Let it be said right now that I've never, in my life, made Devilled Eggs. I remember them always being present at family BBQs, wakes and pot lucks, but they always seemed to be brought by someone other than my mother. I think I've found out why now. They're really hard work.
I woke up early on Easter Sunday and got the eggs boiling. By the time the entire ordeal was complete 3 hours later, I was proud to present these little guys to Mick:
Oh, my, gosh! I can honestly say, because at this point I don't have children, these little chicks are my proudest accomplishment. I have never ever created anything so adorable in my 26.5 years. I have an extremely creative mind, and as a kid/teenager in art classes I was always really frustrated when I'd come up with a really beautiful idea for a painting/drawing/clay pot. I'd try and try and no matter how much work I did, the result never looked like the image I'd had in my head. This time, I actually got the result I was going for. And they tasted really, really good. Here's the recipe if you want to try them - they're a lot of work, but the reactions you'll get are totally worth it.
-Use eggs that aren't right-off-the-shelf-fresh: you'll find that eggs that you've had in the kitchen for 5-7 days will peel much easier after they're boiled and cooled.
-I boiled my eggs for 15 minutes and then sat in a bowl of cold water to chill for another 15
-Peel eggs (enlisting your husband is good for speed, but bad for aesthetic purposes)
-Rather than slicing the eggs from top to bottom, use a sharp knife to slice the egg through the middle, about 1/4 of the way down. You want to just slice through the top half of the yolk. It's a bit trickier to get the yolk out without tearing the egg when you cut it like this, but I used a tiny teaspoon (a baby spoon would work) to loosen the yolk and pop it out into a medium sized bowl. Rinse off the eggs to get any excess shell bets or membrane off. Make sure you keep the eggs matched up and don't get tops and bottoms mixed up.
-Add a few big globs of mayonnaise to the yolks. I'm not a big fan of measuring and like to go by taste and consistency, so just play with it. I also added some paprika and two tablespoons of sweet onion relish (made by Branston for my English readers), but pickle relish would be just as nice. I just couldn't find it here. Mix it all up with a fork.
-For the next step, you could use a frosting squeezer type thing (I so know my baking terms), or a sandwich baggie with the corner cut off, but I just used my [clean] hands to form a oval out of the yolk and pop it into the bottom portion of the boiled egg. I had cut some little triangle "beaks" out of carrot and had those waiting, along with a bowl with a few tablespoons of ground pepper. Stick the carrots on for the beak, and use a toothpick with the tip dipped in olive oil to pick up a few flecks of pepper and stick that on for the eyes.
-Pop the egg top on
-Set on a cute plate with some lettuce garnish to mimick some grass. I opted for a plate with a high edge so the eggs could lean against it. You could try and slice a flat bottom onto the eggs, but I couldn't be bothered.
And there you go, you've got the cutest little Devilled Eggs there ever were.
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