Easter Eggs, Colored Naturally

Dying eggs using fruits, vegetables, and spices is ecologically friendly and entertaining. I colored these eggs using wild blueberries, grape juice, onions, ground chili, and turmeric.  The process is messy and takes time but it is rewarding. Unlike using chemical dyes, this is a Zen experience. You have to relax and let Mother Nature does her thing. The happy outcome is more about serendipity than skill.

I particularly like the way the strong yellow, soft blue and purple, and elegantly marbled brown of these eggs harmonizes.

I have also tried using other foods, from spinach and beets to paprika and cumin. The results were too pale or unpleasantly dingy.

•    For best results, start with raw eggs at room temperature. Wash them in mildly soapy water and dry them. If desired, make a pinhole to help reduce cracking.

•    Always add 2 tablespoons white vinegar for up to 4 cups water.

•    To help get even color, spin the eggs, using a metal spoon to turn them.

•    Rinse the dyed eggs in warm water and pat dry with paper toweling right after removing them from the coloring solution.

Turmeric: Dissolve 2 Tbsp. ground turmeric in 2 Tbsp. warm water and add to a saucepan filled with 4 cups cold water plus vinegar. Add 4 eggs and boil gently for 30 minutes. Eggs will the sharp yellow, some with darker mottling.

Wild Blueberries: Combine 4 cups frozen blueberries with 4 cups cold water, plus vinegar.  Boil, partially covered, for 20 minutes. Strain, pressing on the berries. Put liquid in deep container and add 3 eggs. For 10 minutes, keep spinning the eggs. Remove eggs with spoon and do not touch until eggs are rinsed. Eggs will be pale blue with darker marbling.

Grape: Combine 11.5 oz. can frozen grape juice concentrate with 1 can water, plus vinegar. Add 3 eggs and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Remove eggs with spoon and do not touch until rinsed. The eggs may be sticky, with a stippled effect.

Chili Powder and Onions: Place 1 tablespoon chili powder and the brown, papery outer skin of  8 yellow onions in a deep saucepan. Add 4 cups water, plus vinegar. Add 4 eggs and boil gently for 10 minutes. Remove the eggs and enough onion skins to wrap each egg, scrunching the skins around them. Return eggs to pot and simmer 20 minutes. Cool the eggs in the pot. Remove, uncover, and rinse. Eggs will be marbled and flecked.

Because they cook during dying, eggs can sit out for days. DO NOT EAT DYED EGGS.

Red Carpet Meatloaf

On Hollywood’s big night, watching the parade of glammed-up, jewel-bedecked ladies and monkey-suited men while munching nude popcorn will not do.

For munching, cacao nibs add yummy culinary bling to air-popped corn. The lightly sweetened organic nibs from Navitas are particularly nice. I also toss in dried blueberries, toasted almonds, and oat cereal rings as well, creating a munch mix with the perfect film-star blend of glitz and antioxidant-rich power foods.

If your Oscar-night ritual includes dinner, serve spinach salad topped with air-popped kernels instead of croutons, or float kernels on bowls of winter squash or creamy tomato soup.  Popcorn in this supporting role will excite as much comment as seeing your favorite actor hunk play in a role against type.

Popcorn Meatloaf, which I created while exploring popcorn’s savory possibilities, is a tradition at my Oscar viewing party. The popcorn, whirled in a food processor, replaces breadcrumbs as the binder. While keeping the meatloaf moist and adding appealing flavor, and it also makes it gluten-free.

Red Carpet Meatloaf

Serves 4

Turkey produces a light meatloaf perfect served with broccoli or green beans while 90 percent lean ground beef makes a denser loaf ideal accompanied by mashed potatoes. Use any kind of milk, including non-dairy. Baking the meatloaf in mini-loaf pans produces square slices that are neat served as finger food on whole-grain toast spread with ketchup.

4 cups air-popped popcorn

One (1 1/3 pound) package 93% lean ground turkey, or lean ground beef

3/4 cup finely chopped celery

3/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper

3/4 cup finely chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tablespoon brown mustard

1/4 cup milk or soymilk

1 large egg

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1/3 cup chili sauce or ketchup

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Coat an 8-inch x 4-inch loaf pan, or two 5 1/2-inch x 3 1/2-inch loaf pans, with cooking spray.

In a food processor, pulse the popcorn in 5 second bursts until it is fine bits. Reserving 2 tablespoons for garnish, transfer the popcorn to a large mixing bowl.

Add all the other ingredients except the chili sauce to the popcorn and mix until well combined. Pack the mixture firmly into the prepared one or two pans. Spread the chili sauce evenly over the top of the meatloaf and sprinkle on the reserved popcorn bits.

Bake until an instant-read thermometer registers 160 F., 35 to 40 minutes for two small loaves, 60 minutes for one large meatloaf. Cool for 15 minutes before serving, or cool completely and serve at room temperature. Covered in the refrigerator, this meatloaf keeps for 3 days.

Dreaming of Chocolate Truffles

I dream in chocolate. In my favorite dream, as a silken, handmade truffle melts in my mouth, a tv announcer interrupts Downton Abbey with a news bulletin—the USDA has just declared chocolate an essential food group.

That will never happen. But while mashing roasted sweet potatoes last week, I mused about creating a truffle that would be rich, sinfully intense, and have useful health benefits. That last bit stumped me until, digging through my file labeled, “I’d like to make this,” a note slid out into my lap. “Roasted Japanese sweet potato + chocolate,” it said.

Japanese sweet potatoes have yellow-white flesh. Their creamy, slightly dry texture and taste remind me of chestnuts.

For truffles, I decided to try making a ganache combining mashed roasted Japanese sweet potato with melted dark chocolate. From a health standpoint, thiswould be sneaky smart. For the finicky chocolatier in me, though, something was missing. The ganache needed richness and a more luxurious mouth-feel. Adding cream would make the ganache too loose but butter makes everything better, they say. I added a bit and the result was right. Blissfully right.

Every year, I make sweet treats as Christmas gifts. This year, forget about cookies. It’s going to be heaps of creamy chocolate sweet potato Truffles for everyone.

Sweet Potato Truffles (Makes 24 truffles)

1 large or 2 medium Japanese sweet potatoes

3 ½ ounces dark (60-62%) chocolate, chopped

Pinch of salt

2 teaspoons orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut in small pieces and chilled

¼ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder

1. Preheat the oven to 400° F.

2. Coat the sweet potato lightly with cooking spray or oil, and bake until it is soft when squeezed, 45-60 minutes.

3. While the potato bakes, melt the chocolate. Set it aside until lukewarm. When the baked potato is cool enough to handle, peel it and in a bowl, roughly mash the flesh. Measure one cup of the mashed potato and put it in small bowl. Reserve any remaining potato for another use.

4. Using a fork, mash the warm potato until it is smooth. Add the melted chocolate, salt, and flavoring and mash until the mixture is completely combined and room temperature, 3 minutes. Add the chilled butter, blending it with the sweet potato mixture using a creaming  motion until you have a velvety ganache. If the ganache is very soft, refrigerate until you can form 1 tablespoon into a rough, 1-inch ball.

5. Form the ganache into irregularly shaped balls, placing them on a plate. Cover the balls with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 to 24 hours. Let the truffles sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving.

6. Just before serving, sift the cocoa into a small bowl. One at a time, roll the ganache balls in the cocoa, coating them. Serve immediately.

Caveat: Stick with 60-62% dark chocolate. Those with a higher percentage of chocolate liquor make a dry, grainy truffle unless you add a lot more butter, which improves the texture but makes a truffle that tastes of butter and must served directly from the fridge.