Kimchi Deviled Eggs. See the recipe at the end of this post. |
Why wouldn't I? My love for them is boundless. I've often
extolled the beauty of eggs as the perfect single-serving food: They're
portion-controlled, long-lasting in the fridge, and outright delicious,
especially if you've got any hens laying around. (There's a sly little joke in there for the grammatically obsessed.)
Which we do here on the Maine homestead. In fact, when
the other two-thirds of the house told me a few weeks ago they had decided to
go -- brace yourself -- vegan, the first thing I thought was, "What about
the chickens? Don't give up the chickens. Let me have the chickens." I'm
writing more about this soon, but suffice it to say, they let me have a few of the
chickens and gave away the rest, so I'm able to have my supply.
Each one of the chicks lays an egg a day at her peak, and
they're peaking now, so you can see that even for an egg-loving guy like me,
that's a lot of eggs: 21 a week. We give them away here and there, though we
don't have enough to trade to our friend Dave Plante anymore -- the man's
family vacuums them up, and in return he was bringing us exquisite goat milk.
But since I promised that I'd keep eating them, that's what I've been doing.
In a couple of weeks, my column in the Washington Post Food section will be devoted to my love of eggs for single-serving
purposes, and will include recipes for two dinnertime favorites: Egg in
Puttanesca With Kale and Mushrooms, and Spaghetti With Fried Egg and Sardines,
the latter brightened with preserved lemon, walnuts and spinach. But
today, for Let's Lunch, I thought I'd offer something a little more communal --
and appropriate for a springtime lunch.
The key to tender whites and creamy yolks? Just-simmering water and 9 minutes. Note the absence of a greenish ring, the surest sign of overcooked eggs. |
Deviled eggs, of course, right? But not just any deviled
egg. I needed something that would show how the right few ingredients together
can make magic. I don't remember exactly how I stumbled onto the idea of
kimchi, but it's probably the most organic way possible: I opened my fridge and
there it was, staring at me.
I do love the combination -- I put it on a pizza (with a
little ham) in "Serve Yourself," and I love nothing better than a
kimchi fried rice with a fried egg on top. Honestly, it was one of the easiest
and most successful recipes I've ever developed. I hard-cooked the eggs, put
the yolks in a food processor, added kimchi and cream cheese and a little dash
of Sriracha, and boom! Perfect. Well, not exactly perfect. They needed a little
texture and maybe even a little more heat, so when I served them at the event,
I chopped up more kimchi to sprinkle on top of each egg, and squirted a little
dot of Sriracha on top.
I don't even need to tell you what happened when I took
them to the event, do I? Nah. I didn't think so.
You've probably read that it's best not to use the
freshest eggs for hard-cooking, because they're harder to peel, but if you
dissolve baking soda in a bowl of water before you add ice, and use this to
cool the eggs, the shells practically slip off. (Especially if you prick the
rounded shell before you cook the eggs, creating an air pocket.)
Makes 1 dozen
6 eggs
3/4 cup kimchi, preferably spicy
1/4 cup cream cheese
Sriracha, to taste
Prick each egg just barely through the shell on the
rounded end, using an egg pricker or a thumbtack.
Bring a medium saucepan full of water to the boil. Reduce
heat so that the water is at a simmer. Use a slotted spoon to carefully lower
each egg into the water, and to stir them frequently for the first minute or so
of cooking. (This helps set the yolks in the center.)
Cook them for 9 minutes, then transfer them to a bowl of
ice water into which you have dissolved 2 tablespoons of baking soda. As soon
as you can handle the eggs, reach into the water and crack them all over,
keeping them in the water. Remove them one at a time and remove a large piece
of the shell at the rounded end, where an air pocket should be, and return them
to the water. (This helps water get between the egg and the shell for easier
peeling.) Remove one egg at a time, slip off the rest of the shell, and return
it to the water as you continue peeling.
Transfer the peeled eggs to a countertop, and slice each
one neatly in half. Pop out each yolk half with your fingers into the bowl of a
food processor or blender.
Add 1/2 cup of the kimchi and all the cream cheese to the
food processor or blender and purée until smooth. Taste, and add a little at a
time if you want it to be spicier.
Use a teaspoon to carefully fill each egg white half with
the kimchi mixture, mounding it on top. Finely chop the remaining 1/4 cup
kimchi and sprinkle it on top of the eggs. If desired, squirt a few drops of
Sriracha on each egg.
Refrigerate the stuffed eggs for at least 1 hour,
covered, so the cream cheese firms up. They can be refrigerated in an airtight
container for up to 2 days.
This post is part of Let's Lunch, a virtual lunchdate
with food bloggers around the globe. Want to join us in the kitchen? Comment on
this post or tweet using the hashtag #LetsLunch.
Here are more posts on the theme from the Let's Lunch
crew:
- Ana’s Breakfast Pizza at In Foodie Fashion
- Charissa’s Gluten-Free Leek, Ham & Pecorino Souffles at Zest Bakery
- Denise’s Beet Dye & Pink Deviled Eggs at Chez Us
- Eleanor’s Medley of Eggs at Wok Star
- Emma’s Eggs In A Hole at Dreaming of Pots & Pans
- Felicia’s Perfect Sandwich at Burnt-Out Baker
- Grace’s Scrambled Eggs & Tomatoes at HapaMama
- Karen’s Molecular Gastronomy "Eggs" at GeoFooding
- Leigh’s Baked Vegetable Egg Rolls at Leigh Nannini
- Linda’s Home-made Cadbury Eggs (Maple Chocolate Eggs) at Free Range Cookies
- Linda’s Taiwanese Tomato Eggs at Spicebox Travels
- Lisa’s Legendary Egg & Onion at Monday Morning Cooking Club
- Lucy’s Old-Fashioned Boiled Dressing (& Chicken Salad) at A Cook And Her Books
- Nancie’s Son-In-Law Eggs at Nancie McDermott
- Rashda’s Bombay Toasts (Spicy French Toasts) at HotCurries And Cold Beer
- Rebecca’s Mini Meringue Buttons at Grongar Blog
- Vivian's Oeuf Chaud Froid at Vivian Pei
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