Pink Pickled Eggs

My grandma in Kansas was the Queen of Jello Salads and we totally loved her noon day dinners for her Jell-O side dishes.  She always did a little extra thing with the jello and took our meal up a notch in the mind of a six year old,  shaved carrots and pineapple into orange jello was like the food of the gods.

She also made pickled eggs which I loved so much that I gorged on them, those bright pink eggs in beet juice.  But I digress.

I think in Kansas they never called the noon day meal  ’lunch’, it was always ‘dinner’.  Later in the day it was ‘supper’.  I’ve noticed in talking with my younger sister that it’s supper at her house.  I’m not sure what Tammy calls those meals.  We have lunch and dinner here, never supper.  What do you call that noon-ish meal?

Anyway, what I really wanted to say about my grandma Spaniol was that she taught me how to make some incredible egg noodles.  It is the sort of thing that would be insulted with a recipe, you had to just know the ingredients and the quantities, you had to get the feel for what you were making.

I went to college in Kansas and  spent weekends at my grandparents’, until I met Andrew, then I stayed put on campus.  One of those weekends when I was visiting, my grandma took the opportunity to show me how to make egg noodles.  And it occurred to me that I have never passed this incredible family recipe on to any of my daughters.  So here it is in all its simplicity.

In a bowl, crack an egg.

Fill half the shell with whole milk and add to the egg.  Beat lightly with a fork.

Now, add flour until it reaches the right consistency for rolling.

Roll out to about 1/8″  thick.  Cut with an herb cutter, (visible in the photo)

Let dry on a cooling rack or separated on a cloth, checkered like you live on a farm in Kansas.

When almost ready to eat add to boiling broth and cook until done.

These  photos are courtesy of my sister, Beth, who actually got around to making a batch of noodles and chicken soup.  She kicked these noodles up a notch by adding fresh cracked pepper and sage.  And she also uses a bit of salt in the noodles or in the water, but my grandma didn’t add any salt when she made them so I would call salt optional.