So often a supporting player in recipes — helping cakes rise and thickening sauces, for instance — eggs get star billing here.
For a guide to buying the healthiest, tastiest, and most sustainably raised eggs, see The Grocery-Store Egg Hunt below.
Baked Chiles Rellenos
Perfect for a spicy Easter brunch.
Flourless Chocolate Soufflés
We like these soufflés best with bittersweet chocolate, but they work wonderfully with any kind you prefer — even milk chocolate.
Vanilla Bean Cream
This rich, smooth sauce can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept covered and chilled.
Spicy Hard-cooked Eggs
Leftover Easter eggs become a quick and satisfying meal, good with rice.
THE GROCERY-STORE EGG HUNT How to find the best eggs? There are many choices in the stores these days: free-range, organic, natural, cage-free — it's all so confusing. Here's a quick guide to what's what.
Organic Hens have never been given antibiotics, and they've been fed organic feed.
Natural A loosely defined marketing term (not a USDA-approved stamp); often means the eggs are free-range and organic.
Omega-3 Hens eat a diet rich in algae, flaxseed, or other foods with beneficial omega-3 fatty acids, which end up in their eggs.
Cage-free Hens aren't squished into cages, as is common in conventional poultry operations. They can walk freely — but not necessarily outside or in a large space.
Free-range Chickens are cage-free, with access to the outdoors. Means widely different things at different farms; an open door at the end of a barn can mean "access," even if the chickens never go through it.
Pasture-fed Eggs laid by free-range chickens with continuous, free access to the outdoors for at least half their lives. Some studies show that a diet including plants and insects yields more nutritious eggs.
So what to pick? We try to buy organic eggs from pasture-fed hens (farmers' markets often have them). Otherwise, we look for organic free-range, or at least cage-free.
One-block Diet: Watch us raise an ultra-local feast »
