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Are you as happy as I am about Spring? Cause, despite my allergies, I’m so very happy. The produce and flavors of Spring are very much a part of what aid my happy feelings about the season. This month for my segment on Afternoon Live I shared some fast, festive, and very Spring-inspired appetizers perfect for your Easter brunch or Mother’s Day celebrations. These appetizers pair perfectly with a beautiful asparagus and chevre quiche or a holiday ham.

Jenni and Hannah making Spring Appetizers on KATU Afternoon Live
Watch the Spring Appetizers Segment on KATU

I recommend you watch the segment for antics, tips, and Hannah’s reactions. But, if you’d like to explore the recipes look below!

Spring Pea Crostini
Spring Deviled Eggs (with the secret to the best boiled eggs!)
Butter Dipped Radishes

Please let me know if you try these recipes! I can’t wait to hear the additions, subtractions, and reactions you have!

 

Deviled eggs are the perfect addition to any Spring brunch or potluck. Nearly everyone loves them, but they never just make deviled eggs to enjoy themselves at home. Adding a punch of color to your deviled eggs and additional flavor to your mixture can really take this traditional potluck addition from a welcome addition to the table to a showstopping dish that everyone will want to take pictures of before they take a bite.

Dressing Up Your Deviled Eggs

While traditional Deviled Eggs are delicious and welcome, dressing them up a bit can really make a difference in their flavor and visual appeal. My tips for dressing up your deviled eggs come down to adding pops of color, switching up the visual interest in the way the egg is cut, and adding interesting flavors to the yolk mixture.

Adding Color to Your Deviled Eggs

There are many ways to add a punch of color to your deviled eggs, from a good dash of Paprika to the addition of tumeric to your yolk mixture for an extra rich yellow color. You can also add color with fun garnishes such as edible flowers, chives, poppy seeds… even caviar! I chose to add some color in a combination of ways while making this set of deviled eggs… but, the most noticeable of them all was choosing to pickle the eggs slightly in a beet mixture that made the eggs a beautiful pink hue!

Make Pink Boiled Eggs with Beets

To make pink-hued boiled eggs, you’ll want to create a pickling mix with beets. My recipe for pickled beets is pretty simple. I added 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup rice vinegar, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp peppercorns, sliced beets (2 medium beets) and 1 cups of water to a pot and set to a boil. You can add things like sugar, bay leaves, or other favorite pickling items, but I kept it really simple and didn’t overwhelm the mixture with vinegar or salt so that it didn’t change the egg flavor too much. Once the mixture hit a rolling boil, I took off the heat and let cool while I prepped my eggs.

Add peeled eggs to the cooled pickling mixture. Cover and place in fridge for approximately 2 hours. The color of the eggs should be a pretty pink hue!

Deviled Eggs on wooden board

Add Visual Interest by Messing with the Traditional

I don’t know if this is just something from where I grew up or if this is true for everyone, but traditionally devlied eggs were cut lengthwise to make little oval boats for the yolk mixture to sit in. To switch things up, consider cutting the eggs in half at the middle of the egg instead of lengthwise. Or, maybe cut them on an angle! Trim the bottom every so slightly to make sure your egg sits on a platter without moving.

Add Unexpected Flavor

There is nothing wrong with the traditional deviled egg filling of mustard, mayonnaise, pickle juice, salt, and pepper. It is a tasty treat. However, a few changes to the mixture can really add flavors that delight the taste buds. Some combinations that I’ve enjoyed:

  • Use mayo, butter, and curry powder in your mixture (skip the mustard and pickles!)
  • Add some cayenne pepper and smoked paprika for a spicy treat.
  • Switch up the types of mustard you’re using — Instead of plain ole yellow mustard try a dijon or brown mustard
  • Add bacon
  • Herbs! Finely cut herbs into your mixture give a fresh pop of flavor

I used kewpie mayo, double cream, champagne mustard, fresh dill, salt, and pepper to flavor my egg yolk mixture for this particular recipe. I felt like the flavor paired nicely with the addition of the pickled beet and fresh dill garnish.

How to Get a Great Boiled Egg

The hardest part of making deviled eggs is getting a perfectly cooked boiled egg that easily comes out of its shell. But, after many years of cooking boiled eggs, I have my process down.

  1. Start with less than fresh eggs. If the eggs have been sitting in your fridge for a week, that is ideal. This still works with fresh eggs, but I have found that it is easier-going with ones that have been around for a bit.
  2. Put the eggs in cold water and place on a stove top, uncovered, and set the heat to high.
  3. Let the eggs come to a rolling boil. Once the water is boiling cover the pot and drop the temp to the lowest setting.
  4. Set a timer for 10-11 minutes.
  5. While the eggs are cooking, put ice and cold water in a bowl to create an ice bath.
  6. Once done, drain the liquid and add the eggs to the prepared ice bath.
  7. Crack the eggs and peel under running cold water.

Spring-Inspired Pink Deviled Eggs

Jenni
A fun take on the classic deviled egg that is perfect for a Spring party, Easter gathering, or Mother's Day brunch.

Ingredients
  

Beet Pickling Liquid & Pink Eggs

  • 12-14 Large Eggs
  • 1/2 cup Rice Vinegar
  • 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 2 medium beets, sliced
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp peppercorns
  • 1 cup water

Yolk Mixture - Ingredients to be added in slowly and to taste/desired consistency

  • 3/4 cup Kewpie Mayonnaise
  • 3/4 cup Champagne Mustard
  • 1/2 cup Double Cream
  • 2 tsp Fresh Dill chopped
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Pepper

Optional Garnishes

  • 24 small sprigs Fresh Dill
  • 1 medium Pickled Beet diced very small
  • 1/4 cup Edible Flowers

Instructions
 

  • Boil eggs to a hard boil (see the blog for tips!)
  • While eggs are boiling prep the Beet Pickling Liquid

Beet Pickling Liquid

  • Add vinegar, salt, peppercorns, water, and sliced beets to a pot
  • Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat
  • Once boiling, take off the heat and let cool

Pickle Eggs

  • Peel eggs and leave whole. Add to pickling liquid.
  • Cover and set in fridge for 2 hours.

Egg Yolk Mixture

  • Once the eggs are the color you want, strain and rinse with cold water. Reserve the pickled beets for garnish.
  • Cut eggs in half and add yolks to a bowl. Trim the bottoms of each half of the egg white (or pink in this case) slightly to create a solid base to stand the egg on. Do for all eggs.
  • In the yolk bowl, you'll add the yolk mixture ingredients slowly—a spoonful or so at a time— mixing well as you do so. You'll want to do this to your taste and texture preferences. More of the mixture ingredients will make for a smoother texture, but less of the yolk flavor. You want your mixture to be a consistency and texture that will allow you to pipe into your egg halves.
  • Add to a piping bag with a star tip or into a zip lock bag and cut the corner off. Pipe into the egg half with a swirl to your wrist. Fill generously!

Garnish

  • To finish your eggs, garnish with a sprig of dill, chopped up pickled beets, and some edible flowers.

I would love to hear if you try these eggs out for your next Spring event!

Green, the color of life. Forever my favorite color. And the color of most vegetables I consider a vegetable and one delicious, beautiful, favorite vegetable that counts as a starch in my house. I know, I’m weird. In our house dinner has to have 3 vegetables. Why? Because it has HARD to get vegetables in for breakfast or lunch so we hope for between all meals we get five (or more) servings of vegetables or fruits a day. So, what does that have to do with this appetizer? Not really anything aside from Peas do not count as vegetables in our family. So, if you’re looking for a delicious appetizer with Spring-flavor, and partial vegetable goodness, look no further. 😉

I believe I’ve made every blogging mistake in that first paragraph. However, I long ago realized that blogging was a thing I did because I loved sharing tid bits about myself and my life along with (hopefully) useful tips. So, you are very welcome to just scroll down to the recipe. Most of you are (understandably) here for that. However, the rest of you… if you’re here for my very weird beliefs in vegetables.. I’m so here for you.

This post contains affiliate links. Affiliate purchases help this blog create content at no cost to the purchaser. All affiliate links are marked with an asterisk (*). 

On to the recipe…

All crostini recipes are based on the fact that things piled on bread are delicious. Sure, you can have a dip and bread and have a similar effect on the taste buds, but crostini offer the perfect bite in each little appetizer. These are really so simple. Like I was able to make them on TV while absolutely frazzled and stressed on time. Sure I made a mess. But, were they delicious? YES THEY WERE.

Spring Pea Crostini Tips:

  1. Toast up thin slices of a delicious French Baguette. Other breads work, sure, but this is tasty. The key with any crostini, in my opinion, is a thin slice. When something is too thick it is too hard to eat! I toasted up my French Baguette slices in the broiler for a minute or two with a bit of olive oil and salt on top.
  2. You can get fresh peas and par boil them and shock them in ice water to keep them green. OR you can get a bag of frozen green peas and put them in a colander. Pour boiling water over them to get them soft and ready to go! Rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process and keep the beautiful green color.
  3. Garnish with pea shoots! The delicious green will add to the nutritional value (counts as a vegetable in my book!) If you don’t have access to pea shoots, try chives or another fresh green.
  4. Use a good olive oil to top them off.
  5. To really take it up a notch, top it with edible flowers. You can get edible flowers at your local speciality grocer during certain seasons. Or, purchase them dried!*

Spring Pea Crostini

Jenni
This easy appetizer is the perfect thing to grab last minute from the grocery store and whip up for your next Spring brunch or potluck. It'll get raving reviews.

Ingredients
  

  • 1 large French Baguette
  • 16 oz Ricotta
  • 8 oz Parmigiano Reggiano grated
  • 2 Zest of Lemons
  • 1 cup Pea Sprouts
  • 2-3 tbsp olive oil drizzle optional
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
  • 1/4 cup edible flowers
  • 16 oz Frozen Peas

Instructions
 

  • Slice French Baguette thinly, brush with olive oil, and toast under broiler until just toasted. It only took mine around 2 minutes to be perfectly toasted.
  • Add the full 16 oz Ricotta, 1 cup of grated Parmigiano Reggiano, Zest of two lemons, salt, and pepper to taste into a mixing bowl and mix until well incorporated with a large spoon.
  • If you really like lemon, I suggest adding the juice of 1 lemon to the mixture for an extra pop of flavor!
  • Prep fresh peas by dropping into boiling water and letting them cook for 1 minute then straining them into a bowl of ice water. Prep frozen peas by running hot water over them until no longer frozen.
  • Place a spoonful of the ricotta mixture on a slice of toasted baguette and spread with the back of the spoon. Top with peas.
  • Garnish with pea shoots, a drizzle of good quality olive oil, and edible flowers for a special treat.

Serve these at your next Spring get-together and your friends and family will not be disappointed! What is your favorite type of Crostini? I’d love to know what things you like to top your toasted bread with for a quick and delicious appetizer.