the humble egg

I am completely in love with eggs. Their shapes are so pleasing, so organic, so....Brancusi. And you can feast on everything from stuffed omelets to souffles, from chocolate mousse to these little hors d'oeuvres. They're inexpensive - even the best cage free, organic eggs run under $4. This is my favorite way to serve them fancied up.

In a saucepan, place however many eggs you need and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat a little, so the eggs aren't being overly boiled, which will produce a green rim around the yolk. Set timer for ten minutes.

Drain eggs and place back in saucepan. Cover with cold water, drain, cover again with cold water, and let sit for ten minutes. This insures the egg peels easily. If your eggs are under two days old, forget about hard boiling - it never works.

Slice off a tiny sliver of egg from the pointy end. This will enable the egg to sit on a plate without falling over . Cut a small slice from the larger end, and there will be your very pretty yolk. Pipe a little wasabi paste on the yolk, and top with a fern of fresh dill.

You can do lots of beautiful color combinations, too - from diced tomatoes to black or red caviar, from chopped herbs to chiles, minced olives - the list goes on. Have fun!

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