Thursday, July 4, 2013

It's just not the 4th of July without deviled eggs

In real life,  they do NOT look like meatballs.
I don't care if you're celebrating the 4th of July with a mob scene of family and friends or if it's a Private Party of Two like my date and me this year, the party doesn't start until the deviled eggs arrive. It's written somewhere in the Declaration of Independence, trust me.

Every family has its tried-and-true heirloom recipe, but I like to change things up now and then. (This is pretty much a rock star recipe, btw.)

I happened to have a few hard-boiled eggs on hand this afternoon. . . a somewhat used avocado. . . and the butt end of a fresh lime. That was enough inspiration for me:






Deviled Eggs with Avocado & Friends
Note: These measurements are eyeball-approximations; deviled eggs are purely taste driven in my book.

Three hard-boiled eggs, halved length-wise and yolks deposited in a bowl *
Three thick slices of somewhat used very ripe avocado, cubed
1 T mayonnaise (the real stuff, people -- Miracle Whip not allowed!)
2 T finely diced shallot
1 T finely diced fresh, seeded tomatoes
1/2 to 3/4 t or to taste -- Lizano (of course) salsa or a hot sauce of your choice (OK, OK, let's be judicious here: Not all hot sauces are created equal -- I think that's in the Declaration of Independence, too.)
1/4 t (or more) cumin
1/4 t (or more) red chili pepper flakes, crushed
Pinch cayenne
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh lime (doesn't have to be the butt end)

* Adjust the ingredients accordingly if you're using more than three eggs. Duh.

Smush the egg yolks, avocado, mayo, tomatoes, Lizano/hot sauce, cumin, chili peppers, cayenne together until they are nicely commingled and the glop is relatively smooth. But don't go getting all OCD on me with this. It's okay if your deviled eggs have a little texture. Salt and pepper to taste and mix one more time.

Fill your little egg white boats with the egg-'cado mixture, sprinkle just a titch of cayenne and lime zest over the gang. (Some chopped cilantro wouldn't be so bad either, would it? Too bad I didn't have any.)

Enjoy! And, if fireworks are in your immediate future, make sure you end the evening with the same number of fingers that you started with. 

You're welcome. And happy 4th of July!

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