You may, given the season, happen to have several hard-boiled eggs literally lying around your house. Or, should you not be bunny-inclined, you may simply be in the mood for a very rich, creamy, mushroomy and bacony egg dish. This one from the Junior League of New Orleans’ 1972 Plantation Cookbook has been on holiday tables in Michelle’s family for decades.
Before the Béchamel
We modernized it a bit this time, using less bacon and cheese and more interesting mushrooms. Still, Oeufs aux Champignons are to deviled eggs what Vegas is to your corner lottery kiosk—ramped up, camped up and oozing with excess. Leave the cream eggs, chocolate bunnies and Peeps in the basket, and give your Easter eggs the resurrection they deserve.
Happy Spring!
Gourmandistan 
What a cool idea. Best use of leftover eggs I’ve seen.
Thanks, Greg. It’s a bit of a pain, but you can do ahead. Hope you’re having a nice holiday.
Love the tin toys – Happy Easter
Thanks, Roger. I could do a whole book on my mom’s various chicken collections. Happy Easter to you as well.
Junior League cookbooks are the best! I love that you still have it. What a treasure!
And this dish looks amazing. Bechamel and bacon? Yes, please!
I love my holy trinity of Charleston Receipts (1950), Nashville Seasons (1964) and this one from 1972. After that, they get a little sketchy—though sometimes fun in a campy way!
It’s so true. Although, I have to admit a somewhat sick fascination with all those weird casseroles and “salads” made with Jell-O. Have you ever made one of those? The ones that use Jell-O, sour cream, canned fruit, and ham? In a bundt?
I should do it one of these days. I bet it would be fun. Inedible, but fun!
I am old enough to have lived through jello salads at other people’s houses and felt the need to at least pick at them (knowing my mother would feel a pain somewhere from my bad manners otherwise) so they hold little ironic fascination for me! Bad, very bad. But I look forward to reading about your exploration of the genre!!
Your eggs sound delicious. Would you say that you cut the cheese and bacon by half or just a little?
Excellent question, which points out why I ended up just lazily linking to the original recipe. For the 10 eggs which fit in my little gratin dish, I think I basically halved the sauce, bacon and cheese. Might’ve been even less than that. Biggest problem was, when I got around to writing up the recipe for the post, I couldn’t remember what size the eggs were that I’d used—and our backyard chickens lay wildly different sizes of eggs, so my notes didn’t make a lot of sense and I couldn’t figure the math out!
Thank you for your answer…I really appreciate the input as I like that you have lightened it up. So many recipes can be absolutely wonderful with less ingredients.
What a really different idea – and how perfect for someone like you with all the eggs.
Laying pretty good now, finally (after the latest troubles)! Thanks, Walt.
What a great idea – Happy Easter!!
Thanks much!
Oh, my. That is decadent! What a lovely way to dress up hard-boiled eggs.
I know! Like many holdovers from the Seventies, it’s (as you say) decadent. But, every now and then, why not?
What a fantastic idea – I will definitely be making this very soon with our eggs!
Those of us with chickens should probably get together and write an egg cookbook. Now, there’s an idea…
It is indeed!