The Ellis Estate

We eat a lot of eggs in our house.  Poached, scrambled, or baked in a quiche or casserole? Yes, please!  There are so many way to enjoy them!  For years I struggled with making perfect, easy to peel hard boiled eggs. Sometimes they were cooked perfectly, but impossible to peel.  Other times they were easy to peel, but over or under cooked.   I've tried so many different methods (pressure cooker, oven, cold water to start, etc.) and finally discovered a way to get perfect eggs every time. While starting the eggs in cold water gets perfectly cooked eggs, I can almost never peel them without making a mess of them.  That's fine for making egg salad, when they don't need to look pretty, but not when I'm making deviled eggs. Making them in my pressure cooker is great, but sometimes I don't want to drag out another appliance when using a pot is just as easy.  This is the method that my grandmother used when I was growing up and I am honestly not sure why...

Easter was this past Sunday and, if you're anything like us, that means a fair amount of leftover hard boiled eggs.  As much as I love having hard boiled eggs on hand for a quick snack or breakfast, there are only so many plain hard boiled eggs I can eat before getting bored with them.  Most years I use them up in egg salad, deviled eggs, or chopped on a green salad (usually Caesar or Cobb), but this year I decided to do something different.  A while back I discovered a recipe for a Jacques Pepin's Eggs Jeanette.  I've only made them once before and it is the perfect way to use up those leftover eggs in a new and delicious way.  One thing I love about this recipe is that it takes simple, inexpensive ingredients and turns them into a beautiful meal that anyone can make.  In his book,  The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen,   Jacques Pepin shares memories of growing up in wartime France.  Though meat was scarce, his mother found creative ways ...