Starting a new year in a countryside house where you have never lived before is about getting surprised every day. You never know what new you will discover the next day and this is especially valid for spring. Neighbours say our garden is one of the most beautiful in the village, everybody is amazed in spring and early summer when passing by. It is not an English garden with a perfect lawn where everything is beautifully organized and planned. It is a typical village garden with its spontaneity and imperfection. I am really thankful for my grandmother’s brother in law who most probably planted all the flowers and also for the nature itself. Spring has started with snowdrops followed by daffodils, daisies and violets. Tulips with its long leaves pop up everywhere and I see many peony bushes growing.
Eastern is for me the welcoming of spring beside of the fact that it is a religious festivity. It is also about celebrating a new beginning, the beauty of the nature and the first fresh treasures that it gives to us. Finally cold winter days are over even if mornings are still chilly a bit. I loved Easter when I was a child. According to Hungarian traditions Easter Sunday the Easter bunny puts painted and decorated eggs, sweets and small presents around the garden. As children we were so excited about it that we could hardly sleep and were awake already early in the morning. My poor parents had to get up during the night secretly- as “representant” of the Easter bunny- to go out and hide all the presents in the garden. Then they could sleep a little bit more until we woke up and asked them to go out quickly in our pajamas holding wicker baskets in our hands to be able to collect all the presents we could find. After that we had breakfast together which contained very simple but very tasty food. Stuffed eggs according to my grandmother’s recipe. Cooked smoked ham. Peppers, tomatoes, green onions, small, pink radishes. We put some daffodils or tulips into a vase. The perfect Easter table was ready.
Being adult doesn’t mean that you cannot feel the same excitement that you felt twenty years ago, maybe it just transform into something very similar. For me it is the same feeling when I go to the market just before Eastern and hunt for fresh radishes, green onions, peppers and tomatoes. I buy some wonderful smoked ham and a big bunch of parsley. My car will be filled up by the scent of the smoked ham and the fresh vegetables and I stop at the neighbour and pick up some fresh farm eggs before I arrive home. I prepare the stuffed eggs just the way my grandmother used to do. It is simple, easy and quick but delicious especially with the smoked ham. Only a small detail is missing now. I go out to the garden and cut some daffodils and put it into the vase. Just the way it always used to be.
Happy Easter dear Reader, I hope you will enjoy this recipe!
Stuffed eggs according to my grandmother’s recipe
Ingredients:
6 eggs
80 g sour cream (you can replace it by Greek yoghurt)
salt
ground pepper
1 big bunch of fresh parsley leaves
1 tsp. mayonnaise
1 tsp. mustard
Put the eggs in a saucepan, cover with water and bring it to boil. Cook them for 10 minutes then rinse them with cold water. Peel them carefully, cut them lengthwise and remove egg yolks. Chop the parsley leaves and keep a pinch of them for decoration. Mash the egg yolks with a fork, add sour cream, parsley, mayonnaise, mustard and season it with salt and pepper. Use a teaspoon and fill the cream into the egg whites. Sprinkle them with the rest of the parsley.
