Easter Eggs With A Twist

About author / Pamela Chester

Mom of two; graduate French Culinary Institute; kids cooking program instructor; Master's degree in food studies. Creates kid friendly foods and loves her slow cooker.

Spring is here and it’s time for the family fun tradition of dyeing Easter eggs. Coloring eggs in pastel hues and then having the Easter bunny hide them each year is a ritual that many families cherish. It’s fun for children and grownups alike. Eggs are also symbolic of the Jewish springtime holiday, Passover, in which a hard boiled egg represents the festival sacrifice that was made in the Temple of Jerusalem.

How did the egg come to be a sign of warmer weather and a symbol of springtime holidays? To put it simply, eggs remind us of the new life that bursts forth each spring and are a symbol of rebirth and renewal. The ritual of egg dyeing can be found dating back as far as 2,500 years ago when wall sculptures show the ancient Zorostrians carrying painted eggs for the New Year holiday, which fell on the spring equinox. In some Christian denominations, meat and dairy were traditionally prohibited during the Lenten period. Households had to either use up or preserve (by hard boiling) their surplus eggs.

Nowadays we are all familiar with the egg dyeing kits that contain colored tablets that you mix with vinegar and water, and drop hard boiled eggs into each color to make dyed eggs in a rainbow of hues. The kits come with wax crayons and stickers, and sometimes glitter for making impressive designs. They are simple to use and a lot of fun. We initiated this tradition in my own family once again last year with my son. And his look of delight spoke volumes as he plunked each egg into the coffee mugs we set out. More eggs came out cracked than not (and we had a couple of brown ones from being dropped into too many different colors), but they were a joyful expression of spring nonetheless.

But there can be more to egg dyeing then dropping colored tablets into bowls of vinegar. Various cultures throughout the world have their own egg dyeing traditions, but none so strong as the Slavic and eastern European countries. Decorated eggs are taken to an art form and are designed with intricate patterns. Think of the beautiful jeweled Faberge eggs made for the Russian Imperial Court. You can simulate this tradition at home by wrapping your eggs in rubber bands before dying to create pretty and intricate designs.

In Orthodox Christian and Eastern Catholic religions, the egg represents the grave and the cracking symbolizes life renewed or resurrected. This year, it just so happens that the American Easter and Orthodox Easter fall on the same Sunday (Usually they are a couple of weeks apart). Eggs are dyed bright red to symbolize the blood of Christ. I remember a magical springtime afternoon when I was about eight or nine that my sister and I spent with my mom’s friend Tina, a lady with Greek roots. She showed us how to dye eggs in traditional Greek fashion, using a vegetable dye made with onion skins. We were delighted with these eggs that were so different from the ones we were used to finding hidden by the Easter Bunny.

And what to do with all those dyed eggs that have not been lost to Easter egg hunts, besides making pastel hued egg salad sandwiches for lunch? Asparagus Goldenrod is a side dish of fresh spring asparagus topped with grated hard boiled eggs that is perfect for Easter dinner and goes well with ham. Roasting the asparagus makes it really simple and the pretty combination of colors just may inspire your kids to eat their veggies this Easter!

Serves/Makes: 4

• 1 1/2 pound asparagus, tough lower ends snapped off
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (or as needed)
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 dash hot sauce such as Tabasco
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 hard-boiled eggs at room temperature