Natural Egg Dyes

This is all over Pinterest, but I'm so pleased with the results we had from our natural egg dying, that I want to jot down my notes for next year :)

I used the What's Cooking America website for ideas of materials to try dying with.  We tried spinach, carrot tops, beet peels, paprika, espresso, red wine, red onion skins, yellow onion skins and red cabbage.  Other possibilities include herbals teas (especially rooibos and hibiscus), other spices like cumin, saffron and turmeric and really, anything else you can think of that will turn cooking water a color when it's boiled.

Yellow onion skins, red onion skins, red cabbage, beet peelings, espresso and spinach

The day you decide to make the dye solutions, make sure you have LOTS of pots available and a couple of hours to spare.  I've only got 4 burners on my stove, so I could only boil 4 dye materials at once and had to wash pots out in between batches.

Also when you go to dye the eggs, unless you're going to do a bunch of eggs in a single color, have lots of little containers handy (1/2 pint jars were a great size for a single egg) so your kids can concoct special color combinations for each egg.

I hard-cooked the eggs first, made the dye solutions separately, and soaked the eggs overnight to color them.  If you make your dye solutions, then boil the eggs IN the dye solutions, the colors will turn out much darker and richer.  But then there's no mixing of colors for the kiddos.  And that's no fun.

We dyed 23 eggs in individual cups (you always lose one when you boil a batch, dontcha?) in a total of 3 quarts of dye solution (and actually had some left over).  Probably you'd use less dye solution to cover a bunch of eggs in one bowl than each egg individually ya know?  That's just to give you an idea of what kind of volume of dye solution to shoot for.

3 quarts total dye solutions

To make the dye solutions, I didn't do a lot of measuring.  For vegetal stuff, I put in enough to come about halfway up the sides of my pot (or as much as I had, in the case of the red onion skins and carrot tops), covered with water by about 1/2" and boiled.  For spices, I could only get about 1 tsp to dissolve per cup of water.

So here's my materials rundown:

• Peels, tops and tails from 5 beets (cooked the beets for dinner) --> boil 30 minutes --> 1 quart dye solution
• Skins from 4 yellow onions --> boil 30 minutes --> 1 quart dye solution
• Skins from 1 red onion plus tops and tails --> boil 30 minutes --> 1 pint dye solution
• 4 cups chopped red cabbage --> boil 30 minutes --> 1 pint dye solution (I could have gotten more of this dye with the same amount of vegetable just by using a bigger pot and more water)
• tops from 1 bunch carrots --> boil 30 minutes --> 1 1/2 pints dye solution
• 4 cups spinach leaves, finely chopped --> boil 1/2 the spinach for 30 minutes, add the remaining spinach and boil 30 more minutes --> 1 1/2 pints dye solution 
• 2 tsp paprika --> dissolve in 2 cups boiling water --> 1 pint dye solution
• leftovers from the coffeepot plus water to make 2 cups plus 1 tbsp espresso powder --> 1 pint dye solution
• don't finish the red wine bottle --> 1/2 cup or so dye solution

Boil, strain, put in a jar.  Fridge until needed.

Dying was a lot of fun.  The kids each got a large measuring cup and requested mixtures of colors.  We Grownups poured the colors into the measuring cups to order, then the kids put an egg in a container and poured the mixture over.  No spills, no broken eggs...it was well-nigh an Easter miracle LOL  We poured a bit of vinegar into each cup afterward (about 1 tsp per egg cup), mixed gently with a spoon and let them sit overnight in the fridge.

Mad Color Scientist at work

Getting the wet eggs out of the dye baths requires a bit of gentle handling.  Some of the colors want to rub off very easily while wet (spinach and red cabbage particularly).  Some were sturdier even while wet (beets and the onion skins).  This is where one of those wire egg dippers could come in handy.

Color rubbed off the wet egg where my fingers slipped on it

I put mine on a cooling rack under a ceiling fan for a few hours, turning them once *very* carefully.

Once the eggs are dry though, no more color rub-off.  They will dry more mottled and speckledy than they look while wet, but they're still beautiful!

Beet dye

As far as final color results go, don't be surprised by what you get.  The dye may not be the same color as the plant material (yellow dye from carrot tops, blue-purple dye from red cabbage), the color on the wet egg may not be the same as the dye color, and the dry finished color may be different as well.

The 3 reddish dyes all produced rather different final colors.  The very intense beet dye solution gave a pale mottled pink.  The red onion skin dye gave a deep orangey red.  The yellow onion skin dye gave a solid yellow.

The red cabbage dye was not surprisingly the most striking dye.  Definitely want more of that one next year.  Since red cabbage liquid will turn different colors with acids/bases, I'm curious to try adding baking soda to the dye bath in place of the vinegar (not in addition to!) and see what we get.

Red Cabbage dye

The red wine had an interesting effect...sediment fell out of the wine and crystallized on the eggs, leaving the eggs a surprising mixture of blue, green and wine-purple with sparkles.

Red wine dye

The spinach was fairly pale.  I might try a greener green next year...kale or collards maybe?  When we combined spinach and carrot top dyes, we got more vibrantly colored eggs than using either one alone...perhaps I'll do a mixed batch of spinach-carrot top as well.

Whatever else we think up to try, we will definitely be doing this again next year :)  Happy Easter! Pin It

Shakshuka

I've seen and made multiple versions of the eggs-poached-in-chunky-sauce meal...one with a bed of sauteed spinach and mushrooms, another with caramelized shallots and a marsala-beef consomme reduction, among others.  This one is a recipe from the cookbook Jerusalem by Ottolenghi that uses a stovetop-simmered pepper-tomato sauce as the poaching bed.  A similar sauce that would probably also work well for cooking eggs this way is this roasted red pepper sauce.

The original recipe calls for harissa, a super-spicy pepper paste, that I don't have on hand.  I used some minced jalapeno and ginger from my freezer stash to bring a little heat and depth of flavor to the sauce.  If you like things hotter, use more or hunt down some harissa.

To chop your pepper finely enough for this dish, I highly recommend using the food processor.  Pulse quickly and stop short of pureeing them.  If you use canned tomatoes instead of fresh, drain them very well to shorten the cooking time needed to thicken the sauce.

I like how quickly the sauce went together and how well this recipe lends itself well to prepping ahead and freezing ahead.  You can chop all the ingredients for the sauce ahead of time and fridge them, or make the sauce completely in advance.  If you're going to freeze the sauce, you can even freeze it in individual portions for a quick meal-for-one.  Just bring the sauce back up to a simmer (from its frozen state even!), crack an egg into the sauce, cover and simmer 8-10 minutes.  Probably this thaw-and-poach process could even be managed in microwave...I don't know offhand how long to zap an egg to poach it, but if you do, let me know!

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Armadillo Eggs

Another "as seen as Pinterest, sort of" recipes.  Another Pin Win too.

This is one of those make-it-with-whatever-you've-got recipes...hot peppers or sweet peppers, ground meat of nearly any persuasion or combination, whatever cheese appeals to you and whatever sauce/glaze you can rustle up out of the fridge.

I had pork sausage, sharp cheddar, mini sweet peppers and garlic jelly in my fridge so here's what I did (though meatloaf mix, provolone and beer jelly or jalapeno jelly glaze sounds good too).  The original Pin also suggested grilling them...trying to keep 3 kids under the age of 5 supervised and clear of the grill is not my idea of a good time, so I baked mine on a rack placed over a lipped sheet tray.  But I bet grilled is good too.

I really, really, really wish I had made more of these and popped them in the freezer.

Last thought...this reminds me of a recipe from the 1973 Betty Crocker International Cookbook for "Scotch Eggs"...those are peeled hard-boiled eggs wrapped in breakfast sausage, then breaded and deep-fried.  I think the next time I make Scotch Eggs (which are outstanding post-Easter leftovers), I'll glaze them and bake them instead of breading and deep-frying.

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Prep-ahead Plan for Salad Nicoise

I love, love, love salad nicoise with all its little components...marinated olives, hard-boiled eggs, steamed green beans, boiled new potatoes, roasted fish and citrusy-garlicky vinaigrette...but it's kind of a pain to make from Step Zero.  That is, if you have to make each of those individual components just for the salad, that's a lot of steps and a lot of work. 

Despite the hoity reputation of French cuisine, I think most French dishes originated with busy housewives who had more pressing things to do than sit around pitting gourmet olives, shelling hard-boiled eggs and quartering green beans lengthwise each day for dinner.  I'll bet the first Nicoise woman to make this salad had a bunch of stuff leftover from other meals, and put it all together for dinner before it got barmy.


I think the best way to make this is to plan ahead and make extras of the things you'll need for the salad as meal components the day or two before...if you want to serve salad nicoise on Wednesday, boil eggs for snacks and breakfast on Sunday and set aside 3; serve boiled potatoes with dinner on Monday, and fish/steamed green beans on Tuesday and make make twice as much to set aside half for the salad; and on Wednesday make vinaigrette and wash lettuce.  Easy-peasy.

The traditional components of salad nicoise happen to show up at a lot of holiday meals, too...olives from the relish tray, deviled eggs (they're basically hard boiled eggs with a little mayo), green beans and baked or boiled potatoes as side dishes.  Why not throw those leftovers together to make a salad nicoise, holiday-leftover-style?  With Easter coming in just over a month, I'm keeping this idea on the back burner.

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Potato Chip Frittata

Fast.  Uses the crumbly bits left at the bottom of the potato chip bag.  No prep required.  REALLY fast.  Apparently quite close to an authentic Spanish potato frittata (according to the Food and Wine recipe from which this is adapted).  Really, really, really fast.

We walked in the door tonight at quarter of six and I had dinner on the table at 6:05.  No prep-ahead, unless you count having already eaten 12 oz. of a 14 oz. bag of sour cream and onion chips.  I had ham leftover from breakfast that needed chopped, and I used jarred diced pimiento...if you use home-roasted peppers, that part will take you a bit longer.  I served this frittata with bagged salad greens and sliced fruit.

Measure your potato chip bits by weight rather than volume (I screw up so you don't have to).  Two single-serving bags work, or about 2 oz. of leftover potato chip bits.  It's about 2 cups of crushed chips, but it's easy to over-crush wind up with WAY too much potato.

Marjoram is my favorite herb with eggs, but you can leave it out or substitute something else if you want.

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Marsala baked eggs



French name: Oeufs en cocotte au vin

The original recipe is from a book about French "homestyle" cooking (as opposed to fancy-schmancy restaurant cooking).  It calls for Madeira wine, which I wasn't able to find the first time I made the recipe.  I used dry Marsala instead and have it that way ever since, as it was delicious!  I also think you could use Champagne for an ultra-luxe version of this dish...just leave out the tomato paste and substitute chicken for beef stock.  Other subsitutes include the original Madeira or another semi-dry red wine.

Shallots figure very prominently here and their particular flavor comes through very nicely, so it's worthwhile to procure some.  They don't taste exactly the same as onions (though I also don't go in for that "halfway between onion and garlic" description either), but if you absolutely cannot find shallots, use a quarter of a medium onion for each shallot.

In terms of make-ahead planning, you could double or triple  the sauce and freeze it ahead in portions that suit your family's appetite.  My husband thinks 2 eggs is one serving, while I think 1 egg is one serving, so I make 5 egg cups for the 4 of us.  Also the more you scale the recipe up, the more of the Marsala you'll use...one 750ml bottle will make this recipe about 3 times, or you can save it to use in dishes like Chicken Marsala or Marsala-glazed carrots.

Last note, you'll need some ceramic or Pyrex baking cups for this.  The classic ones are straight-sided ceramic cups that hold about 6 or 8 oz.  They're easy to fit 4 at a time into an 8x8 pan for the water bath they'll bake in, but in a pinch you can use ceramic coffee cups instead. 


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Grapenut custard

I had this dessert at the Scargo Cafe in Dennis, MA while on vacation attending my brother's wedding.  Delicious!  And I'm assured by Massachusetts-ians that this is a bona fide regional specialty rather than some BS branding strategy hatched by the State Department of Tourism (Indiana Hardwoods, anyone?). 

This is a great way to use up a large number of eggs, if you find yourself with a surplus (you know who you are out there, you chicken-raisers).  I think this could be made with whatever cereal you want, though using, say, Cocoa Krispies would detract from the authenticity of the dish.  If you want to make a half recipe (this does make a lot, but it keeps well in the fridge), halve all the ingredients...I'd use 5 large eggs or 4 jumbo...and bake this in an 8x8 dish.  Start checking for doneness after 60 minutes. 

The Scargo Cafe's recipe is found here, but I thought it was lacking in, er, directions. Here are my directions. 

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Quiche

Quiche is a glory of the kitchen.  It can be as budget-friendly or budget-busting as you want, made with humble chopped ham, caramelized onions and grated cheddar cheese or with luxe smoked salmon, asparagus and chèvre.  It is a perfect vehicle for upcycling leftover cooked meats and veggies.  It can be vegetarian and completely seasonal.  It can be prepped ahead in a pie plate for same day cooking, fully cooked and reheated for next day service or assembled as a kit for the freezer.  It plays well for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner or midnight snack.  And it's as easy to make two as it is to make one, so you can double the ingredients to make one for dinner right now and freeze the second.

Some suggested filling combinations: ham with caramelized onions and cheddar, chicken with sauteed mushrooms and pepper jack, leftover pork roast and sauteed zucchini with swiss, leftover salmon and thawed frozen spinach with goat cheese, canned tuna and peas with American, roasted butternut squash and white beans with havarti, diced cooked bacon and radicchio with provolone, sliced baked potato and bacon with bleu cheese.

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Zucchini Tomato Frittata

I betcha you haven't thought about freezing eggs before.  They're so easy, why bother...right?  Because they do expire, and they do run out, and if you want something more than plain ol' fried, you need to have other stuff on hand. 

In other words, it saves a trip to the grocery store on those days when you decide to get dressed at 9am and don't have a chance to do it until noon (that was my first day home alone with two kids under 2, about a week after the birth of Boy-o #2) or during weeks where you try for 3 days straight to put more toilet paper in the downstairs bathroom and just can't manage to do it (that was last week).  If you don't have days and weeks like this, congratulations, here's your trophy, now scram.

A frittata is started on the stovetop and finished in the oven.  I do it under the broiler as my pans are broiler-proof.  If yours aren't because they're non-stick pans, you can bake the frittata at 400F for about 10 minutes to finish it.  If only the handle is not broiler-proof, you can wrap the plastic handle in foil and still put it under the broiler.

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Stay-in Take-out: Hot & Sour Soup

Again, adapted from the Argo cookbook.  I add more "stuff" than the original because I like soup that falls closer to the "hearty" end of the hearty-brothy spectrum, and I dialed the heat back (too much for the hubbie's liking, but good for me). 

I think the big issue in controlling the heat in this soup is which chili-garlic hot sauce product you use.  The recipe calls for "chili garlic sauce" which I interpret as the relatively mild Thai garlic chili sauce, though there is also sriracha's chili garlic cousin which will make your nose sweat and your head run.  The original recipe also calls for ground white pepper, which I do not keep in my spice collection, for which I substitute more chili garlic concoction rather than using another ground pepper.  Next time I make this, I'll use 3 tsp of the milder chili garlic sauce, or perhaps 1 tsp of the super-hot version.

This is a great prep-ahead meal.  It took me about 25 minutes to get everything sliced and measured in the morning, and only about 5 minutes to cook the soup.  Do the prep the night before and stick everything in the fridge for super-duper fast dinner the next day.

Clockwise from top left: seasoning sauce, mushrooms/tofu/bamboo shoots, broth, sliced pork, eggs, cornstarch

Hot and Sour Soup
Makes 6 servings

1 oz. dried woodear mushrooms (or other dry mushroom)
4 oz. sliced fresh button mushrooms
1 4 oz. can bamboo shoots, sliced lengthwise
8 oz. tofu, cubed small
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8 oz. lean pork, sliced thinly
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1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3 tsp chili garlic sauce (mild) OR 1 tsp chili garlic sauce (hot)
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp sugar or Splenda
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6 cups broth, vegetable or chicken
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1/3 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup water
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2 eggs, beaten well
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Garnish (optional):  sliced green onions, cilantro, parsley, chives
Soak the dry mushrooms in warm water for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile slice the fresh mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and tofu and combine in a container.  Drain the soaked mushrooms and chop coarsely.  Add those to the other vegetables. 

Slice the pork and put that in a separate container.  Combine the soy sauce, vinegar, chili garlic sauce, sesame oil and sugar in another container.  If prepping ahead, measure out  broth, if necessary, and put in a sealable container.  If prepping ahead, measure out cornstarch but do not add water until just before cooking.  Beat eggs and place in another container. 

When ready to cook, add the water to the cornstarch and mix well.  Boil the broth in a 3 or 4 quart pot.  Add the pork and boil 1 minute (the pork will cook in this time if you have sliced thinly; cook longer if the pork is in bigger pieces).  Add the seasoning sauce, vegetables and cornstarch slurry.  Cook 1 minute longer.  Stir the pot in a circular motion while slowly pouring in beaten eggs.  Cook until eggs form cooked strands.  Top with optional green stuff. Pin It