Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs & What To Do With Them Post-Hunt

Amidst the chaos of daily life with an almost-4-year-old and an almost-7-month-old (and a house renovation), Easter has really snuck up on me this year. So there will be no brilliant new recipes or flawless photos before Sunday (sigh...)

But I do want to share a very beautiful technique using plants to decorate your eggs and also point you to some posts about making your own gorgeous, natural dyes instead of those nasty Paas tablets. And, of course, give you some good recipes to put all those hardboiled eggs to use!

According to my friend, Mara, who made the eggs pictured below, this is a traditional Swiss method. It sounds pretty easy, too. 

1. Pick whatever plants/leaves you want to use
2. Wet them slightly so that they stick to the eggs
3. Hold them in place while you wrap a 5" piece of cheesecloth or pantyhose around the egg and tie the ends with string.
4. Boil the eggs for 10 min in water that has been pre-boiled with onion skins for at least an hour (leave the onion skins in with the eggs).

We're hoping to try making these this year (though not in time for me to share with you BEFORE Easter) and I will certainly report back on Facebook if we do.

There are also all sorts of great natural dyes out there - from turmeric to red cabbage to carrots to beets to blueberries to coffee and more.

Here are some links to get you started (they all seem to say more or less the same things):

• Martha Stewart's Guide To Dyeing Eggs Naturally 
• Brooklyn Supper's Step By Step Guide to Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs
• Naturally Dyed Eggs from COOP

Of course, once your egg hunt is over, you'll have a lot of hardboiled eggs at hand. So here are a few yummy ways to use them.

Sriracha, Cilantro & Scallion Deviled Eggs

 

Egg Salad with Fresh Dill and Celery

Curried Egg Salad

 

Classic Deviled Easter Eggs

We're planning to get all the ingredients prepped for deviled eggs on Easter morning so that we can quickly whip up some brunch after we've finished finding them.

Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate it. And happy egg eating to everyone.

You might also like:

• Frittata With Chevre, New Potatoes & Fresh Herbs
• Grandpa Joe's Eggs
• Spinach, Onion, Thyme & Cheese Quiche

Want even more recipes, photos, giveaways, and food-related inspiration? "Like" the Garden of Eating on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter or Pinterest.

A Taste of Spring in France from Susan of On Rue Tatin

Last month, I posted a delicious braised chicken recipe from one of my favorite books, On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town by Susan Herrmann Loomis who lives, cooks, teaches and writes in a small city in Normandy. I've wanted to meet Susan ever since I first read her book five years ago. So you can imagine my delight when she emailed me to thank me for the post - like meeting a celebrity! And, as I expected, she's a lovely person.

Since my six-month-old, my almost four-year-old, and our house renovation (exciting! also stressful and time-consuming) have really put a crimp in my ability to cook and blog these past few months, I asked my new friend, Susan, if she'd be interested in doing a guest post. Happily, she said yes! Read on for this lovely taste of spring from northern France. Enjoy! -Eve

The surprise snowfall of a few days ago has barely melted in this clement region of France, where we count snow days on one hand. It was lovely while it lasted. Everything was blanketed in white, and oh so quiet. I live in the center of a bustling town and the few cars that managed to navigate the streets sounded like they had slippers on their tires!

My house (a restored 15th century convent) and yard blanketed with snow a few days ago.

As the snow melts it reveals not dead leaves and the detritus of late winter, but baby daffodils that were just about to bloom, the tips of tulip leaves poking from the ground, tender leaves on rose bushes, and buds on the hydrangeas.

That’s all décor. When it comes to food, I see tendrils of tarragon waving in the breeze, along with a vigorous sorrel plant that seems to have sprouted leaves under the snow. The arugula is well on its way, and bronze fennel fronds are poking up here and there. Our snow halted everything but garden growth, which bodes well for spring meals.

The garden at Rue Tatin with a swirl of radish plants.

To be honest, I cannot wait for a change in season. I love winter vegetables more than life itself, but around about March, my palate is itching for change. And it’s here. We’re already getting the first radishes, and Provence is providing us with sweet-smelling strawberries. We’ll soon have baby onions and turnips and a whole array of sorely missed lettuces. And in no time at all, that very special denizen of spring, local asparagus.

Meantime, though, patience is called for, dreams are not yet the stuff of reality. We’ve still got beautiful winter vegetables, and it is up to the creative cook to make them appear exciting. I do it through sleight of hand.

Beets are still firm and juicy, and instead of roasting or pureeing them, at this moment I grate and turn them into a spicy, shallot-rich salad. Carrots? I’m not going to make any more pot au feu for awhile and will, instead, braise them in turmeric to give them new life. Endives remain a favorite, but instead of caramelizing them with garlic I’ll dice and toss them with a garlicky vinaigrette, walnuts, and Roquefort. Leeks? In the winter I add them to soup or stew but now, I’ll sauté them until they’re tender and bright green, and serve them as a fresh side vegetable.

These little changes will keep us all happy until spring is truly here, and on the plate. And in the meantime, there are those gorgeous radishes.

How to eat them to show off their best? Slather fresh butter on a thick slice of baguette, dip a radish in fleur de sel, and munch away. There is no better taste of spring!

You can find more of Susan's writing and recipes on her web site and her blog. She also teaches cooking classes at her home in Louviers and at various spots in the U.S.

You might also like:

• Harvesting Wild Ramps: A How-To & a Bunch of Good Recipes
• Lemon Aioli, Roasted Beets, Asparagus & Oven Fries - An Homage To Spring
• On the Hunt for Wild Greens - Miner's Lettuce Might Be All Around You...

Want even more recipes, photos, giveaways, and food-related inspiration? "Like" the Garden of Eating on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter or Pinterest.

Spinach Salad With Warm Bacon Dressing & Caramelized Onions

I made this delicious salad for lunch a couple of weeks ago. My first thought upon tasting it was, "Why have I never made this before?!"

It also gave me an excuse to try making oven baked bacon for the first time and now I am never going back! Perfectly cooked bacon without splattering hot grease all over the kitchen (and myself). Yes, please.

It's got a lot of great flavors going on. The crispy, salty, smokey crumbled bacon, the sweet, mellow, caramelized onions, the fresh, slightly mineral-like taste of the spinach, the hearty hard-boiled egg and the tangy, slightly sweet, rich dressing that melds it all together into a meltingly decadent salad.

Prep is not too time-consuming (I wouldn't have made this if it were...) Put your bacon in the oven to cook, get your eggs boiling, slice your onions and get them caramelizing, wash and dry your spinach, crumble your bacon, peel and slice your hard-boiled eggs, make your hot dressing and combine it all.

The result is a wonderful salad that eats like a true meal.

Couple things to note:

1. Typically, a warm spinach salad also includes mushrooms (I am not at all opposed to including them but had none on hand) and raw onions. I definitely prefer the onions sauteed as their flavor is so much more concentrated, sweeter and mellower. Plus there's the added bonus of being able to talk to other humans WITHOUT breathing a blast of onion-scented breath in anyone's face after lunch :-)
2. There was a recall on several brands of baby spinach recently due to an E. coli scare so, in addition to making sure you're not using anything tainted, it's a good reminder to try to buy from a local farm/farmer whenever you can.

-- print recipe --Spinach Salad With Warm Bacon Dressing & Caramelized Onions
Serves 4 as an appetizer or 2 as a meal

Ingredients

* 3 hard-boiled eggs (I recommend using organic, pasture-raised eggs if you can get them)
* 6-8 slices thick cut bacon (I used a delicious maple hickory smoked from my cousin Norah's wonderful Sweetland farm in Vermont)
* 1 small red onion (you can use any color but red is prettier)
* 1 bag of spinach (I like to use full grown leaves, not baby spinach since it stands up so much better to the heat of the warm dressing) and any browned or tough stems removed
* 5 Tbsps bacon grease (from the strips you cook)
* 3 Tbsps red wine vinegar
* 1-2 teaspoons maple syrup (you can use sugar or honey but I like the maple flavor better)
* 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
* Sea salt to taste
* Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400. Lay strips of bacon in a heavy baking sheet (do not crowd) and bake for 25-30 minutes until crisp. Once the bacon is as done as you like it, remove from oven and drain on a paper grocery bag. Once cool enough to handle, break it into little chunks. Pour off the liquified grease into a jar -- do NOT throw it away, you will need it! It's also wonderful to cook with.

2. While bacon is cooking, fill a medium pot with water, add the eggs, bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and let sit for 10 minutes. Remove the eggs and cool them in a bowl of ice water. Once they're cool enough to handle, peel and slice.

3. While the eggs and bacon are cooking, peel and slice the onion and wash and dry the spinach. If you're not using baby spinach, tear any large leaves into bite-sized pieces. Place the spinach in a large salad bowl and set aside.

4. Take 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease from the jar and place it in a frying pan on medium heat. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the onions and cook until soft and translucent. Then turn off the heat and remove to a small bowl to cool.

5. Now it's time to make the dressing: Put another 3 tablespoons of bacon grease in the pan you cooked the onions in, then add the vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper and maple syrup and whisk over medium-low heat until thoroughly heated.

6. Now you put it all together! Arrange the onions and crumbled bacon pieces on top of the spinach. Pour the hot bacon mustard dressing over everything and toss to make sure everything gets evenly coated. Arrange the sliced eggs over the top of the dressed salad and serve.

You might also like:

• Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon & Maple Syrup
• Spinach & Cheese Strata - Brunch Food For the Gods
• Asparagus With Goat Cheese, Bacon & Candied Pecans

For more delicious recipes, gardening ideas, foraging tips, and food-related inspiration "like" the Garden of Eating on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter and Pinterest.