PERFECT HARD-BOILED EGGS FOR EASTER

Since Easter is coming up, and since someone just emailed me asking for my fool-proof way to hard-boil eggs, I thought I'd share my method. Follow the instructions and you can't go wrong. Cuz nothing is grosser than eating an egg that has been tinted an alien shade of green-blue from where the dye seeped through the cracks.

And if you have a surplus of hard boiled eggs, you can do the following:

-make devilled eggs (my friend Darlene makes the best devilled eggs. She adds baby shrimp to the mashed egg yolks before stuffing them. You can also add a little smoked salmon and chopped fresh dill. Or top with caviar if you're feeling luxe.)

-make crostini.  There is a recipe in the Deborah Madison Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone book (look left) that is essentially toasted bread shmeared with black olive tapenade and then topped with a circle of hard-boiled egg. So simple, and so good.

-make Salad Niçoise. Sear some tuna steaks. Arrange some boiled waxy potatoes, crisp-cooked green beans, sliced tomatoes, hard-boiled egg wedges, and salad greens on a large plate. Scatter with capers, niçoise olives, and flat-leaf parsley. Top with the tuna steaks. Pass some mustardy, tarragon vinaigrette. (Or do what I do, and toss each ingredient [except tuna] with some vinaigrette before arranging on the plate.

-make egg salad sandwiches.  Pass eggs through an egg slicer first one way, then carefully quarter-turn and slice again. Mass chopped up egg with mayo and mustard to taste. Squish between slices of toasted white bread. Or, to be even more decadent, spread one slice with egg salad and one slice with tuna salad. I grew up eating the tuna and egg salad sandwiches on light rye from Draeger's Market in Menlo Park, Calif. Yum.

Have fun with your Easter Eggs!

Comments

[Angela]

Hi there,

I looked for an email, and this was the best I could come up with, so I'm glad you had an egg post because I have an egg question. I was in Boston this past weekend, and had the extreme pleasure of dining at la petit robert bistro in kenmore. Holy crap was that good eatin'. Anyway, my mom ordered "Crispy Poached Eggs with Bacon & Frisée Salad," which was A-Mazing. So we were debating on how the eggs were prepared. Obviously they were poached, but to make them crispy they had to be fried somehow and we couldn't figure out how they did it, since the eggs had basically what I can only describe as flecks of crispy--that is to say, they weren't deep-fried because there wasn't an all-over crust of breading, and the eggs were very tender and delicate and, again, A-Mazing. I wish I had a picture. Any ideas?

[Stefania Pomponi Butler]

Angela, it sounds to me like the eggs were poached and then quickly fried, perhaps even basted with hot fat.

That is one of my favorite salads of all time. I usually enjoy it at Jeanty at Jack's here in SF, and love to make my own version for parties.

One thing I love about being back in San Francisco is that frisee is everywhere, in every grocery store. Nothing beats a California market. I could never find it in Portland. Not at the fancy grocers. Not at the Farmer's market.

[Angela]

Thanks for the response! It is most appreciated--I'll let my mom know.

Yeah, our Farmer's Market in Portland does have its merits and is a pretty fantastic place to get fresh veggies...it's surprising, given the variety of stuff you can find at the Park Blocks Farmer's Market, that no one has any frisee. Eh, that's why you gotta love California--farmer's down there will grow just about anything because somewhere, someone is going to buy it.

Thanks again for the tip on the eggs.