Skip the Devil in the Eggs This Easter
If there’s one thing I don’t support, it’s the slander of stuffed eggs. This is the perfect little hand snack. Kitsch but not useless, small but essential, and almost endlessly customizable. They also taste good. You can make them plain with mayonnaise, mustard, and paprika, or spice them up with bacon, pickled vegetables, and even caviar. If you want to really get into kitsch, you can marinate your eggs with beetroot to give them a deep ruby hue.
But still, there are people who don’t want to mess with devils (and pagans like my boyfriend who flatly refuse to eat them). I wouldn’t call stuffed eggs “labor intensive”, but there is some labor involved. Cooking and peeling eggs, mashing the yolks to make the filling, then adding the filling back to the egg whites all take time. If you don’t have that time, or you’re dealing with a crowd of stuffed egg haters (and don’t have time to make new friends), consider unstuffed eggs.
A minced egg – or a deconstructed stuffed egg – contains all of the flavor components of a stuffed egg, just not all of them are blended into the puree. The advantage for you as the host is that they are very easy to prepare and serve as your guests do the assembly. (Unboiled eggs are so easy to make that I often eat them for breakfast.) This makes them perfect for Easter Sunday, a day when you can get distracted and busy with other things. (Also, uncooked eggs are much more respectful of Jesus. After all, it’s His day.)
Instead of puree, the yolk remains whole, in its whiteness. The halves are then brushed with your choice of seasonings—Kewpie mayonnaise, duck fat mayonnaise, whole grain mustard, prepared horseradish, hot sauce, butter , chili chips—and garnished with whatever toppings you can think of. Pickled vegetables, radishes, cherry halves, caviar, fresh herbs, potato chips, bacon pieces, grilled asparagus, chives, canned small fish, smoked salmon, feta, frico pieces – all put on the table, salt, pepper, and paprika, and let the guests prepare their perfect egg slice.
I won’t tell you how to build your “hell’s egg” as testing new combinations is half the fun, but I have some ideas, suggestions and impulses:
- Butter + French breakfast radish halves + salt flakes + Louisiana hot sauce
- Kewpie mayonnaise + trout caviar + green onion
- dash of mayonnaise + whole grain mustard + some smoked brisket
- Mayonnaise + bacon + half a cherry tomato + green onion
- Avocado + olive oil + salt flakes
- Butter + Grilled Asparagus + Chili Chips
- Butter + pickled cauliflower + salt and pepper
- Spicy mustard + some mayonnaise + prosciutto
- Whole grain mustard + potato chips
- Labneh + pickled beetroot + fried onion chunks (the one you buy for the green bean casserole)
- Goat cheese + grilled asparagus + smoked paprika + salt flakes
Etc.
While your family and friends are busy with eggs, you can pay attention to the rest of the Easter feasts. (I recommend smoking the shoulder of lamb , as it’s pretty easy and frees you up to have some fun with the deconstructed egg yourself.)