freshly ground pepper.

Pour enough boiling water around the ramekins to come a good centimetre up their sides. Bake the ramekins in the oven for 5 minutes.

Working speedily so that you don't lose too much heat from the ramekins, take them out of the oven, divide the smoked salmon between them, then break an egg into each one.

Trickle one more teaspoon of cream over each egg, and season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Return to the oven for 12 minutes until the whites are just set, but the yolks are still runny.

Serve immediately with triangles of brown toast.