When we were kids, eggs were a staple on our table. Meat or poultry showed up there once a week at the most, and more often than not, our "meat" dinners consisted of a delicious ragout of potatoes or cabbage containing bits of salt pork or leftover roast. Eggs were always a welcome main dish, especially in a gratin with béchamel sauce and cheese, and we loved them in omelets with herbs and potatoes that Maman would serve hot or cold with a garlicky salad.
Our favorite egg recipe, however, was my mother's creation of stuffed eggs, which I baptized "eggs Jeannette." To this day, I have never seen a recipe similar to hers, and we still enjoy it often at our house. Serve with crusty bread as a first course or as a main course for lunch.
This glorious cream cheese, caper, caraway seed, and paprika combination, spread over sour black bread or over slices of any dark or brown bread, is rhapsodically unbeatable.
Alexander will like these olives. The seasonings are straight from his time. These are a good foil for the cheese and tomatoes, coarse bread, and cool wine, besides being classic finger food. Since the olives keep about two weeks in a refrigerator, it is a generous recipe.