Beetroot Easter Eggs (aka pickled red beet eggs)

Click here to view the photo on Flickr

This recipe started off as a copy of Alanna's perfect hard-boiled ruby eggs*. However, as I couldn't figure out how to get hold of beetroot juice, I decided to use finely grated boiled beetroot instead (yep, vacuum-packed ready-made stuff). And just before gently nestling the eggs in the beetroot mush, I decided to add a bit of caraway seeds and a clove of garlic as well. And a little dill. And just a tiny pinch of salt...

The resulting ruby eggs are utterly pretty, especially with this well-travelled Easter chick (whom you all surely remember from this photo taken in Edinburgh a year ago) keeping an eye on them. And the beet-caraway-garlic combination yields just enough flavour to the eggs to make them special and interesting.

Beetroot-dyed Easter Eggs
(Peedimunad)



8-10 freshly boiled eggs**, peeled

500 g beetroot, boiled and finely grated (keep the juice!)
2-3 garlic cloves, finely crushed
2 tsp of caraway seeds, slightly crushed
1 tsp salt
a generous squeeze or two of lemon juice
dill, finely chopped

Mix all ingredients and put in a small bowl or plastic box with a lid. Push the peeled eggs gently in the beetroot mush, so they'd be covered. Put the lid on and place the bowl/box into the fridge for about 12 hours (or up to 24 hours. The eggs above were subjected to the 12-hour treatment).
Remove the eggs from the beetroot***, wipe clean with a moist kitchen paper. Cut in half lenghtwise and serve on a bed of chopped dill.

* See here for yet another pickled red beet eggs recipe.

** Experiments inspired by Harold McGee's McGee on Food and Cooking: An Encyclopedia of Kitchen Science, History and Culture that took place in our kitchen on an early Saturday morning (while the owner of this blog was still fast asleep) revealed the best eggs to be the ones cooked in a barely simmering 80-85C water for 10 minutes :-)

*** Oh - and the leftover seasoned grated beetroot? Serve this in a small bowl as a salad, maybe with a tablespoonful or two of added mayonnaise stirred in..

Other beetroot dishes @ Nami-nami:
Beetroot & Blue Cheese Risotto (January 2007)
Beetroot & Garlic Salad (December 2005)
Beetroot & Goat's Cheese Sandwich (February 2006)
Beetroot Salad Full of Vitamins (March 2007)
Beetroot Tzatziki (April 2006)
Filo Tartlets with Beetroot & Cheese (August 2006)
Savoury Muffins with Beetroot and Blue Cheese (October 2006)