RELISH AUSTIN

Dyed and true: Easter eggs

Colorful hard-boiled eggs serve double duty in traditions and recipes.

By Addie Broyles
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Dyeing eggs is my favorite holiday tradition. Maybe it's because I like to eat hard-boiled eggs. Or perhaps it was the childhood fun of trying to find more eggs than my sister, an Easter morning tradition we carried on through high school.

Now I'm on the Easter Bunny's team, hiding eggs for the first time this weekend for my 2-year-old son. But the joy of carefully dipping dozens of hard-boiled eggs into dye and removing them when they are as rich and deep in color as they can possibly get hasn't abated.

Rather than take the easy road with candy-filled plastic eggs, get the kids involved not only with dyeing eggs this year but also using the eggs in the recipes found below.

We were Paas kids, dropping dye tablets into vinegar and water and using every sticker, plastic wrapper and cardboard cut-out to liven up our already colorful eggs. The Paas company has been selling color tablets since the late 1800s, but Macedonians, Persians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans have been dyeing eggs naturally for thousands of years. (Historians say dyeing likely originated with the Persians 5,000 years ago.) Coloring eggs was primarily a pagan ritual until crusaders returning from the Middle East spread the tradition to Christians, who then used the egg to represent the rebirth of Christ.

If you want to use a natural dye, boil about one cup fruit or vegetable or 1-2 teaspoons spice (see chart for colors) and 11/2 cup water for at least 15 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons salt and 2 tablespoons white vinegar and then use as you would any other dye, keeping in mind that for some colors, the eggs might have to soak as long as overnight to achieve the desired color. (Vinegar is always part of the dyeing process because it helps the dye adhere to the eggshell.)

Commercial food-coloring and tablets, such as those sold by Paas, color eggs faster and more reliably than most fruits, vegetables, spices and flowers, and after an afternoon of egg-dyeing last month, I've decided that my nostalgia for tablets can't beat the color palette available when using regular old food coloring. To dye eggs with food coloring, use 10-20 drops (1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon) of one or more colors per 3/4 cup hot water. Don't forget a splash (1 teaspoon, if you want to measure) of vinegar, just in case.

I used Mason jars this time, but the hard glass might crack one or more of your eggs. Plastic cups, bowls or even clean plastic-foam to-go containers will be kinder, but just make sure you make enough dye to submerge the eggs.

For perfectly boiled eggs that are easy to peel, follow these directions:

Buy eggs several days before boiling (older eggs have a higher pH, which makes them stick less to their shells, according to author Harold McGee in his book "On Food and Cooking"). Put your eggs in a pot of cold water, and make sure the water is an inch or so above the eggs. Bring the water to a rolling boil, then turn off the heat and cover with a lid. Let rest for 15 minutes. Remove the eggs from the water and place in a bowl with cool water until they are cool to the touch. Be sure to refrigerate hard-boiled eggs before and after dyeing.

If you want to keep your Easter eggs instead of eat them, hollow the eggs by poking a hole in each end with a needle - be sure to puncture the yolk - and blowing out the egg whites and yolks. Wash the shell with water before dyeing as you would a hard-boiled egg.

With the dye and eggs ready, you are limited only by your imagination in what you can create. Use rubber bands or masking tape to make stripes. Paint the eggs with brushes, sponges, feathers or cotton swabs. The white or clear wax crayon that comes in egg-dyeing kits is a simplified version of the batik process used to create the intricate pysanka eggs from Ukraine. Don't be afraid to double-dip, mixing colors to create new hues.

Cut paper towel or toilet paper tubes into 3/4-inch sections so you can rest your eggs upright to dry or hold them steady while you decorate.

As for eating hard-boiled eggs, I might not have ever started liking them if not for trying the ones I cracked in the dyeing process. Research shows that eggs are great sources of vitamins and protein. Refrigerated hard-boiled eggs will keep for five days to a week after you cook them, but make sure the Easter Bunny's eggs aren't out in the lawn too long if you still want to eat them, too.

Eat hard-boiled eggs on green salads or make them into an egg salad. I put hard-boiled eggs in tuna salad, too. Sliced hard-boiled eggs on toast or tortillas is one of my favorite in-a-hurry breakfasts. Deviled eggs are another great way to use up the eggs. You can even use eggs in lasagna.

But it's hard to beat eating one over the sink, egg in one dye-stained hand, salt shaker in the other.

Austinites Rachel and Logan Cooper's food blog, Boots in the Oven (www.bootsintheoven.com), is more than four years old, and though they don't publish many recipes, you can find them most nights in the kitchen, preparing everything from home-cured salmon to fantail buttermilk biscuits and king cakes.

Logan Cooper created these upright deviled eggs for his 30th birthday party recently and says the difference between good deviled eggs and deviled eggs that people talk about for days is homemade aïoli. He uses the Cook's Illustrated recipe, but doubles the garlic.

Not Your Mama's Deviled Eggs

12 medium eggs

1/2 small red onion, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)

1 celery rib, finely chopped

1 green onion, whites and top finely chopped

1/4 cup capers, rinsed, squeezed to remove moisture and then chopped

1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped

2 Tbsp. pickle juice of your choice

1/3 cup aïoli (see recipe below)

Salt and pepper to taste

Korean red pepper threads for garnish (optional, available at Asian markets)

Cover eggs by 11/2 inches with cold water in a 3-quart heavy saucepan and bring to a rolling boil, partially covered. Reduce heat to low and cook eggs, covered completely, for another 30 seconds. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 15 minutes. Transfer eggs with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice and cold water to stop cooking, and let stand 5 minutes.

Peel eggs. Cut a small sliver of white off the large end of each egg so egg sits upright. Cut each egg cross-wise about two-thirds of the way up. Reserve the smaller pieces of whites to mix with leftover filling for an easy and delicious egg salad.

Carefully remove yolks and mash in a bowl with a fork. Add red onion, celery, green onion, capers, cilantro and pickle juice. Stir to combine.

Mix in aïoli to achieve a thick, creamy consistency, then season with salt and pepper. Fill pastry bag (you can also fill a regular plastic bag and then cut a hole in the corner) with yolk mixture and pipe generously into standing egg whites. Garnish each egg with a sprinkling of Korean red pepper threads.

Aïoli

2 garlic cloves, peeled

2 large egg raw yolks

1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. lemon juice

1/8 tsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. table salt

3/4 olive oil, not extra virgin

Press garlic through a garlic press or grate very finely on a rasp-style grater. Measure out 2 tsp. garlic; discard remaining. In a food processor, combine garlic, yolks, lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper to taste until combined, about 10 seconds. With machine running, gradually add oil in slow, steady stream (process should take about 30 seconds). Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula and process five seconds longer. Adjust seasoning with additional salt and pepper and serve. Makes about 3/4 cup. (Because of the risk of salmonella, foods containing raw egg should be avoided by children, pregnant women, elderly people and people with weak immune systems, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture.)

- Logan Cooper, Boots in the Oven (www.bootsintheoven.com)

Dyeing eggs with nature's colors

Here are some fruits, flowers, vegetables and spices you can use to dye eggs:

• Purple: hibiscus tea, red wine, grape juice

• Blue: blueberries, red cabbage leaves

• Green: spinach leaves, liquid chlorophyll

• Greenish yellow: Peels from yellow delicious apples

• Yellow: orange or lemon peels, carrot tops, celery seeds, dill seeds, ground cumin, ground turmeric, chamomile tea, green tea

• Brown: strong coffee, black walnut shells, black tea

• Orange: yellow onion skins, cooked carrots, chili powder, paprika

• Red/pink: lots of red onion skins, canned cherries with juice, pomegranate juice, raspberries, beets, cranberries or juice, raspberries, red grape juice, juice from pickled beets