Green Eggs & Ham

John Rindlaub, Ken & Cathi Hatch, Sarah Rindlaub

This morning, our friends, Sarah & John Rindlaub, along with our children, Katie & Kevin Laramore and their sons, Cutter and Boden, joined Ken and me for Easter brunch at our home.  It was fun to drag out and set up all the Easter decorations that I have used over the years including the Easter tree with the dozens of miniature bunny and egg decorations.

It was especially fun for me to hear Katie reminisce about past Easter celebrations and activities we shared when she was growing up.  Luckily, the Easter bunny did find our house once again this year and eggs were hidden around the pool area for Cutter to find.

Fresh berries with chocolate chip cream

Boden and Cutter Laramore

Katie Laramore with Boden and Easter Bunny

Cutter searches for Easter eggs

Katie and I decided that we wanted to try out a recipe that we had tasted at Chef Michael Chiarello's Bottega restaurant in Napa Valley a couple of years ago called Green Eggs & Ham.  This recipe is well beyond anything that Dr. Seuss could ever have dreamt up! 

To give you an idea, it involves many steps including soft cooking eggs in their shell for 4-5 minutes followed by an ice bath and refrigeration for at least half an hour.  The egg shells are then carefully removed and the eggs are dredged in flour, then buttermilk and finally Panko bread crumbs and then deep fried for only 60-90 seconds to brown the coating.  Once the crust is brown and crispy, each egg was served atop an English muffin and sauteed pencil-thin asparagus with a drizzling of Cambazola and thyme sauce  with a sprinkling of crispy-fried prosciutto sprinkled over.  We garnished with a sprig of thyme.  Of course, when the egg was cut into by each guest, the yolk was still soft and ran over the asparagus and English muffin.  It was delicious and maybe even worth all the effort!

To round out the menu, we also served Fresh Mixed Berries with Chocolate Chip Cream, Roasted Potato Medley with Shallots, Garlic & Parsley, Baked Ham and warm Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls.  And of course there were chocolate eggs, jelly beans, and M&Ms for dessert!