Delicious dishes from Easter bounty

If your family celebrates the Easter holiday by decorating Easter eggs, you might very well end up with lots of perfectly good eggs – real, as opposed to chocolate – that would be extravagant to let go to waste. Why not try some egg recipes with your children as part of the holiday celebrations?

I remember, when I was young, poking holes in both ends of the egg with a needle and then blowing the yolk and white out of the eggs into a bowl. We then decorated the intact but empty eggshells, and my mother made scrambled eggs. For special scrambled eggs, use cream cheese instead of milk and add some fresh chopped basil as they’re cooking.

Egg salad is one of our family’s favorites, so I hard-boil a dozen eggs in boiling water for 10 minutes and then chill them in cold water in the refrigerator before we decorate the eggs..

We keep the decorated eggs in a basket in the refrigerator after admiring our handiwork, and use the hard-boiled eggs in our lunch boxes, on our sandwiches, and on our spinach salads for the days after Easter. (One annoying frustration, if you like to get local farm eggs, is that the fresher the eggs are, the harder they’ll be to peel. Better to keep them in the refrigerator for a week or two before the big day.)

Dye on the egg white is OK to eat if it is food-safe dye. Hard-boiled eggs will keep in the refrigerator for about a week, and it’s best to store them in an airtight container. Keep them chilled until the moment they’re served.

Deviled Eggs

This is one traditional use for leftover Easter eggs. Ironic, isn’t it? “Deviled” originally meant food that had been heavily spiced. I have yet to meet a child who doesn’t love eating deviled eggs and helping to put them together, but you might want to go easy with the hot stuff.

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced in half the long way

3 tablespoons sweet pickle relish

1-2 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 teaspoon creamed horseradish sauce (optional)

2 teaspoon yellow mustard (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Paprika for garnish

Remove the yolks and put them in a bowl, and arrange the whites on a platter. With a handheld mixer or a fork, combine the yolks with the relish, mayonnaise, horseradish and mustard until the mixture is smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Using a pastry bag or a plastic bag with the corner snipped out, fill the bag with the yolk mixture and pipe it into the egg whites. Sprinkle paprika on each one for garnish and serve cold.

Child-Friendly Nicoise Sandwich (Pan Bagnat)

This drippy, delicious tuna sandwich is the Sloppy Joe of the French Riviera. Traditionally, it often has anchovies and olives in it, but my recipe keeps it simple with just tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs and lettuce. Let the children help assemble it in the baguette like a giant sub sandwich. If you use a hearty, chewy French loaf with a good crust, the bread will be moist with olive oil but won’t fall apart. Best of all it can be made the night before and will still be great the next day at lunch. Don’t forget to pack some napkins.

1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional for drizzling

1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar, plus additional to taste

1/4 teaspoon salt, plus additional to taste

black pepper to taste

1 6-ounce can tuna packed in olive oil, including olive oil

lemon juice to taste

lettuce leaves, combination of Boston, green-leaf, or other green leafy lettuce

2 small tomatoes, sliced

4 hard-boiled eggs, sliced

1 French-style crusty baguette, about 18 inches long

Mix the onion, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, tuna and oil, and lemon juice in a bowl and let sit for an hour or two to let the flavors mellow and blend. Slice the baguette the long way without cutting all the way through, like a very long hot dog bun. Layer the tuna mixture down the length of the baguette and top with the lettuce, tomato slices and egg slices. Drizzle a little more olive oil on the filling and then press the baguette back together. Slice it carefully into 4 sandwiches (or more) and wrap each one tightly with plastic wrap. Keep chilled until ready to eat.