Poor Richard’s Almanac

The cure for Post-Easter Stress Disorder. April 15, 2009

Posted by ourfriendben in recipes, wit and wisdom.
Tags: hardboiled eggs, pickled eggs, recipes for hardboiled eggs, red beet eggs, scalloped eggs
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Silence Dogood here. Aunt Debbi of Aunt Debbi’s Garden fame (http://auntdebbisgarden.blogspot.com/) has a problem, and maybe you can relate. She and the kids dyed hard-boiled eggs for Easter. Lots of hard-boiled eggs. And now they need to eat them. But there are only so many hard-boiled eggs a body, and especially a young body, can eat. What to make? Yikes!

Trying to deal with the glut of hard-boiled eggs before they go bad results in the dreaded Post-Easter Stress Disorder (PESD). Aunt Debbi came up with some ingenious solutions in her post “Eggs, They Are Everywhere.” Then she opened the floor for additional ideas. I got right on it.

Egg salad and deviled eggs are of course two things that leap to mind. You’ll find my own recipe for “Silence’s Bedeviled Eggs” and my friend Delilah’s great, easy egg salad recipe by searching for my earlier post “Some eggcellent picnic fare.” Our part of Pennsylvania is regionally famous for that Pennsylvania Dutch classic, Red Beet Eggs. But I knew there had to be more. So of course I turned to my massive cookbook collection for help. I couldn’t believe what I turned up!

The first two recipes are from Marion Cunningham’s The Breakfast Book (Knopf, 1987). Marion swears they’re both good. I can see the Scalloped Eggs, but oh my, those Goldenrod Eggs sound like a lot of work for a very weird result. But I’ll let you judge for yourselves:

        Scalloped Eggs

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter

3 cups bread crumbs

8 hard-boiled eggs, sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated (or ground) nutmeg

1 1/2 cups milk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a round, shallow baking dish; a 9- or 10-inch round glass pie plate would be ideal. Melt the butter in a large skillet or saute pan. Add the crumbs and cook over low heat, stirring often until the crumbs are golden and have absorbed the butter. Spread half of the crumbs evenly over the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange the egg slices over the crumbs. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and half the nutmeg. Pour the milk evenly over the egg slices and distribute the remaining crumbs evenly over the top. Lightly salt and pepper the top and dust with the rest of the nutmeg. Bake for about 25 minutes. Serve hot. Serves four. Marion suggests serving Scalloped Eggs with crisp bacon and baked apples.

          Goldenrod Eggs

4 hard-boiled eggs, shelled

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 1/4 cups milk

Salt and pepper

1 raw egg yolk

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 slices buttered toast 

Separate the whites and the yolks of the hard-boiled eggs. Dice the whites and set aside. Reserve the yolks. Put the butter in a small saucepan and melt over medium-low heat. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the butter and flour are well blended; then cook over low heat, stirring, at least 2 minutes more. Slowly add the milk and cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce has thickened, about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. In a small bowl, combine the raw yolk and lemon juice. Stir several tablespoons of the hot sauce into the yolk mixture, then add the yolk mixture to the sauce. Cook another minute or two, until smooth and hot. Add the diced egg whites to the sauce. Assemble by spooning the sauce over the toast. Using the fine-grating side of a grater or sieve, rub a yolk or two over each portion. Serve immediately. Serves two. Marion says that the yolks sieved over the whites are supposed to look like goldenrod.

One of the notable structures in this area is the Palm Schwenkfelder Church, and I was lucky enough to find a copy of The Palm Schwenkfelder Church Cookbook in an antiques store. It contains the following recipe for Creole Eggs Casserole (and no, I’m not trying this one myself, either). Thank heavens Marion Cunningham provided detailed directions for making a white sauce in her Goldenrod Eggs recipe above!

         Creole Eggs Casserole

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup milk

salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons chopped onion

2 tablespoons chopped green pepper

2 teaspoons oil

1 1/4 cup tomatoes, whole, drained, cut into pieces

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

4 hard cooked eggs, sliced

1/4 cup cracker crumbs, buttered

1/2 cup grated American cheese

Make a white sauce with the flour, butter, and milk. Season with salt and pepper. Cook onion and green pepper in the oil until soft but not brown. Add tomatoes, garlic, and chili powder, cook until thick. Add to white sauce. Place alternate layers of sauce and eggs in greased casserole. Top with crumbs and cheese. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 15 to 20 minutes. Serves two.

Finally, what about those famous Red Beet Eggs? I found a recipe for them in Esther H. Shank’s Mennonite Country-Style Recipes & Kitchen Secrets (Herald Press, 1987), and it was actually easier than I’d expected. Amazingly, Esther also has a recipe for Goldenrod Eggs!  

          Pickled (Red Beet) Eggs

6 or 8 hard-cooked eggs, peeled

1 pint pickled beets 

Place eggs while still slightly warm in the bottom of a widemouthed quart jar. Pour beet pickle juice over eggs and then add beets on top to hold eggs down in juice. Place lid on jar and refrigerate 24 hours before using, until deep red color. Eggs will keep for a week. If you do not have pickled beets, you may use 1 pint plain canned beets and pickle them as follows: combine in saucepan the juice from beets and enough water to make 1 cup, 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/8 teaspoon each ground cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. Bring to boil, then add beets and heat to boiling again. Cool slightly. Pour warm beet mixture over eggs in jar. Refrigerate as above. (Beet pickle juice may be used for two batches of eggs by bringing it to a boil again after using the first time. Cool until lukewarm and pour over second batch of eggs.)

Well, there you have it. It took me years after I moved here to work up the nerve to try Red Beet Eggs, but they’re actually good. And of course we love deviled eggs, sliced hardboiled eggs on a tossed salad, and egg salad sandwiches with warm bread and crunchy Romaine lettuce. Maybe I’ll even try those Scalloped Eggs. Post-Easter Stress Disorder? Maybe it’s not so bad after all! 

               ‘Til next time,

                             Silence