Happy Easter & Eggs

Passover Seder Plate
Which Includes The Beitzah (Roasted Egg)
I would like to wish a very Happy Easter to all of you who are celebrating tomorrow! May it be a glorious day for you and your families, full of blessings and love.
For our family, Passover began at sundown this past Wednesday. Needless to say, I had been quite busy shopping, cooking and preparing for Passover. I look forward to sharing more about our Passover meal in an upcoming post. Today, in honor of Passover and Easter, I thought it might be neat to put together a compilation of some of the egg dishes that have been featured on Taste With The Eyes.

My nephew, Stone, peels the hard-boiled eggs for Passover.
Passover
The Beitzah (roasted egg) on the Seder Plate reminds us of the the festival offering brought by our ancestors to the Temple in Jerusalem. It is a symbol of life and the perpetuation of existence. At the Seder in our home, we serve hard-boiled eggs with the first course, which can be dipped in salt water, representative of the Israelites’ tears over suffering and slavery.
Easter
Throughout history, eggs have been associated with Easter celebrations. The egg is seen as symbolic of the grave and life renewed or resurrected by breaking out of it. A red colored-egg symbolizes the blood of Christ redeeming the world and human redemption through the blood shed in the sacrifice of the crucifixion. The egg itself is a symbol of resurrection: while being dormant it contains a new life sealed within it. (from Wikipedia)
If you have something to share regarding the symbolism of the egg in your religion or culture please leave a comment, it would be very interesting to hear about it.


PASSOVER ROUND-UP 2009

It’s not too late to join in the Passover Round-up 2009! It will post on April 17th. If you participated in a Seder this year, I hope you will join us. Please send me a photo of your Seder plate, Passover dish(es), or your Passover table. There are no rules to take part, just email your photo to tastewiththeeyes AT cox DOT net, and tell me a little about you and your Seder photo.
Wishing you a very special Easter.
“Easter spells out beauty, the rare beauty of new life.”
– S.D. Gordon

P.S. In honor of Easter, you might enjoy the beautiful photos and interesting text on the blog of my dear friend of many years, Father Adam. It’s called Monastery Daily Photo: Views From and Within a Roman Catholic Monastery in Northern California.

Hangtown Fry

Eggs, Bacon, Oysters
According to legend, during the California Gold Rush in the mid-1800’s, one fortunate prospector struck gold near a settlement called Hangtown, now the thriving city of Placerville. He was RICH! After subsisting on nothing more than beans since he reached California, he requested that the innkeepers at the El Dorado Hotel prepare him the most extravagant meal available. It consisted of eggs, bacon, and fresh oysters. Exactly how they prepared it is anyone’s guess, but here, I present you with our version of the legendary Hangtown Fry.

Bacon is sliced and sautéed. The fat is reserved for cooking the oysters.

Imagine the process of getting fresh oysters to Hangtown (about 130 miles) from San Francisco Bay in 1849…
Pacific coast oysters are dusted in flour, dipped in egg, coated with panko breadcrumbs then sautéed in the bacon fat with vegetable oil.

Eggs are scrambled in a non-stick skillet, whisking constantly to create a small creamy curd. Bacon is added near the end of cooking.
Original California Cuisine – The Hangtown Fry
Other oyster recipes you might enjoy:

With what meal would you celebrate your good fortune?
Mine would definitely involve Champagne…