Jazz Up Your Deviled Eggs

By Megan of The Real Farmwives of America and Friends and Gal in the Middle

I am going to make a confession that may me sound a bit un-American.

I’m not a huge fan of deviled eggs. There I said it. I feel better now.

On the other hand, I AM a huge fan of eggs. I may not always have milk in the fridge or fresh fruit or fresh veggies, but I always have eggs. They are usually from my local Kroger store.

Why Kroger? Because I have actually been to the farm that supplies the eggs to my local store and it’s in Indiana. How cool is that. Want to see inside their barns? Check out this video tour (http://youtu.be/i8dquJZ1zWU).

I think it’s great that I can walk into the grocery store and know exactly where the eggs in the case came from.

Now back to the deviled eggs…My lackluster feelings towards these perennial holiday meal favorites changed earlier this year.

I was sitting at Commodity Classic – THE place to be for corn, soybean and wheat farmers in March –listening to Leslie, aka The Hungry Housewife (http://www.thehungryhousewife.com/), as she joked her way through some very yummy egg and poultry dishes.

Leslie didn’t just make plain deviled eggs. She made Bacon Deviled Eggs with White Truffle Oil.

Yes, I said bacon…good!

Yes, I said white truffle oil…cool!

I knew after one bite of these delicious eggs that I was converted. I knew I had to try and recreate them in my own kitchen. Well, I actually made them in my mom’s kitchen.

I gathered my ingredients.

I boiled a dozen eggs…after bringing them to room temperature for about 45 minutes on the kitchen counter.

While the eggs were boiling, I fixed some bacon – 6 slices. Now, I do my bacon in the microwave. How do you cook yours?

I used my kitchen shears (second favorite kitchen utensil after the spatula) to “crumble” my bacon and “chop” up my chives.

Once the eggs were hard-boiled, I used a trick my mom taught me. I put the lid back on the pot and shook it like crazy. Here’s what the eggs looked like after they got beaten up.

After I peeled the eggs (well, my mom actually did most of them while I did the dishes – fair trade), I put the whites in the handy dandy Pampered Chef egg tray and the yolks in a medium mixing bowl.

The yolks then got mashed…

Then I added 5 T. mayonnaise, 3 T. Dijon mustard, ½ t. white truffle oil and a large pinch of salt. I was supposed to add a pinch of cayenne pepper but didn’t have any so I skipped it. After I mixed that up and then I added the bacon and 2 T. chives.

I just used a spatula to mix this all up and it worked OK. I did try to use my handy dandy Pampered Chef Easy Decorator but the tip kept jamming because of the yummy bacon bits. So I ended up spooning the mixture into the egg whites.

These were a hit with the family on Easter!

I have to admit that I made a SECOND batch of these on Easter to take to a pitch-in the next day at work.

This time I used just a ½ t. white truffle oil because my mom thought it was a bit overwhelming AND used a hand mixer to try and get a smoother mixture. I also broke out the plastic bag to “pipe” in the centers.

I think my second attempt looked and tasted better!

Here’s the recipe…enjoy.

The Hungry Housewife’s Bacon Deviled Eggs with White Truffle Oil (http://www.thehungryhousewife.com/2011/02/bacon-deviled-eggs-with-white-truffle.html)

12 large eggs

6 pieces of bacon – cooked and crumbled

5 T. mayonnaise

3 T. Dijon mustard

½ t. white truffle oil (I cut it down to ¼ t. or you can leave it out because it’s a bit pricey.)

2 T. chives, finely chopped

Large pinch salt

Small pinch of cayenne pepper

In medium pot, cover eggs (that are at room temperature) with cold water – 1 inch above eggs.  Bring the eggs to a rolling boil.

Cover the eggs and remove from heat and let them sit for 13 minutes. Remove the eggs and let sit in ice bath for 10 minutes.

Peel the eggs. (I put them back in the pot, cover and shake hard before peeling.) Slice in half lengthwise.

Put egg white halves in deviled add tray and place egg yolks in a medium bowl.

Mash yolks and add mayonnaise, mustard, truffle oil, salt and cayenne pepper. Add bacon and chives. Mix thoroughly.

Place mixture in gallon zip top bag. Cut small hoe in the bottom of the bag and pipe mixture into the egg whites. You can garnish with some chive pieces and cayenne pepper if you are a garnisher…I’m not, but I don’t judge.

The next time you have a family dinner or work pitch-in, I suggest trying these jazzed up eggs.