Easter Egg Brunch

Easter held a great charm for me when I was a child. It still does, though I’m no longer hunting for those hidden pink Easter eggs that were so exciting to find when I was 5 and 6 years old.

This was in the late 1920s, when everyone in our neighborhood watched their pennies. Our pink Easter eggs were colored in beet juice, and the pink eggs (shells removed) would often be the centerpiece, piled on a bed of lettuce, for the Easter dinner. Baked ham, candied pineapple, yams, frozen peas and cake were the ritual meal.

My Italian grandmother and mother loved frozen peas, and when they first tasted this exciting new product, my grandmother said, “I’ll never have to shell another pea.” My mother said, “Frozen peas are greener than God made them.”

If you would like to celebrate Easter around your own table, invite your family or friends to share a late brunch. Featherbed Eggs and slices of ham, and a bowl of freshly sliced fruit make a very simple but pleasing Easter celebration.

Featherbed Eggs must be made the night before you plan to bake and serve it, so you have no last-minute preparations if you prepare the fruit early, and have cold slices of ham, or warm the slices while finishing the Featherbed Eggs in the oven.

Cunningham’s newest book is “Learning to Cook With Marion Cunningham” (Alfred A. Knopf, 1999).

Featherbed Eggs

Active Work Time: 10 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 1 hour 10 minutes plus 6 hours chilling

You can double or triple this recipe if you have more than six sharing Easter brunch.

Butter, for greasing

6 slices white bread

Salt, pepper

1 1/2 cups grated sharp Cheddar, Gouda, provolone or Monterey Jack cheese

1 1/2 cups milk

6 eggs

* Grease sides and bottom of a 13x9-inch baking dish. Arrange slices of bread (trim edges if they fit better in your baking dish) in dish. They will slightly overlap. Sprinkle tops of bread lightly with salt and pepper.

* Sprinkle grated cheese evenly over bread.

* Place milk and eggs in bowl and briskly stir until mixture is all one color and completely blended. Pour milk mixture over bread and cheese. Cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours, or overnight.

* Because dish will be chilled when you are ready to bake it, start it in a cold oven and turn heat on to 350 degrees. Bake until bread custard is puffy and lightly golden, 1 hour. Check at 45 minutes, in case your oven is a little hotter. Cut 6 pieces and serve with ham and fruit.

6 servings. Each serving: 277 calories; 419 mg sodium; 243 mg cholesterol; 15 grams fat; 16 grams carbohydrates; 17 grams protein; 0.05 gram fiber.