Hard Boiled Egg Swans

In our last podcast, Robert and myself got to talking about Fanny Cradock & her cookery book of 1968.

Coping With Christmas.

I mentioned that her Egg Swans for children had caught my eye & that I would pass the recipe on ..

Here we go ..

From Fanny ..

Hard-Boiled Eggs for Children's Parties (Or as a garnish for cold savoury buffet items) 

You need one egg for each swan, so hard boil the requisite number and, when shelled and cold, cut a very thin slice of the white from the base of each egg. Do this with the egg lengthwise; do not cut off pointed or rounded ends. Place the eggs on these cut bases so that they stand steadily. For each one, shape a yellow pipe cleaner into a figure 2 with a flat base. Push this through the centre of the rounded end of each egg. Then cut two thin petals of egg white from the sides. Pipe squiggles of anchovy butter over the ‘saddle’ and the cut sides, and press the petals back onto the anchovy butter, tip upwards towards the pointed end to make the ‘wings’. Finally affix the base petal to the top of the pointed end with a squiggle of anchovy butter to stimulate the ‘tail’. Sprinkle the ‘saddle’ with freshly milled parsley for service. 

Note: Anchovy butter is simply butter creamed and flavoured to taste with bottled anchovy purée.

Well, where to begin .. 

Actually, let's not.

AMM