Eggs and Onions

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My husband recently just returned from a Rebbe Sighting. He went to visit the Koidenover Rebbe. These trips inevitably end up with a new ritual or two or three. They keep me very pliable. This time he added a new dish: eggs and onions. Yep, my sentiments exactly. Apparently the Rebbe asked my husband, “Does your wife prepare eggs and onions for you?” I later asked my husband, “Did you describe me to the Rebbe?”    Not exactly.

Anyway, it seems that the onions represent the manna that we ate in the dessert. How? Well, the manna could taste like anything you wanted it to taste like: milkshake, barbequed chicken, steak, Greek salad, you name it….except onions. It seems that is not good for nursing mothers to eat onions, so the manna would not even taste like them. To remember this, we eat (myself included now) onions. I’m fortunate that mine were cooked. The eggs? Eggs are a sign of mourning and so we eat those to remember the loss of Moshe and David who died on shabbos among other reasons. This Chassidic custom has now infiltrated into my home and Shabbos table. Now, I can’t just serve these eggs as a side dish, they need their own special attention, so my husband wanted them as their own course. And this is where I revolted. There are simply too many courses already: wine, challah, fish, main, dessert. Green Peace is going to come after me if I add any more paper goods to my meal and as much as I try to use real dishes, I don’t have enough for 5 courses. He acquiesced and is allowing me to add the eggs and onions to the fish plate. Fish need friends. Ah…the sweetness of a little victory. Now keep in mind, that my husband went right to making his own eggs and onions, bless his heart, and prepared them ahead of time (you too might want to prepare this dish ahead of time as otherwise there are about 37rules (really) for preparing it on Shabbos). He was so focused on his new little dish (and I was out of town the week of his first “onion bulb meets chicken by product”), that he almost served the real chicken dish raw neglecting to give the main dish his full attention. Now the chicken is insulted! “Oi vey iz mir,” as my buby use to say. Anyway, for the wannabe chassids out there, here’s a recipe that will keep your thoughts where they ought to be: focused on the manna:

Cut up sweet onion
3 eggs
1 tsp coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch black pepper

Directions:

1
Hard boil the eggs. Shell them and halve them.
2
Chop up the onions
3
Add all the remaining ingredients and mix until everything is blended together. Do not turn this into a puree!
4
Turn into a dish and chill until needed.
5
Serve with  challah, matzah, salad or whatever you fancy.