Sunday, December 17, 2006

Springtime in Winter, and Good for Me

You gotta try this.
I know, I already blogged about it, but it's coming out So Cute!
This is half a hard-cooked egg pickled for about a week in some brine swiped out of a jar of pickled red cabbage and radishes.
The egg picked up the most perfect lavender color, even though the cabbage and radishes are closer to magenta.
It's not a deeply pickled flavor; kinda mild, actually, but flavored nonetheless. Cranky would have liked more vinegar kick, but he'll get that from some of the other egg-pickle flavors we've got going.
The effect is like eating a deviled egg you didn't have to devil.
And the visuals?
Like Springtime in Winter.
Who needs that damn bunny?

For those of you concerned about a balanced meal, the egg was served as part of a tapas plate including fried padron peppers, seasoned toasted walnuts, some of those pickled radishes and cabbage, some pickled cauliflower, two kinds of semidry cheeses, yeah, that's it. Your choice of beverages.

21 comments:

Ilva said...

That pic is perfection!

Anonymous said...

Psychadelic, man. Far out.

That tapas plate sounds groovy, too.

Anonymous said...

How pretty. And the rest of the meal sounds delish as well.

cookiecrumb said...

Ilva!! Thank you. I've learned, from studying your photos, to be brave about getting in close. So, thanks for the lesson, too.

Brett: I know -- a purple egg. Nutso. (But good eating with the other yummies; I knew you could relate.)

Dagny: When we have food in the house like that, it's so easy to pull together a really tasty (and pretty!) meal.

Anonymous said...

You still have padrons?

!!

Lucky!!

Anonymous said...

Oy. Now I'm craving a pickled egg. I'll have to settle for 2 So-Cal favorites: Phillipe's in Los Angeles and Joe Jost's in Long Beach. Thanks for reminding me that I've neglected them.

Anonymous said...

oooo i absolutely love pickled eggs! my step-mom always used the left over juice from when my dad would make pickled beets, so the pickled eggs i grew up eating were always this lovely color of magenta, but this lavender color! i just love it! i'm definately going to have to try this at some point.

Anonymous said...

That's my favourite colour, so pretty.

mary grimm said...

I love the way these look--have to try it. That lavendar blue color is the color the potatoes we roasted with red cabbage (and a pork roast) turned--a little odd, but divine flavor.

cookiecrumb said...

Tana: We have been buying them (from Dave) in disgusting quantities as the supply dwindles). We have two more sacks stockpiled. (He's all done coming to Marin for the season.)

Jen's Mom: I *first* learned about pickled eggs at Joe Jost's. A schooner, a handful of pretzels, and an egg. That was a meal. There are JJ recipes online, but it's just as easy to concoct a brew from whatever you have in the fridge. Love to you, doll.

Amanda: That'll be my next experiment. Wouldn't it be fantastic to have a basket full of all those colors?

Beccy: Sadly, it doesn't taste like grape or lavender. But that's a good thing, given that these are eggs!

Lucette: Yeah, potatoes love to suck up color, but they always try to sabotage it somehow. :)

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Greg said...

purple eggs and ham? I'll have a little sherry with my tapas please.

Anonymous said...

Wow, that picture is gorgeous! It has "easter" written all over it. Don't know if I could eat it, being that there's something unappealing about a purpled egg or a pickled egg to me. But I sure would ooh and ahh over it!

cookiecrumb said...

Kudzu: Ultra Violet? Pickled Eggs? O*M*G!!!!
How did you do that? xxx

Greg: Whatever it takes. It's yummy.

BtB: That goes for you. It's yummy. But purple. :)

Anonymous said...

I feel red egg yolks coming on... wow, that lavender is really gorgeous!

cookiecrumb said...

Anna: Please, please, please!
Maybe we could set up an egg swap. :D

Anonymous said...

i too grew up on pickled red beet eggs and their gorgeousness. the deep red and the soft yellow always reminded me of reverse sunsets
this though, is just lovely! i must try making a few of these for myself
thanks!

cookiecrumb said...

Ann: Ahh. "Reverse sunsets." Beautiful.
There's apparently something about the chemistry of the ingredients. I love the lavender that occurred.

Anonymous said...

Oooo! That looks gorgeous Cookie. That is an infinitely better substitute for the chemical-based colors I use for my April egg-dying duties.

Pille said...

Great colour! I've pickled eggs in beetroot juice recently, which yields a great reddish-purple colour. It'd be great to pair them with blueish-purple ones at a table..

cookiecrumb said...

Passionate Eater: I never thought of it myself. I'm totally peeling the hard-cooked eggs and dying them naturally from now on. I just don't think I'll play any Easter Egg hiding games with them. :D

Pille: I bet beets make a vivid magenta. I'd like to try it. I still haven't thought of a way to tint eggs green, but it shouldn't be difficult.