(COLORADO SPRINGS) — Spring is here and there are many fun ways to celebrate the change of seasons. Chef Janon Bourgeois and her son Miles shared fun and festive ways to celebrate spring break, Easter and April Fool’s Day in this week’s edition of “What’s Cookin?”
In the first segment, Chef Janon showed how to make deviled eggs that look like eyeballs. She calls them “Ya Little Devils” and her recipe is below. She said she first taught Miles how to cook eggs at just four years old and she offered some helpful hints on cracking eggs, keeping it clean, and hard boiling.
Ya Little Devils
Ingredients:
For Dye: Tumeric, Purple Cabbage, White Vinegar
6 Eggs
1/4 cup (60g) Mayo
1tsp Mustard
1/8 tsp Tumeric
Salt & Black Pepper to taste
Paprika to garnish
Directions:
To make the dye, chop 1 small head of purple cabbage and add 1 jar of tumeric (save 1/8 tsp for the filling) to a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes. Strain (discard the solids) and add 1 Tbsp of white vinegar for every cup of liquid you have. 1 cup of liquid dyes approximately 3 eggs.
If you have an Instant Pot, use the 5:5:5 method to cook your eggs (Place in cold water/5 minutes on High Pressure/Natural release for 5 minutes/Immediate ice bath for 5 minutes, but for this recipe, see step 6 below).
If you don’t have a pressure cooker, place eggs in a medium pot and cover with cold water 1 inch above the eggs.
Bring the eggs to boil, then cover and turn off the heat but leave the pot on the burner for 12 minutes.
Pour the eggs (roughly) into a colander in the sink and shake the colander slightly to create cracks in the shells.
Transfer them immediately to the dye liquid and let sit for 5 minutes, then add ice and let sit for 10 minutes more.
Peel eggs and discard the shells.
Slice eggs lengthwise in half and put the yolks in a small bowl with the mayo, mustard,tumeric and salt and pepper and blend. Place the filling in a piping bag and pipe back into the eggs.
Garnish with paprika.
In the second segment, Chef Janon showed a natural way to dye eggs. Recipe below.
Natural Egg Dyes
Ingredients:
Tumeric
Purple Cabbage
White Vinegar
Directions:
To make the dye, chop 1 small head of purple cabbage and add 1 jar of Tumeric (save 1/8 tsp for the filling) to a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes. Strain (discard the solids) and add 1 Tbsp of white vinegar for every cup of liquid you have. 1 cup of liquid dyes approximately 3 eggs.
Other natural egg dyes (same extraction method) include:
Reds & Oranges- Red Onion Skins, Beets
Yellows – Yellow Onion Skins, Tumeric
Blues- Hibiscus Flowers (or teas), frozen blueberries (2 cups for 6 eggs and skip the vinegar)
Browns & Greens – fresh Spinach
Finally, Chef Janon shared fun fakeouts to try for April Fools’ Day like a Brussel Sprout Cake Pop and a Puddin’ Pot Pie (recipe below).
Puddin’ Pot Pies
Ingredients:
Favorite Pie Crust x2
8 Egg YOLKS (save the egg whites for a different recipe)
3/4 cup (150g) White Sugar
750 ml Whole Milk
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4 tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Cornstarch
Zest of 1 Lemon
1 Banana, mashed
1 Box Mike & Ike Fruit Candies (yellow, green & orange only… eat the red ones)
Directions:
Blind bake your pie crust base (put down parchment and add dry beans) and cut your top crush into decorations (lattice recommended) to bake alongside on a sheet pan.
In a large metal bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar together until fully incorporated. Set aside.
In a large pot (to avoid overflow) bring milk and vanilla to a boil. Watch closely and stir constantly. When it boils, immediately remove the pot from the heat.
Pour 1/2 of the milk into the sugar/egg mixture and whisk continuously for 1 minute, then pour the mixture into the pot with the remaining milk. Mix well.
In a small bowl, combine cornstarch, lemon zest and mashed banana. Add the mixture to your milk and simmer slowly over medium low heat, until it reaches 175 degrees F, stirring constantly so that it does not burn or create and uneven film.
Pour your filling into a clean bowl and allow to cool at room temperature for 100 minutes, stirring occasionally. The refrigerate (uncovered) for 30 minutes.
Dice your Mike & Ikes (no reds) into thirds. Once the filling is cold (or the candies will melt), fold in the candies and pour into the prepared pie crust.
Top with lattice pieces or crust cut outs.
Enjoy freaking people out!
