Making Peepshi: Easter Dinner for Sugar Junkies

Photo courtesy Robyn Lee at Seriouseats.com

Peep sushi=Peepshi!

The greatest Easter dinner I ever had was while I was working at a small French-Mediterranean restaurant in New York with a bunch of guys possessed of particularly pitch-black senses of humor. Our owners had decided that we were going to throw a massive Easter fete in order to bump up a normally sluggish Sunday and had tasked me and the rest of the crew with coming up with a menu to suit.

We, of course, chose to serve several different preparations of rabbit and lamb for the event--in hopes of horrifying all in attendance. One of the dishes (a rabbit stew done in the French style) was actually called "Thank you, Easter Bunny!" in honor of the old Cadbury Cream Egg commercials that featured children screaming that line, and the whole thing actually went off very well. When it was done, we made a huge family meal of the leftovers and everyone on staff ate together, polished off a case of good wine and kept the party going until the wee small hours, culminating (as these things so often did) with the arrival of the police.

The good folks over at Seriouseats.com, though, have now put together what might be the second-most-perfect Easter spread with their lovely how-to on making Peeps sushi.

Yes, you read that right. Peeps sushi (or Peepshi) is the Easter Dinner suggestion for their annual Peeps Week celebration. And the Seriouseats staff isn't just offering pictures of the good stuff, but actual prep instructions and a recipe for making basic peep handrolls (using Peeps, Rice Krispies treats and Fruit By The Foot fruit rolls). There's also plenty of pictorial inspiration for making more complicated Peep presentations (and a shout-out to Masaharu Morimoto's The New Art of Japanese Cooking, which apparently inspired their plating).

Personally, I think the Peep ama ebi looks the coolest, and the futomaki like the kind of thing that would kill a diabetic stone dead, but I am impressed all around at the effort put forth by the Seriouseats staff. For those of you considering trying to do a little Peeps boat dinner of your own, I would reiterate the staff's advice from the bottom of the page: "Don't let silent Peeps screams deter you from your task. You're a professional."