The Yolks on You!

Passover and Easter have come and gone, and in their wake, we are left with a multitude of hard-cooked eggs—that symbol of life, fertility, and hope everlasting.

The woeful egg has come under attack over the years for being too abundant in cholesterol. However, things have calmed down, and now it is okay to indulge—in moderation, that is.

I happen to like eggs when cooked properly and tastefully, and have pretty much pooh-poohed the medical profession’s warning on eating too many eggs—one a week and all that. Go ahead, turn me in; it is worth it—omelets, soufflés, custards, waffles—I eat them all.

I’ve always wondered about the brave soul who first had the idea to eat an egg. Let’s face it, cracked and placed on a dish as is; it’s not very appealing.

Authorities on the subject claim that as early as 1500 B.C. the Chinese bred chickens for sport and food. What they prized were the roosters for cock fights. The hens were kept caged to lay eggs to produce more roosters.

Somewhere along the way, someone wise and daring ate one of those eggs and found it to be delicious.

If a hen were left to her own devices, she would probably lay only one brood of eggs in the spring of the year, and no more.

Normally, a hen will produce only one egg per day, but the prudent farmer promptly takes the single egg from the hen and ships it to market. The hen, trying to accumulate her brood, keeps replacing the lost one with another. She has hope eternal welling up in her tender naïve breast. How cruel the modern farmer—he tricks the hen with lights that resemble sunlight, and steals her eggs, forcing the hen to lay more eggs than fowlly possible.

So, here we are with all these eggs; some gaily colored and hard-boiled, and some just plain old hard-boiled. What to do? Eat them, of course. And, here’s how.

Warm Asparagus with Eggs Mimosa
2 hard-cooked eggs, peeled
1 tablespoon wine vinegar
1 shallot, minced
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2- 1/4 pounds asparagus spears

In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, shallot, olive oil, salt and pepper. Set the vinaigrette aside.

Press the cooked and peeled eggs through a coarse sieve into a bowl, or chop them by hand. Set aside.

Snap off the tough stem ends from the asparagus spears and discard. Using a vegetable peeled, peel the bottom 3 inches of each asparagus spear to remove tough outer skin. (If your asparagus spears are pencil thin, you don’t need to peel the bottoms.) Bring a large skillet pan filled with salted water to a boil. Add the asparagus; reduce the heat to medium and cook just until tender, 4 to 6 minutes.

Using tongs, carefully transfer the asparagus to a double thickness of paper towels to drain briefly, then arrange the spears on a warmed platter or on individual plates. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the warm asparagus, distributing it evenly. Sprinkle the eggs over the center of the asparagus spears and serve immediately. Serves 6.

Tuna, Tomato and Olive Sandwich
This sandwich is essentially a salade niçoise on a roll, a specialty of Nice. In fact, niçoise means, “As prepared in Nice.” Fillings may vary, but tuna is nearly always included, as are tomatoes and olive. It is sold from storefront sandwich shops along the Promenade des Anglais bordering the Mediterranean.

4 large round chewy bread rolls
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
4 ounces water or oil-packed tuna
1 green bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
2 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and sliced
12 anchovy fillets
16 pitted niçoise (oil-cured) olives
4 to 6 lettuce leaves

Slice the rolls in half horizontally. Sprinkle the cut sides evenly with the olive oil and vinegar.

Drain the tuna and place it in a bowl. Using a fork, flake the tuna into smallish pieces. Divide evenly among the bottom halves of the rolls. Then evenly divide the bell pepper, tomatoes, eggs, anchovy fillets, and olive among them. Cover the filling with the lettuce. Put the roll tops in place and serve. Serves 4.