It was again Sunday breakfast with eggs, this time without the bacon, but with tomatoes (which usually make an appearance at this time) – and leeks, which were standing in for one or more of the smaller alliums which are usually a part of our weekend treat.

Because of other commitments, right now I’m in the midst of almost a week of evenings when I am unable to cook dinner. I hadn’t foreseen this when I was buying vegetables in the Greenmarket, which helps explain the inclusion of the leeks here.

• three medium leeks from Norwich Meadows Farm, cooked with 3 or 4 tablespoons of butter inside a tin-lined heavy copper sauté pan until they were tender, approximately a third of a cup of chopped herbs added (thyme and rosemary from Eataly, peppermint from Lani’s Farm, flat-leaf parsley from Whole Foods, oregano from Lani’s Farm, and lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge), transferred to a buttered glazed ceramic oven dish, the mixture spread evenly on the bottom, 6 eggs from Millport Dairy Farm cracked on top, 6 large Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods, each cut in 3 slices, scattered about, and dollops of Ronnybrook Farms crème fraîche, stirred with a little whole milk (double cream would have been more convenient, but I had none), dropped on the surfaces around the eggs and the tomatoes, the dish seasoned with good sea salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, set on a rack in the middle of an oven preheated to 400º, then served on 2 plates atop thick slices of a toasted ‘polenta boule’ from She Wolf Bakery [I sprinkled some micro bronze fennel from Two Guys from Woodbridge on the plated eggs after I had taken the picture at the top]
• the music was Heinrich Schutz’s 1619, ‘Musikalische Exequien’, Sigiswald Kuijken conducting La Petite Bande