Easter Egg Bread Baskets

Today, Gran Fran called and suggested I try my hand at another of her wonderful Easter baked specialities.  Seems that she was so impressed with my version of her Pizza Rustica, that I was deemed worthy of her Easter egg bread basket recipe. As I've mentioned, I'm not much of a baker, so the prospect of taking on another baking project so soon was daunting.

And, I wanted to make these for Isabella. She is thirteen, which means that I don't have to get the Easter bunny over here, but there is still time for her to enjoy some of the fun. What was going through my mind, was how Gran Fran, no matter what, would send me off to preschool (then known as Nursery school) with fresh-baked treats for whatever holiday was being celebrated. I attended a Jewish Nursery school (long story, short, even though our family wasn’t Jewish, the private Nursery school was willing to take me a year earlier than the public school) and so Gran Fran made many challahs, and even hamantaschen cookies for Purim. She sent me the bread recipe today, which, as it turns out, is her trusty challah recipe from days of yore.

Gran Fran is always on my shoulder saying “What? So, you spend a little extra time after work making a nice treat for her? What’s it going to cost you … a little sleep?” This, from a woman who seems to need no more than 5 hours of sleep a night. Who knows if that is a product of raising five kids, what with all the worry and all, or if she was always that way.

Mine look just like her bread baskets, and I'm hoping that they are as lovely as the ones she sends over every year. No doubt, Isabella will give me very frank feedback on who's is better and what she likes about each. Either way, I'm just happy to be in possession of the recipe and to be able to make these baskets myself.

Easter Bread

Source: Fleischmann's Yeast, a division of Burns Philp Food, Inc.

Yield: 6 egg basket loaves

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water (100 to 110 F)
• 2 packages (1/2 ounce or 4 1/2 tsp) Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 5 1/4 to 5 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon water
• colorful sprinkles, optional
• 8 hard boiled, dyed eggs

Method:

• Place 1/2 cup warm water in large warm bowl. Sprinkle in yeast; stir until dissolved. Add remaining water, sugar, margarine, salt, and 1 1/2 cups flour; blend well.
• Stir in 3 eggs, 1 egg white (reserve 1 yolk), and enough remaining flour to make soft dough.
• Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 6 to 8 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 30 to 45 minutes.
• Punch dough down. Remove dough to lightly floured surface; divide in half.
• Set aside 1 half. Divide remaining half into 2 pieces, one about 2/3 of the dough and the other about 1/3 of the dough.
• Divide larger piece into 3 equal pieces; roll to 12-inch ropes. Place ropes on greased baking sheet; braid. Pinch ends to seal.
• Divide remaining piece into 3 equal pieces. Roll to 10-inch ropes; braid. Place small braid on large braid. Pinch ends firmly to seal and secure to large braid.
• Place a dyed egg into the braid and push down. As the dough rises, it will envelope the egg slightly.
• Repeat with remaining dough to make second loaf. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 30 to 45 minutes.
• Beat reserved egg yolk with 1 teaspoon water; brush over loaves.
• Sprinkle with colorful sprinkles, if desired.
• Bake at 400 F for 20 to 25 minutes or until done, switching positions of sheets in oven halfway through baking time. Remove from sheets; let cool on wire racks.

Hot Peppers in the Oven

We cut our teeth on hot peppers in Gran Fran's house.

My first hot pepper experience was at age 8. The whole family watched as I agreed to take on the challenge of taking a bite of Gran Fran's fried hot peppers. I don't htink the older kids thought I'd actually do it.

Well, I did, and I loved the flavor. It was a bit spicy at first, but I quickly became addicted to Gran Fran's fried peppers. Whenever I came home from college, she'd have a nice big bowl of them ready for me. To this day, I am greeted with the fried peppers when I visit NY.

I can't seem to find the same kind of Italian hot peppers out here in SF. Gran Fran called and said she made the most delicious oven-fried hot peppers. This was welcome news. I'm tired of stove top frying and was excited to gives this a try.

I figured jalapenos would work as a good pepper substitute and set about making my own version. I've served them with my chili-mac, on the fried toast with fried egg and just on their own straight from the jar. Yes, this new method does work, and it works well.

Now if I can just get my hands on some of those actual East Coast style hot Italian peppers, my hot pepper needs will be totally fulfilled.

Oven Fried Hot Peppers

makes an 8 ounce jar

Ingredients:

• 8 to 10 Jalapeno Peppers, slliced into rings (or the hot pepper of your choice)
• 4 tablepsoons Olive Oil
• 3 cloves Garlic, peeled, but left whole
• Coarse Salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Pour the olive oil onto a rimmed baking sheet
3. Place the hot pepper rings onto the baking sheet, turning over on the pan to coat with the olive oil.
4. Throw the garlic cloves into the pan.
5. Sprinkle with coarse salt .
6. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Check on them every five minutes or so to ensure that the peppers aren't browning too quickly. If they are, lower the heat to 400 degrees.
7. Remove from oven and pour the rings and oil into a glass jar or bowl.

Enjoy!

Baked Eggs: repost from Paris, 2010

A post from Paris, 2010

It's been almost two years since my summer in Paris with my daughter Isabella. I've been going through my blog from our trip and thought it would be nice to feature some of the posts. Hope you enjoy it.

This picture does not do the dishI had enough justice.

Baked eggs, have become an interest of mine in the recent past, but I have not had the opportunity to make them. I was pleased to see this traditional version offered on the menu across the plaza from Notre Dame, right next door to Shakespeare & Co bookshop. After all those steps, I really wanted to eat (not really that hard to climb, but any excuse for a big meal, I always say).

Isabella was going to order this, but decided on scrambled eggs with bacon as a safer bet. Probably good, this dish had cream, 6 eggs (no kidding) and maybe a half pound of bacon. I thought it was going to come in a small ramekin, but take a look at that pot!

Oh, I forgot to mention, it also had 3 to 4 good sized yellow potatoes sliced amongst the goodness. I ate almost the whole thing. It was so good.

When I get home, I will recreate this dish every now and then. Not too often, though, or I will have the cholesterol police knockin’ on my door.

I've found this Baked Eggs recipe on epicurious.com for you to try yourselves at home.

Avocados: Egg Smash-up, Smoothie and Guacamole

Years ago, when my parents were visiting from New York, I decided to serve them some avocados. Joe, my dad, was less than enthusiastic having only had unripe, unflavorful avocados up until this point.  He remarked upon how he stayed away from avocados at all cost because they were tasteless and held no appeal for him. His opinion was forever changed after I served him a California Haas avocado.

Once it was served up simply diced drizzled with some olive oil, pepper and salt, I thought his head was going to explode. I think he thought I was a magician of some sort because I had picked a perfect avocado.  The teacher in him asked me a million questions about why our avocados were so much tastier than any he had eaten before. And, how did I get that pit out so perfectly?

I figured it was because they are grown here and we are lucky enough to have a year-round variety, the Haas avocado, available at all times. The avocados we've had in New York are a harder, taller variety than the Haas. According to this website, I'm thinking Joe is getting something like a Zutano avocado. The taste is much lighter and not quite as creamy as the Haas.

I eat a lot of avocados. I'm also lucky enough to have a group of friends and co-workers who love food as much as I do. We don't work in the food industry, but we all love it. Whenever I'm trying to come up with a recipe for a particular ingredient, I tend to take input from everyone at work. I spend an equal amount of time working with them as I do working on this site, so it makes perfect sense that if I can make something they'll love to eat, we all win.

The egg smash-up is an Israeli dish, I think, that my friend Anastasia started making for us. It's really a simple mix of equal parts hard-boiled egg and avocado, with some salt and pepper. It's great on everything from toasted baguette to rice cakes. It'll keep you going for hours, too, so no need to worry about getting hungry anytime soon!

My friend Robby suggested the smoothie recipe. I was not always a fan of smoothies, but something about the combination of banana and avocado sounded good to me. You can use either regular milk or almond milk here. The almond milk gives it a nice nutty flavor. I don't recommend using rice milk, though, because it's almost too sweet next to the banana and honey. And, the combination of the almond milk, avocado and banana makes the smoothie smell like the beach.

Lastly, my other friend Ari makes a wonderful guacamole. I don't think mine even comes close. But, it does have a great fresh flavor and nice piquant onions to offset the smooth and tangy avocado.

I know when I'm in New York this summer, if I can find some avocados I'm going to break out these recipes and blow Joe's mind.

Avocado Smoothie

INGREDIENTS

• 1 avocado, sliced in half and removed from the skin
• 1 banana, sliced
• ½ cup milk
• ½ teaspoon honey
• Ice cubes

PREPARATION

• Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until the ice cubes have been completely crushed.

Serves 2. Prep time, 5 minutes; cook time, 0 minutes.

Cook’s note:  You can use almond milk or rice milk instead of regular milk.

Avocado Guacamole

INGREDIENTS

• 1 avocado, sliced into cubes and removed from the skin
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 1 small tomato, cubed
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

PREPARATION

• In a large bowl, mash the avocado until creamy.
• Stir in the onions, tomato pieces, spices and oil.
• Give the mixture one more run through with the masher.

Serves 4. Prep time, 5 minutes; cook time, 0 minutes.

Avocado and Egg Spread

INGREDIENTS

• 1 avocado, sliced in half and removed from the skin
• 2 hard-boiled eggs
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

PREPARATION

• Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mash well with a fork.
• Serve on toasted bread.

Serves 2. Prep time, 5 minutes; cook time, 0 minutes.