EZ bake in Shanghai: 3 simple dishes to bake in your toaster oven

For most of us in Shanghai, a proper oven is the stuff of dreams -- dreams of fresh apple pie, cheese-covered lasagnas and homemade bread. 

Enter the toaster oven: the perfect compromise considering space and budget. But now that you've bought the dinky thing, what should you make?

We've taken three recipes and modified them into forgiving variations for toaster oven baking. Bon appetit.

Recipe makes four servings.

Eggs in ham cups with Parmesan, mushroom, tomato and thyme

Ingredients

Four large eggs
Parmesan cheese, grated or in small chunks
Four slices of tomato
Four slices ham (freshly sliced if possible. If it's not available, use packaged, plain Mortadella)
Two large brown mushrooms or four button mushrooms, diced
Two sprigs of thyme
Butter
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Equipment

Foil cups, ramekins or cup cake molds. Make foil cups by molding a double-folded sheet of foil around the sides and bottom of a six-centimeter diameter jar. The foil should come up five centimeters on the sides. Use scissors to trim.

Method

1. Butter your foil cups/cupcake molds.
2. Fold your ham slices into quarters, insert into the container and let open. 
3. In each ham cup, add a layer of diced mushroom, a sprinkle of thyme and salt, a dab of butter. Add a slice of tomato in each.
4. For well-cooked eggs: carefully crack an egg on top of the mushroom/tomato, sprinkle with thyme, salt and Parmesan. Bake at 190 C for 15 minutes on the middle rack. Remove from mold, add pepper.
5. For soft-cooked eggs: bake ham cups with mixture from step three (without egg) for 10 minutes on the middle rack. After 10 minutes, take the cups out of the oven, carefully crack and egg in, sprinkle with thyme, salt, pepper and Parmesan. Bake for five minutes. Remove from mold, add pepper.