Sunday, March 23, 2008

Pickled Eggs

No, really.
Pickled.
You know me. No sweet tooth.
The Easter Bunny brought us eggs that are hard-cooked and peeled, and have been marinating in separate brines for a few days.
The yellow egg will taste like curry and jalapeños; the pink egg borrowed a lot of its character from Anita's ethereal pickled beets, although I ratcheted up the color by adding a couple of radish slices (it'll be interesting — I've never had a sweet pickled egg); the white egg is supposed to be green (and green olive flavored) but I couldn't get that to happen without a big intervention. Any ideas on how to get a natural green vegetable tint?
I'm going back out in the yard; I'd hate to think I'm missing a coffee-chile egg, or a cinnamon-tea egg.

18 comments:

Zoomie said...

Pretty eggs and LILACS, too! Love lilacs ever since I lived in Rochester, NY where lilacs are king. Lucky you!

Anonymous said...

you could try matcha for the green. i don't know if it would work, but it might make for an interesting flavor.

ChrisB said...

I just popped over to say Happy Easter. I hear you are having beautiful weather. It's pretty miserable here so no Easter Bunnies out today!!

Deetsa said...

I'd be very interested in trying the yellow egg. *S*

peter said...

How about kale purée with some vinegar?

Anita (Married... with dinner) said...

wow, I would never have guessed that the pale pink brine of my beets would even make a dent.

green -- maybe a super-green herb like chives or cilantro or parsley? if you blanch them first, they get so green when pureed they almost glow. And the eggs would be pesto'd from the outside in...

Catherine said...

Bizarrely, pickled eggs are a chip shop staple in England. No pretty colors though.

Not sure on the green eggs - maybe Sam-I-am has an idea? (couldn't resist that one)

Nancy Ewart said...

I love pickled eggs; you might also blanch turnip slices and put them into the beet juice along with the eggs. They pick up the pink color and are great in salads. Or just eaten by themselves. I also add blanched garlic and tiny carrots as well. I never met a pickle that I didn't like .

michael, claudia and sierra said...

excellent. i love this idea. i get so sick of the whole easter thing - my least favorite holiday - and this actually was COOL and DIFFERENT and well, i love eggs. but i hate easter. but i'm a jew - or at least i play one on TV. kidding. oy. nevermind...

Unknown said...

Are you suggesting green eggs and ham perhaps? Green, well, when I was a kid, the green grass stains on my pants never came out. Can you put eggs in wheat grass juice or spinach juice, or better yet, basil juice to make green eggs?

Zoomie said...

Back again to recommend this site, which I stumbled upon this morning - it has suggestions of natural dyes for eggs...
http://www.liketocook.com/50226711/naturally_dyed_easter_eggs.php

Anonymous said...

for the green eggs try powdered spirulina

cookiecrumb said...

Zoomie: The lilacs are not fragrant, alas...

Amanda: Most interesting idea. I can try that!

ChrisB: Happy Easter to you. It's perfect spring weather here; come and enjoy it with us!

Nerissa: Yes you would!!! I had no idea how fabulous it would taste, but it's one of the best pickled eggs I've ever eaten. Only in the brine for less than 48 hours.

Peter: I know you're not kidding, dear heart.

Anita: I boosted the pink color with some radish slices. BUT the news is how the pink egg tasted. Fantastic. Pickly and... sweet! You could detect the pickling spices you had used... It was the perfect flavor for a pink egg. Save your brine and try it.
As for green, huh, blanched herbs! I'd probably still have to blender them. Dumb, lazy Easter bunny.

Catherine: Did you know Sam's mum brought me a jar of pickled eggs from Bristol? Too much love.

NamasteNancy: I love where you're going with this -- everywhere. While you've got the brine, in other words, put everything in it... Oh, yes, I do a lot of pickling.

ceF: My feeling is most people are just going to be disgusted in a few days by all those bland Easter eggs. So why not kick start the flavor thing (it's like eating a deviled egg), and add a little seasonal color? Thanks for loving my idea.

Lannae: I don't know if those would work, because I didn't have any green juice on hand. Sure sounds like it would, though. (I might worry about the flavor a little.)

Zoomie: Ah, yes. Naturally dyed eggs. I believe that site is for eggs in the shell... my eggs were peeled, and the shiny eggwhite developed a tint in the pickling liquid.

Anonymous: I'm wild about this idea. I suspect it would result in a blue-green egg, and that's cool!

kudzu said...

Cooks--The pickled egg is the perfect solution to sweet-overkill and I salute you (yet again) for your daring! I can't for the life of me figure out what pickled tasty would produce a green egg but I bet you'll find it and it has set me to researching. Bravo!

cookiecrumb said...

Kudzu: I'm honored that I can throw out a question (about how to get a green-tinted egg), and have my pals jump in with suggestions!
I'm inspired to find a solution, too. However, I must report that the green olive brine was just too salty.

Anonymous said...

thats such a fantastic idea . I am not a big chocolate fan so thats perfect

Unknown said...

I know its a bit of an old thread, but I use broccoli in the solution to get an almost flourescent green.

cookiecrumb said...

thrca: Fantastic!! Yay. Thanks for the advice; I will try it. Fluorescent, sigh...