Devil Your Eggs for Easter or Anytime

After two weeks in New York City and the Jersey Shore, Spring weather was all over the place. Freezing cold, rain, sunny skies, gloomy grey skies and then gradually warming. Now I'm home in Pacific Palisades and the weather is ideal. A clear blue sky with a crispness in the air where we are close to the beach. 

For Passover and Easter, the forecast is good for fun, happy, family celebrations. For me, that's a good time to make deviled eggs, always a food-favorite at any meal.

 

What’s Easter without Easter eggs? Hide them. Roll them. And, best of all, eat them. Of the many dishes associated with Easter, deviled eggs have always been high on the list. Traditional deviled eggs are delicious but with some adventuresome spices, all those left-over hardboiled Easter eggs become devilishly delicious.

Our fingers stained blue, red and yellow, my sister and I loved dyeing and decorating Easter eggs. Ultimately our mother turned our colored eggs into deviled eggs with a simple recipe: peel and slice open the eggs, chop up the yolks, add a bit of mayonnaise and season with salt and pepper, then spoon the mixture back onto the egg white halves.

When we were kids that seemed good enough. But for my adult palate, deviled eggs needed spicing up. With experimentation, I discovered that hard-boiled eggs are a great flavor delivery system because they provide a solid, neutral base of flavor to which exciting flavors can be added.

Doing something as simple as adding cayenne or Mexican chili ancho powder gives the mild-mannered eggs a mouth-pleasing heat. Sweeten the flavor up a notch by stirring in finely chopped currants or borrow from Indian cuisine and mix in curry powder that has first been dry roasted in a sauté pan.

Turn the eggs into an entrée by mixing in freshly cooked shellfish. Grill shrimp or steam a few Dungeness crab legs, finely chop the savory meat and add to the yolk mixture. The result is elegantly flavorful.

This year I’m using a Mediterranean approach. Capers add saltiness and Italian parsley adds freshness. Finely chopped and sautéed anchovy filets are the secret ingredient that takes deviled eggs to another level.

Cut into quarters or halves, the deviled eggs make a visually arresting presentation. 

Caper and Anchovy Deviled Eggs

Always worth mentioning, using quality ingredients improves any dish. Nowhere is that more true than with deviled eggs. Use farmers market fresh eggs, quality capers preserved in brine and good anchovy filets. 

The easiest way to fill the egg white sections is with a disposable pastry bag. If one is not available, use a spoon to scoop up filling and a fork to distribute it into each egg white half.

The eggs and filling can be prepared the day before or in the morning. To keep them fresh, the eggs should not be filled until just before serving.

If desired, add a touch of heat with a pinch of cayenne. 

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Assembly time: 15 minutes

Total time: 40 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

6 farm fresh eggs, large or extra large, washed

4 anchovy filets, finely chopped

1 tablespoon Italian parsley, washed, pat dried, finely chopped

1 teaspoon capers, finely chopped

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Pinch cayenne (optional)

Directions

1. Submerge the eggs in an uncovered saucepan of cold water. Heat the uncovered pot on a medium-high flame. Bring to a simmer and boil five minutes. Turn off the flame, cover and leave the eggs in the hot water 10 minutes. Drain the hot water. Add cold water to cool the eggs.

2. While the eggs are cooking, heat a small sauté or nonstick frying pan over a medium flame. No need to add oil. Sauté the anchovy filets until lightly brown. Set aside.

3. Peel the eggs. Discard the shells. Wash and dry the eggs to remove any bits of shell. Using a sharp paring knife, carefully slice the eggs in half, lengthwise. Remove the yolks and place into a bowl. Set aside the egg white halves.

4. Using a fork, finely crumble the yolks. Add the Italian parsley, capers and sautéed anchovy bits. Stir together all the ingredients. Add mayonnaise and mix well until creamy.

5. Spoon the filling into a disposable pastry bag. If serving the next day or later in the morning, place the egg white halves into an air-tight container and the filled pastry bag into the refrigerator.

6. Prepare a serving dish. The deviled eggs can be served as quarters, halves or reformed as whole. If quarters, cut each halve in two lengthwise. Just before serving the eggs, cut off the tip of the pastry bag. Have a paring knife or fork in hand. Carefully squeeze a generous amount of the filling into each egg white piece. If needed, use the knife or fork to tidy up the filling on each egg. Any leftover filling should be eaten on crackers as a chef’s treat.

7. As the eggs are filled, place them on the serving dish and garnish with Italian parsley or arugula. Serve cold.

  

 

 

 

Dress up Deviled Eggs With a Fresh Take On a Classic

Quarter-sized deviled eggs made with Italian parsley, anchovies and capers. Credit: Copyright 2015 David Latt

What’s Easter without Easter eggs? Hide them. Roll them. And, best of all, eat them. Of the many dishes associated with Easter, deviled eggs have always been high on the list. Traditional deviled eggs are delicious but with some adventuresome spices, all those left-over hardboiled Easter eggs become devilishly delicious.

Our fingers stained blue, red and yellow, my sister and I loved dyeing and decorating Easter eggs. Ultimately our mother turned our colored eggs into deviled eggs with a simple recipe: peel and slice open the eggs, chop up the yolks, add a bit of mayonnaise and season with salt and pepper, then spoon the mixture back onto the egg white halves.

When we were kids that seemed good enough. But for my adult palate, deviled eggs needed spicing up. With experimentation, I discovered that hard-boiled eggs are a great flavor delivery system because they provide a solid, neutral base of flavor to which exciting flavors can be added.

Doing something as simple as adding cayenne or Mexican chili ancho powder gives the mild-mannered eggs a mouth-pleasing heat. Sweeten the flavor up a notch by stirring in finely chopped currants or borrow from Indian cuisine and mix in curry powder that has first been dry roasted in a sauté pan.

Turn the eggs into an entrée by mixing in freshly cooked shellfish. Grill shrimp or steam a few Dungeness crab legs, finely chop the savory meat and add to the yolk mixture. The result is elegantly flavorful.

This year I’m using a Mediterranean approach. Capers add saltiness and Italian parsley adds freshness. Finely chopped and sautéed anchovy filets are the secret ingredient that takes deviled eggs to another level.

Cut into quarters or halves, the deviled eggs make a visually arresting presentation. 

Caper and Anchovy Deviled Eggs

Always worth mentioning, using quality ingredients improves any dish. Nowhere is that more true than with deviled eggs. Use farmers market fresh eggs, quality capers preserved in brine and good anchovy filets. 

The easiest way to fill the egg white sections is with a disposable pastry bag. If one is not available, use a spoon to scoop up filling and a fork to distribute it into each egg white half.

The eggs and filling can be prepared the day before or in the morning. To keep them fresh, the eggs should not be filled until just before serving.

If desired, add a touch of heat with a pinch of cayenne. 

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Assembly time: 15 minutes

Total time: 40 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

6 farm fresh eggs, large or extra large, washed

4 anchovy filets, finely chopped

1 tablespoon Italian parsley, washed, pat dried, finely chopped

1 teaspoon capers, finely chopped

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Pinch cayenne (optional)

Directions

1. Submerge the eggs in an uncovered saucepan of cold water. Heat the uncovered pot on a medium-high flame. Bring to a simmer and boil five minutes. Turn off the flame, cover and leave the eggs in the hot water 10 minutes. Drain the hot water. Add cold water to cool the eggs.

2. While the eggs are cooking, heat a small sauté or nonstick frying pan over a medium flame. No need to add oil. Sauté the anchovy filets until lightly brown. Set aside.

3. Peel the eggs. Discard the shells. Wash and dry the eggs to remove any bits of shell. Using a sharp paring knife, carefully slice the eggs in half, lengthwise. Remove the yolks and place into a bowl. Set aside the egg white halves.

4. Using a fork, finely crumble the yolks. Add the Italian parsley, capers and sautéed anchovy bits. Stir together all the ingredients. Add mayonnaise and mix well until creamy.

5. Spoon the filling into a disposable pastry bag. If serving the next day or later in the morning, place the egg white halves into an air-tight container and the filled pastry bag into the refrigerator.

6. Prepare a serving dish. The deviled eggs can be served as quarters, halves or reformed as whole. If quarters, cut each halve in two lengthwise. Just before serving the eggs, cut off the tip of the pastry bag. Have a paring knife or fork in hand. Carefully squeeze a generous amount of the filling into each egg white piece. If needed, use the knife or fork to tidy up the filling on each egg. Any leftover filling should be eaten on crackers as a chef’s treat.

7. As the eggs are filled, place them on the serving dish and garnish with Italian parsley or arugula. Serve cold.

 

Best Ever Pasta With a Secret Ingredient

The holy grail of home cooked meals is a dish that takes practically no time to make, the ingredients are inexpensive and the results are delicious.

I found a pasta dish that fits all of those criteria.

The ingredients are basic. Olive oil, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms and a green vegetable like asparagus. The seasoning is straight forward, just a little sea salt, black pepper and, if you like, a pat of sweet butter. By the time the pasta is al dente, the sauce is finished.

Anchovy filets are the special ingredient that creates an extraordinarily delicious pasta.

If you have enjoyed spaghetti alla puttanesca in an Italian restaurant, my recipe is similar but with more delicate flavors.

Even people who don't like anchovies by themselves fall in love with this sauce because the anchovies dissolve, binding together all the flavors. The result is an earthy, deeply satisfying dish.

Anchovies, a gift from the sea

Anchovies are a ubiquitous ingredient in Mediterranean cuisines. Stop in a neighborhood cafe in Northern Spain, as I did in the cathedral town of Burgos, and you will certainly have a tapas with an anchovy filet skewered along with a pepper, pickle and an olive or two. Those delicious filets are front and center on the dish, displayed in all their fish-filet-glory. With an espresso or an ice cold glass of beer, nothing is better for an afternoon snack.

Use high quality Spanish or Italian anchovies preserved in oil. Do not use salt preserved anchovies, ones wrapped around capers or filets with skin. 

Anchovies are sold in 2-4 ounce tins or glass jars. I buy anchovies in larger quantities like Flott's 28 ounce tin. That way I always have them in the refrigerator to add to deviled eggs or tapenade. Kept in an airtight container and submerged in oil, the anchovies will keep for months.

Best Ever Pasta Sauce

Use a quality pasta like De Cecco or, if available, fresh pasta.  For this dish, I prefer a medium weight pasta like spaghetti, pappardelle, ziti, orecchiette or penne.  

Chopped fresh tomatoes can be used, but they are not as flavorful as roasted tomatoes which have an earthy sweetness. 

Roasted tomatoes can be prepared ahead and kept refrigerated in an airtight container for up to three days or frozen for up to three months. 

During the winter at the Santa Monica Farmers Market, there are still farmers who bring tomatoes to market. Sold at a deep discount because they are misshapen and cracked. These "ugly" tomatoes are beautiful inside. With a little care and the discolored parts cut away, a roasted winter tomato has a delightful, deep-flavored sweetness.

To add crunch and visual contrast, add a lightly cooked green vegetable. Depending on what is available I use green beans, asparagus or broccoli greens. 

Serves 4

Time to prepare and cook: 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound pasta, a quality brand or fresh
1 tablespoon kosher salt
10-16 anchovy filets depending on taste 
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 whole large tomato, washed, pat dried, stem and any blemished skin cut away
1 pound asparagus stalks, washed, stem ends snapped off
1 small yellow onion, washed, root and stem ends and outer skin removed, chopped into large dice
1 cup brown, shiitake or Chanterelle mushrooms, stems trimmed, dirt removed, lightly washed and pat dried, thin sliced top to bottom
1 tablespoon sweet butter (optional)
Pinch cayenne powder (optional)
1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley, washed, pat dried, leaves only, finely chopped for garnish
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 450F.

Cut tomato into 3 large, round slices. Line baking sheet with Silpat or nonstick sheet. Place tomato slices on sheet and place in oven. Cook 10 minutes. Remove from oven. 

Place large pot on stove filled with water to within 4" of the rim. Add kosher salt. Bring to boil. 

Cut asparagus stems into 1/4" rounds. Leave the last 2" of stem attached to the spear. Set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in large frying pan on medium flame.

When the salted water boils add pasta. Stir well and stir every 3 minutes for even cooking. Do not cover. Place a colander in the sink next to a heat-proof measuring cup.

Sauté onions until translucent in the heated oil. Add mushrooms and asparagus. Stir well and sauté 3-4 minutes.

Push vegetables to one side of the frying pan to clear space for the anchovy filets. Add another tablespoon olive oil. Allow 1 minute to heat. Using a sturdy fork, gently stir the anchovies into the heated oil until they dissolve. Toss the vegetables in the sauce. 

Tear apart the tomato slices. Add the bits and pieces and all of the accumulated oils from the baking sheet into the sauté pan. Add sweet butter (optional) and a pinch of cayenne powder (optional). Stir to melt butter. Toss well to integrate the sauce and coat the vegetables.

Taste pasta after 10 minutes to confirm it is al dente. When you strain the pasta in the colander, capture 1 cup of pasta water in a heat-proof cup.

To prevent sticking, toss pasta.

Just before serving, transfer pasta into frying pan. Separate any that are sticking together. Toss to coat with sauce. If a little more sauce is needed, add 2 tablespoons pasta water and toss. Add more pasta water if more sauce is desired and stir.

Transfer pasta into serving bowl. Top with finely chopped Italian parsley and serve with freshly grated cheese on the side.

Hardboiled Eggs Get Devilishly Delicious for Easter

What's Easter without Easter eggs? Hide them. Roll them. And, best of all, eat them. Of the many dishes associated with Easter, deviled eggs have always been high on my list. Traditional deviled eggs are delicious but with some adventuresome spices, hardboiled Easter eggs take center stage on this festive occasion.

Our fingers stained blue, red and yellow, my sister and I loved dyeing and decorating Easter eggs.  Our parents would hide the eggs around the house and outside. I'd race against my sister, each of us hoping to find more than the other.

Ultimately when we had delivered the eggs back into the kitchen, our mother turned our colored eggs into deviled eggs with a simple recipe: peel off the shells, cut the eggs in half and remove the yolks. Chop up the yolks, add a bit of mayonnaise, season with salt and pepper and spoon the mixture back onto the egg white halves.

When we were kids those flavors were good enough. But for my adult palate, deviled eggs need spicing up. With experimentation, I discovered that doing something as simple as adding cayenne or Mexican chili ancho powder gives mild-mannered eggs a mouth-pleasing heat. Sweeten the flavor up a notch by stirring in finely chopped currants or borrow from Indian cuisine and mix in curry powder that has first been dry roasted in a sauté pan.

I also learned that deviled eggs can move to center stage, moving from appetizer to entree by mixing in freshly cooked shellfish. Grill shrimp or steam a few Dungeness crab legs, finely chop the savory meat and add to my mother's yolk mixture. The result is elegant and delicious.

My all-time favorite is to add a Mediterranean flavor secret. Add cappers for saltiness, Italian parsley for freshness and finely chopped and sautéed anchovy fillets to take hardboiled eggs to a devilishly delicious level.

Capers and Anchovy Deviled Eggs

As always, use quality ingredients for best results. Making deviled eggs, that is especially true. Use farmers market fresh eggs, quality capers preserved in brine and good anchovy filets.

The easiest way to fill the egg white sections is with a disposable pastry bag. If one is not available, use a spoon to scoop up filling and a fork to distribute the filling into each egg white half.

The eggs and filling can be prepared the day before or in the morning. To keep the eggs fresh, they should not be filled until just before serving.

If desired, add a pinch of cayenne for a touch of heat.

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Assembly time: 15 minutes

Total time: 40 minutes

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

6 farm fresh eggs, large or extra large, washed
4 anchovy filets, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Italian parsley, washed, pat dried, finely chopped
1 teaspoon capers, finely chopped
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Pinch cayenne (optional)

Directions

1. Submerge the eggs in an uncovered saucepan of cold water. Heat the uncovered pot on a medium-high flame. Bring to a simmer and boil five minutes. Turn off flame, cover and leave the eggs in the hot water 10 minutes. Drain the hot water. Add cold water to cool the eggs.

2. While the eggs are cooking, heat a small sauté or nonstick frying pan over a medium flame. No need to add oil. Sauté the anchovy filets until lightly browned. Set aside.

3. Peel the eggs. Discard the shells. Wash and dry the eggs to remove any bits of shell. Using a sharp paring knife, carefully slice the eggs in half, lengthwise. Remove the yolks and place into a bowl. Set aside the egg white halves.

4. Using a fork, finely crumble the yolks. Add the Italian parsley, capers and sautéed anchovy bits. Stir together all the ingredients. Add mayonnaise and mis well until creamy.

5. Spoon the filling into a disposable pastry bag. If serving the next day or later in the morning, place the egg white halves into a an air-tight container and the filled pastry bag into the refrigerator.

6. Prepare a serving dish. The deviled eggs can be served as quarters or halves. If quarters, cut each halve in two lengthwise.

7.  Just before serving the eggs, cut off the tip of the pastry bag. Having a paring knife or fork in hand. Carefully squeeze a generous amount of the filling into each egg white halve or quarter. If needed, use the knife or fork. Any leftover filling should be eaten on crackers as a chef's treat.

8. As the eggs are filled, place them on a the serving dish and garnish with Italian parsley or arugula. Serve cold.

Originally posted on Zester Daily.

You are Busy and Hungry, What is There to Eat? An Easy to Make Pasta is the Answer with Chorizo, Green Beans, Scallions and Anchovies

Maybe you are rushed because your work day is long or you are preparing a big meal for a party of relatives who are coming the next day. Taking care of yourself is important. A well-made, hot meal on a cold, wet and windy night is essential.

One of the easiest meals to prepare is pasta which cooks al dente in about ten minutes. In that short amount of time you can make one dish that will be a full meal if you include not just sauce but lots of good vegetables and proteins.

So no excuses about being too rushed or too tired.

Cook, eat and be merry
Tonight I used what I had in the refrigerator. Luckily I had some very good ingredients. I used green beans I bought at an Asian market in Little Saigon 30 minutes south of Los Angeles International Airport. I don't know why but the green beans I buy anywhere other than an Asian market are not good. Even at farmers markets.

At any rate, I had green beans because I like to make a salt-boiled green bean salad with shallot slices charred in a carbon steel pan. That was for tomorrow night. Tonight, I used a handful of the green beans, but if I had kale, spinach, broccoli or broccolini, I would have used those. The point is to use a "green" vegetable because it helps balance the richness of the chorizo and butter (which is optional but adds a wonderful silky sweetness).

The chorizo was a doggie bag treat that I brought home from a lovely lunch at chef Jason McLeod's Ironside Fish & Oyster restaurant in San Diego's Little Italy (1654 India Street, San Diego). Several years ago I met chef McLeod when he was in charge of the kitchens at the Toronto Four Seasons when I was producing an ABC pilot. He was kind enough to let me take over a station in his kitchen so I could cook for our lead actors and my fellow producers. The experience was fun and good relief from an arduous shoot. I learned an important lesson on that show. When you get really cold, like when you have been scouting a roof-top location at night in Toronto during the winter and the wind blows across a very frozen Lake Ontario, you will find it very difficult to get warm. Not a hot bath. Not several layers of clothing could get me to stop shivering. I think I finally got warm by standing next to a fireplace and drinking a tall whiskey.

Chef McLeod and I kept in touch for several years as he moved from Toronto to Whistler and then we didn't connect again until I happened to notice he had opened Ironside Fish & Oyster in San Diego. When I saw him last week, we caught up and then my wife and I had lunch while chef went back to running a very busy kitchen.

He treated us to an amazing appetizer of sea urchin, which I love and which he is able to source locally in the waters off San Diego. We had fish and chips, which came with very good cole slaw and seafood paella, which normally includes a generous helping of sautéed crumbled chorizo. Since my wife is pescaterian, the chorizo came home with us.

Hence it's availability for the pasta.

If you don't have crumbled chorizo, use crumbled crisp bacon or any kind of Italian sausage you enjoy, but do remove the sausage from the casing so you can create a crumble when it cooks so it combines better with the sauce.

The butter is certainly optional as are the anchovies. But I would recommend both. The anchovies disappear in the sauce and reveal themselves combined with all the other flavors.

A Quick and Easy to Make Pasta with Anchovies and Chorizo

Choose whatever pasta you enjoy, but preferably a bite sized pasta like ziti, penne or bowties because they coat well.

Use homemade stock because canned and frozen stocks have a high sodium content. When you roast a chicken, boil the bones, strain and reserve the stock to freeze in pint and half pint sizes. When you make shrimp or lobster, boil the shells, strain and reserve the stock to keep in the freezer. That way you will have a ready supply of healthy broth to use for sauces, stews and soups.

If you have uncooked chorizo and sausage, remove the casing. Heat a sauté pan with a drizzle of olive oil. Crumble the chorizo or sausage with your hands as you add it to the hot pan. Further crumble the meat with a fork as the sausage cooks. Remove when the sausage is lightly browned.

If using bacon, cook 6 pieces of bacon in a large frying pan, turning frequently until browned on both sides. Remove, drain and when cooled crumble.

Serves 4

Time to prepare: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

1 box pasta, preferably De Cecco, ziti, penne or bowties
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup green beans, washed, ends trimmed, cut into 1/4" lengths
8 medium sized shiitake mushrooms, washed, ends trimmed, thin sliced
4 shallots, washed, ends trimmed, peeled, roughly chopped
6 anchovies
1 cup homemade stock made from shellfish or chicken
2/3 cup cooked, crumbled chorizo or Italian sausage or 1/2 cup crumbled crisp bacon
1 tablespoon sweet butter (optional)
1/2 cup pasta water
2 scallions, washed, ends trimmed, cut into 1/4" long sections
Sea salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
Pinch of cayenne to taste (optional)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

Directions:

Boil a large pot of water with kosher salt. Add the pasta and stir well. Cook approximately 10 minutes or until al dente.

While the pasta cooks, heat a large sauté or carbon steel pan on a medium flame. Add the olive oil and sauté the green beans, mushrooms and shallots until the beans are tender.

Add the anchovies. Use a fork to mash the anchovies against the bottom of the pan to break them apart.

Add stock and stir well to dissolve the anchovies. Cook and reduce the liquid by half.  Add the cooked chorizo or sausage. If using cooked bacon, do not add until just before serving to preserve the crispness.

Check the pasta. If it is al dente, get ready to strain out the water. Put a heat proof container in the sink. As you pour the pasta through a strainer, capture 1/2 cup of pasta water in the heat proof container and reserve.

Set pasta aside while you finish the sauce.

If the sauce is too thin, raise the heat and reduce the liquid. If there isn't enough sauce, add some of the pasta water and stir well. If using sweet butter, add and stir to dissolve.

Separate the individual pieces of pasta if they stick together and add to the pan.  Stir to coat with the sauce. Taste and adjust the flavor with sea salt, black pepper and cayenne (optional). Add more pasta water if you want more sauce.

Add scallions, toss well.

Serve hot with freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese.

Pot Luck Picnic

Summer is here. It's time to grill. It's time to pack a lunch and have a picnic. This Fourth of July is a model of our summer dining. We've planned a pot luck picnic with friends. We'll meet at 6:00pm in the park across the street from the high school football field, share dishes, hang out and wait until it gets dark (usually between 9:15pm and 9:30pm) when the fireworks begin.

In the morning I advance the picnic. Around 10:00am, I lay out half a dozen blue plastic tarps to mark where we'll assemble in the park. Everyone knows to bring a blanket, food and beverages to eat and enough extra to share, beach chairs and  sweaters because it does get cold in the evening.

As the sun goes down and the street lights dim, like sunflowers tracking the sun, we'll turn our beach chairs toward the football field. The fireworks begin slowly, grow in intensity, seem to stop and then rise again in a drawn out cacophony of explosions, whizzing skyrockets and overlapping designs of light. Accompanying each thump of the mortars sending fireworks overhead is an explosion which in turn is accompanied by wow's, whoa's, oooh's and aaah's from our friends and the crowd that fills the park.

As quickly as the fireworks end, even as the smoke still hangs in the air, the blankets and blue tarps are folded, the picnic baskets are packed up, trash is collected and everything is loaded into cars that will then join a slow moving serpentine cavalcade of bumper-to-bumper traffic that extends the evening another half hour or sometimes longer.

The first part of the evening is such fun. For our pot luck picnic, everyone brings their favorite dishes that are easy to transport and share.

Potato salad, roasted vegetable salad, carrot salad, deviled eggs, fried chicken, spicy ginger-lime chicken wings, kosher dill pickles, Moroccan vegetable pickles, fresh fruit salad, tossed green salads, salt boiled green beans tossed with roasted hazelnuts in a simple vinaigrette, roasted beet salad, peanut brittle, a fig tart, flourless chocolate cake..... The list goes on and on.

And the sharing is so much fun.

Some friends who love to cook, prepare their favorites. Others use the picnic as a time to pick up a selection of cheeses, olives, crackers and fresh bread to share.

I'll bring the sautéed pistachios with citrus rind bits that are so delicious as a snack. My wife doesn't enjoy anchovies so this is a time when I can make deviled eggs with anchovies and capers because I have friends to share them with.

For dessert, I wish there was a way I could heat hot fudge for hot fudge sundaes with caramelized almond slivers. That's a little too impractical for a picnic so that particular dish will have to wait until we're home.

When we travel, I use the same approach to eating in a car or on an airplane or train. Pack a meal as if you are going on a picnic is a great way to turn the trip into a culinary feast.

So, all the best for Fourth of July, summer picnics and long distance travel.

In Praise of Eggs

A healthy, efficient source of protein, eggs are delicious.

Growing up, my mother used to take my sister and myself to the beach for picnics. We would spend the day at Will Rodgers State Beach in Santa Monica. My mother would sit on one blanket talking with a friend. My sister, Barbara, and I would dig holes in the sand and build our version of "castles" by filling plastic buckets with wet sand and turning them over quickly.

For lunch my mother always made our favorites. Fried chicken, hard boiled eggs and egg salad sandwiches. I guess it must be a truth of the human experience that what we eat as children is burned deeply into our psyches. Sometimes negatively (I won't go near calf's liver, which my mom used to serve on a regular basis) but mostly positively.

More often than not, comfort food means food we ate as a child that made us feel all taken care of. I enjoy eggs so many ways. Hardboiled, sliced and topped with anchovies or 1000 island dressing.

Deviled with a filling of anchovies, parsley and capers.

Egg salad flavored with bacon, charred corn kernels and parsley. Coddled in Caesar salad dressing richly flavored with anchovies and Tabasco sauce. One egg omelets. Egg white cookies with hazelnuts and orange glaze.

This weekend a friend shared one of her favorite eggs. She gave me a half dozen Apricot Lane Farms eggs she picked up at Farm Shop in Brentwood. Wildly popular, the eggs sell out quickly.

What makes farm fresh eggs so special is the bright yellow yolk. Visually impressive, the yolk is sweet, thick and custardy. Lily Farms eggs, sold at the Santa Monica Farmers Market (Wednesday and Saturday) and at the Palisades Sunday market, have a similar quality.

This morning I had one of the Apricot Lane eggs for breakfast.

I think one of the best ways to enjoy quality eggs is to make a fried egg. Personally I like over-easy eggs, but sunny side up would be good too. I fried the egg in a pat of sweet butter in a non-stick pan and served it on a slice of toasted Orowheat Oatnut Bread with Bonne Maman Strawberry Preserves and Pulgra unsalted butter.

Simple. Easy. Delicious. The pictures tell the story.