Easter Egg Miracles From Eagle Rock Chefs

With spring sprung and Easter at the door, it’s the perfect time to celebrate the egg—that self-contained ovoid of deliciousness that, among its other nutritional wonders, is the only non-flesh source of first-class proteins.

Accordingly, we asked several Eagle Rock chefs to share their current, fave egg recipes—and received three yummy variations of eggs with greens.

We spot a springtime trend!

All three chefs—Donna Coppola of , Michelle Wilton of , and Jennie Cook of Jennie Cooks Catering—are committed to using local, seasonal and organic ingredients. So you won’t find heavy sauces or overly rich preparations in their recipes—all are light, healthy, fresh. There’s even a vegan version—consider it an Easter bonus. And we’ll go so far as to predict that you’ll never think of egg/salad in the same way again.

Terri Wahl started the comfort food trend in Eagle Rock with Auntie Em’s Kitchen (www.auntieemskitchen.com) and Chef Donna Coppola keeps customers coming back to the cozy, eclectic eatery, with delicious dishes such as her picnic-like brunch that, like jazz, is open to improvisation and can be expanded ad infinitum to serve multiple, lucky diners.

“I thought I would send you one of my "egg philosophies," Coppola says, offering a rather unusual way to think about ways to serve the humble egg. Here's a variation of a hot favorite on Auntie Em’s Spring Brunch menu from earlier in April: 

Organic radish and salted butter open-faced sandwich 

Note: It’s Vermont Butter & Cheese Company’s butter. The keys are good bread—and a willingness not to be too shy about the butter.

Baby greens salad with strawberries and Cypress Groves’ Purple Haze cheese (goat cheese from California)

The salad options, says Coppola, are endless: “Even a plain butter lettuce salad [with] just a drizzle of lemon juice and good olive oil with a sprinkle of salt and pepper for your Sunday morning brunch with friends.”

Eggs? Over-medium, sunny side up, poached or soft-boiled! Yay! So easy! So delicious! Put the egg on top of the salad.

And it adapts to any season. “This winter at the restaurant, we had a butter lettuce salad with avocado [and] grapefruit,” says the chef, adding that she had her husband take a picture of his breakfast at Auntie Em's this winter. As you can see from the photos on your right, “he ordered bacon with his,” Coppola points out. “And on it goes with the seasons.”

Chef Michelle Wilton has received deservedly enthusiastic praise for her commitment to the “Slow Food” movement and her reinterpretation of classic comfort food with a healthy twist at the serene and lovely Four Café (www.fourcafe.net). In the following breakfast dish—Wilton calls it “one of my favorite combinations of lentils and eggs, with a creamy, smoky paprika aioli to tie it all together”—humble ingredients are elevated to elegant heights:

Poached Eggs over Beluga Lentils with a Smoked Paprika Aioli (Serves 4)

8 eggs
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 bunch frisee
1/4 cup sherry vinaigrette (recipe follows)
1/4 cup smoked paprika aioli (recipe follows)
1 cup cooked beluga lentil liquid (or water, reserved separately)

Heat a large pot of water mixed with the white vinegar over high heat until boiling. Turn down to medium until simmering.

Meanwhile, heat the lentil in a small pan with a couple of tablespoons of reserved cooking liquid or water until warm.

Toss the frisee with the sherry vinaigrette and a small pinch of salt until well dressed.

With a slotted spoon, stir the simmering water until a whirlpool occurs.

Crack eggs in the middle of the whirlpool one at a time, poaching only four at a time. Let cook 2 minutes and remove with slotted spoon. Repeat for remaining four eggs. Remove, and after preparing plates, drop all eggs in for 1 minute more to ensure they are heated.

Preparing plates and using 2 tablespoons of aioli per plate, create a “swoosh effect”—top half of swoosh with lentils, then half of lentils with frisee. Using frisee as a bed for eggs, place two eggs carefully on top of frisee. Season with salt and pepper.

Sherry vinaigrette:

1 shallot minced
1/2 cup sherry vinegar
1/2  teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup olive oil

Combine shallot, salt, pepper, and vinegar in a small bowl, whisk to blend. Slowly whisk in oil.

Paprika aioli:

2 large egg yolks
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon of water
3 garlic cloves roasted
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

In a small pot over low heat, stir egg yolk, water, and lemon juice. Cook until slightly thickened.  Immediately remove from heat and pour in a bowl over ice to cool.

In a blender or food processor, combine cooled egg mixture along with garlic, paprika, and mustard. Mix well and slowly pour in oil with machine running until thickened.

Jennie Cook of Jennie Cooks Catering has been a caterer for 25 years (www.jenniecooks.com) and periodically opens up the Shoppe, her Eagle Rock-adjacent, commercial kitchen for events such as the annual Thanksgiving “Make It and Take it” pie bake. (Call to inquire about a catered, communal supper in the Shoppe, surrounded by sparkle lights and brilliant friends!)

Below, Cook offers two traditional dishes with a twist: A stress-free version of the French bistro classic salade frisee and a vegan variation of the classic American egg salad:

“This is one of my favorite breakfasts,” she confesses. “While it usually calls for a fussy poached egg, it’s just as delicious with a pan-fried, over-easy variety, [which] makes it far more accessible before noon.” However, “if poaching eggs is your thing, go for it!”

Bacon, Egg and Endive Salad: the easy way

2-4 heads of curly endive, bottoms removed and cleaned
1 pound of uncured bacon
1 or 2 farm fresh eggs per serving
1 Meyer lemon (or vinegar)
Crusty bread
Olive oil—less is more
Salt and freshly cracked pepper

Cook the bacon how you like it. For a full pound, it’s easy to lay it out on a cookie sheet with a lip and bake in a 350º Fahrenheit oven. Bake to perfection (20-30 minutes) and set aside.

Meanwhile, make the egg over-easy. Of course they can be poached—but that can be tricky.

Put the egg(s) in the bottom of a large salad bowl.  op with the endive. Sprinkle with salt and a generous grind of pepper.

Using two knives, crosscut the salad until the yolk is running all over the endive. Cut until the endive is a proper salad size and slightly wilted.

Coarsely chop the warm bacon, add it to the salad and toss.

Squeeze in about ¼ of the lemon. Taste and adjust the salt and lemon.

Drizzle on a tablespoon of olive oil and toss again.

Toast a slice of crusty bread and lay it artfully on the salad. (Or make croutons.)

Enjoy with a crispy Sauvignon Blanc (or black coffee).

“Since venturing into a plant-based lifestyle, this has become a staple in our house—satisfying and delicious,” says Cook, referring to our bonus vegan recipe. “If you’re not fond of egg salad, not to worry, it can be re-named ‘Chickenless Salad,’” she adds. “Either way, you’ re going to love it.”

Eggless Salad

(Makes approximately 2 cups)

2 cups of cooked garbanzo beans (one 15.5 ounce can)
2 tablespoons small diced red onion
¼ cup or so of small diced celery
1 tablespoon sweet or dill relish
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon mild vinegar
1½ tablespoon nutritional yeast (available in health food stores, optional)
3 tablespoons Wildwood aioli or other mayonnaise substitute
½ teaspoon salt

Coarsely chop the garbanzo beans to your liking. (Cook, who uses her mini chopper, says it’s okay to make them uneven, some smooth and some coarse.)

Put the beans in a large bowl with all the other ingredients and combine.

Taste and adjust the seasonings with salt, vinegar, or relish.

Enjoy as a sandwich or a plated salad.