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Lemony Deviled Eggs

Source of Recipe

From "The New Southern Garden Cookbook" by Sheri Castle


Recipe Introduction

"As a Southerner, I consider good deviled eggs to be essential. There are many deviled egg recipes, but this is my favorite of all. (Other than my daughter's, but she's not sharing her secret recipe. When she was only five, deviled eggs were the first food she made all by herself. I love that kid.) Light, airy sieved yolks make the filling incomparably smooth and creamy. Don't skip that step. It's a Southern tradition to dust deviled eggs with paprika. Alas, some cooks have used the same tin of paprika since the war. Fresh paprika has bright flavor and pungent aroma. If yours has neither, buy new."

List of Ingredients

◦ 6 large eggs
◦ � cup mayonnaise, preferably homemade
◦ 4 tablespoons (� stick) butter, at room temperature
◦ 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
◦ � teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
◦ � teaspoon dry mustard
◦ Kosher salt and ground white pepper, to taste
◦ Paprika, for dusting


Recipe

Place the eggs in a single layer in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat. As soon as the water begins to boil, remove the pan from the heat, cover, and let sit for 12 minutes.

Immediately pour off the hot water, fill the pan with cold water, add a handful of ice cubes, and set aside until cool enough to handle. Peel the eggs and cut in half lengthwise. Remove the yolks and use a spatula or your fingertips to rub them through a fine-mesh strainer into a medium bowl. Add the mayonnaise and butter; mix gently until smooth. Stir in the lemon juice, lemon zest, and mustard. Season with salt and white pepper. The flavors dull slightly when the eggs are chilled, so be a little bold with the seasoning.

Spoon or pipe the filling into the egg whites, sprinkle with paprika, and chill until ready to serve.

Makes 12 halves







❧ Tips and Techniques:

Boiled eggs aren't actually boiled. The secret to hard-cooked eggs that are not rubbery and have no green ring around the yolk is to cook them gently in very hot water rather than let them bounce around at a rolling boil.

Eggs that are at least one week old are more likely to peel easily and cleanly. As the eggs age, their liquid interior evaporates enough to create a wee bit of air space between the egg and the shell.

An old-fashioned way to determine the freshness of an egg is submerge a whole uncooked egg in a bowl of water. If it lies flat on its side in the bottom of the bowl, it's fresh. If it stands upright, it's a little older and a good candidate for hard cooking. If it floats, it's a very old egg and should be discarded.