Wondering what to do with the surfeit of multicolored hardboiled eggs in the fridge left over from Easter festivities? Try this elegant spin on traditional deviled eggs. This recipe makes a party-sized batch. Although it can be halved, leftovers are wonderful mashed and used as a sandwich filling. Enjoy, and Happy Spring!
Lemon-Dill Deviled Eggs
- 1 dozen hard-boiled eggs, shelled and halved lengthwise
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup sour cream (can use light)
- 11/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- Dill sprigs or grated lemon zest and black pepper for garnish
Remove egg yolks from egg halves and place in a small mixing bowl. Arrange the hollowed-out whites on a serving platter. Using a fork or the back of a spoon, mash the yolks.
To the mashed yolks, add mayonnaise, sour cream, Dijon mustard, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Stir to combine. Fold in chopped dill and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Using a piping bag or a small spoon, fill the egg whites with the yolk mixture. Garnish with sprigs of fresh dill or sprinkle lightly with lemon zest and black pepper.
Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. These can be made a few hours in advance. For best results, though, don’t garnish until just before serving.
Makes 24.
(Recipe adapted from epicurious.com/Bon Appétit April 2006.)
An Irish tradition at Halloween, colcannon (cál ceannan) is a perfect way to use up some of those lingering winter veggies. Feel free to use any variety of green or white cabbage or even to replace the cabbage with kale. If you like, you can sauté a few slices of bacon, crumble it, and set it aside to mix in right before serving. Use the rendered bacon drippings to sauté the cabbage and onion.
Colcannon
- 2 pounds potatoes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 large shallot, minced
- 1/2 head cabbage, thinly sliced
- Milk, chicken broth, or vegetable stock, as needed
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- Grated white cheddar cheese, if desired
Peel, dice, and boil the potatoes in lightly salted water until tender. While the potatoes are cooking, combine olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat. When butter is melted, add onion and shallot. Sauté until onion begins to sweat, and add cabbage. Sauté cabbage mixture until all vegetables are very tender. If necessary, add a little water or stock to moisten.
When potatoes are done, drain and return to pan. Add milk or broth as necessary and mash with a potato masher. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Stir cabbage mixture into mashed potatoes and transfer to serving bowl. Make a depression in the center and pour the melted butter into it. Sprinkle with grated white cheddar cheese if desired, and serve.
When I think “American fruit,” the first thing that jumps to mind is an image of a fat, red-cheeked apple, juicy-sweet and ready for its transformation into that most classic of American desserts, the apple pie. So, I was a bit suprised to learn recently that not only is that pie not really an American original, but neither is that iconic apple.
In fact, there are only three fruits that are native to North America: the blueberry, the Concord grape, and the cranberry.
Cranberries are grown mainly in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, British Columbia, and Quebec, with additional producers in Delaware, Maine, New York, Michigan, and elsewhere. Currently, well over a quarter of the cranberries produced hail from the New England state of Massachusetts.
Native Americans have been eating cranberries and using them for dye and medicine since at least the sixteenth century. Although others caught on to the culinary benefits fairly early on - Colonial settlers were enjoying cranberry juice by the 1680s - the health benefits of this tart little berry are just starting to be appreciated and acknowledged on a more widespread level.
High in antioxidants and a good source of fiber and vitamin C, cranberries contribute a lot of flavor for a small caloric price-only about 50 calories a cup. And current research shows that compounds in cranberries, called proanthocyanidins, may actually help prevent urinary tract infections by keeping bacteria from adhering to the walls of the bladder and urethra - and this applies to cranberries in juice, sauce, and fresh or dried berry form. Emerging research supports possible benefits in the areas of dental and cardiac health, cancer and peptic ulcer prevention, and blood cholesterol regulation.
To celebrate the start of the cranberry growing season, which begins in April, here is a wonderfully fragrant, simple recipe for Cranberry Orange Muffins with Walnuts. If you have a bag of whole cranberries in your freezer, purchased 2-for-1 post-Thanksgiving and forgotten till now, go ahead and use those. No thawing or chopping required. If you want to substitute dried, sweetened cranberries, just soak 1/2 cup of dried cranberries in orange juice for about 30 minutes, and don’t add the extra 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Cranberry Orange Nut Muffins
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
- 2 large organic eggs
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup oil
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 6-cup jumbo muffin pan or 12-cup standard muffin pan.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine flours, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Roughly chop fresh cranberries and place in a small mixing bowl along with walnuts. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar and orange zest, stir to combine, and set aside.
In a small mixing bowl, lightly beat the two eggs. Add orange juice and oil and stir. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and pour in wet ingredients. Stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in cranberry mixture. Spoon batter into prepared muffin pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes for jumbo muffins or 15 to 20 minutes for standard muffins. Let cool for 5 minutes in pan and then remove to rack.
Makes 6 jumbo or 12 standard-size muffins
Ah, March. A little bit closer to spring here in the Northeast. That’s spring as in asparagus season! But for now, we’ve still got quite a bit of snow cover and it’s at least 10 degrees below the freezing mark as I write this. So while those little asparagus shoots are still snug in their well-mulched beds, what shall we eat?
Well, on my kitchen counter rests a good-sized butternut squash. This squash has been sitting in my kitchen since sometime this fall, a passive observer to the changing of the seasons. It has witnessed scores of school lunches packed, been wiped clean of Christmas cookie batter flung from emerging beaters, and overseen the Valentine’s Day production of pot after pot of honey-lemon tea for bronchitis-suffering members of the household.
And now, it’s practically begging to be eaten, spared the indignity of counter sitting still at the cusp of spring, this beautiful winter squash. Why hasn’t it been eaten before now? Sentimental reasons. It makes me think of summer. How clearly I remember when this 5-pound squash was just a blossom, then a hard little bud, then a baby-fist-sized squash. I can still recall picking stink bugs off its tender vines. All those fond warm-weather memories encapsulated in this tough, tough shell.
And there’s that. I do kind of dread breaching the shell. (I can’t help but wonder how many squash-related casualties end up in the emergency room each autumn.) But actually, I’ve devised a pretty reliable method for butchering winter squash, so I’m thinking that today’s the day we clear some counter space and say good-bye to Butternut.
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