As outlined in a previous post, scrambled eggs ‘James Bond’, the indulgent, butter-rich scrambled eggs recipe that was published as a footnote in the short story ‘007 in New York’, has a complex history. One of its incarnations appeared in the cookbook Celebrity Cooking for You, published in 1961. Along with many other famous personalities of the time, Ian Fleming had been invited to submit a favourite recipe to the collection and, perhaps inevitably, he chose to submit a scrambled eggs recipe that was essentially identical to the recipe used in the James Bond episode.

Fourteen years later, another recipe for ‘eggs James Bond’ appeared in print. In 1975, Collins published Lady Maclean’s Diplomatic Dishes, a collection of recipes submitted by politicians, diplomats, aristocrats, society personalities, and other notable individuals. Ann Fleming was among the contributors.

In fact, Ann submitted three recipes: Crème Pâtisserie Frite, Fillets de Sole en Goujon, and Oeufs James Bond. The first two were credited to Ann and her cook at the Fleming’s Victoria Square home, Mrs Crickmere, while Oeufs James Bond was credited to Ann alone (or, rather, Mrs Ian Fleming).

Oeufs James Bond is not a scrambled eggs-based dish, but a baked eggs dish on the lines of oeufs en cocotte to which James Bond is also rather partial (it’s revealed in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service that Bond practically lives on the dish while at home). Like the dish mentioned in that novel, Oeufs James Bond includes cream, but it also includes, rather improbably, a dollop of tomato ketchup.

The recipe, penned in Goldeneye and reproduced in the book in Ann’s handwriting, is somewhat spare with its instructions, but it can be assumed that the cooking involves standard procedures for oeufs en cocotte, for example including the use of a bain-marie.

Serves 2

• 2 large eggs
• Double cream
• Tomato sauce
• Salt, black pepper and parsley or other finely chopped herbs (optional)
• Butter for greasing

Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan; 400F). Grease two ramekins with butter. Carefully crack an egg into each one. Place the ramekins into a larger, deeper oven dish and pour just-boiled water into the bottom of the dish until the water covers the bottom half of the ramekins. Place the oven dish into the oven and allow the eggs to cook for about 15 minutes.

Remove the oven dish from the oven (the eggs should more-or-less have set by this point) and cover the eggs with the cream; you’ll need about 1½-2 tablespoons of cream per egg. Drizzle the tomato ketchup over the top. (Alternatively, you could try hot pepper sauce.) If desired, sprinkle a little salt, black pepper and parsley over the top.

Put the oven dish back into the oven for a further 1½-2 minutes. Remove the dish and serve (with some crusty bread) in the ramekins or turn the eggs out onto a plate.