Deviled Eggs

Happy Holy Week!

Time to make the Easter Eggs or Spring Spheres if that's how you roll . . . uhm . . . wobble . . .

I don't know about you but my kiddos are expecting to each dye about a dozen of these things. We are talking about dozens of hard boiled eggs in the house! What to do? Well here in Missouri a lot of people LOVE deviled eggs so I thought I'd give 'em a shot.

How do you boil your eggs?

When I told one lady how I boiled mine she laughed at me and accused me of thinking she was an idiot! Seriously, she thought I was lying! At that time I didn't realize my way was "weird." After the passing of many moons my favorite cooking magazine came out with this exciting new way to cook hard boiled eggs . . . it was my family's way.

I submerge mine in water . . .

. . . and bring them to a boil. Nothing shocking!

There it is a nice hard rolling boil! Things are splashing around in there. I'm not looking for gentle movement on the top. If you stuck a thermometer in there you'd fine that the whole small bubbly thing happens well below the 212 deg. F mark!

Now put a lid on it and turn off the heat! If you're on an electric stove go ahead and take it off that burner. In 10 minutes you'll have beautiful firm yellow centers!

Why was she so shocked? I still don't understand!

Now since I'm skipping that whole egg dye thing I'm going to give these a little crack before I submerge them in some nice cold water to cool. The water seeps in and helps them peel.

Time to peel them!

Goodness, I need a manicure! I blame it on the cleaning, I cleaned house last Friday and I'm still recovering.

There we go! Not perfect but not too bad either! My dear father used to take the eggs out of the fridge and let them come to room temperature before boiling them. He said it made them easier to peel. I just get too impatient with my eggs.

Let's get devilling! Cut each one in half. Notice there's no green edge around the yolk? Overcooking causes that. It also gives that sulfurous quality eggs have a head start.

Pop it out!

Make sure to use your finest serving trays . . .

There! I made 10 eggs. I couldn't get myself to use the full dozen. I always want to save eggs for emergencies . . . I feel truly unprepared without at least a dozen eggs in the refrigerator!

Add some mayonnaise!

Then add some more because I don't ever add enough the first time . . .

Now I wanted a sort of plain Jane egg. I have big plans for them you see so I need the filling to be a little innocuous. So I took the simple route and just added rice wine vinegar. It's seasoned with salt and sugar already so it basically fixes them right up.

It's a little lumpy! If I had some lovely onions chopped up in there it'd be no problem. I'm neurotic so . . .

. . . so I squished them through a strainer. I'm sorry, I have issues . . .

My filling was very smooth so I stuck it in a bag, cut off the corner, and filled the eggs!

Aren't they pretty? Well maybe not. They're plain. They're a blank canvas! Remember I kept the filling plain? Let's garnish! I tried several.

Roasted red bell pepper and a little chunk or blue cheese, It was pretty but unanimous consent said the cheese was too big. So if this sounds good to you make the blue cheese more sprinkly! It'd be prettier to see more of the red bell pepper anyway!

So I tried the traditional sprinkle. Well I used chipotle pepper and it was tasty but you'd need a ramped up egg filling to make it truly delicious.

Red onion was good!

A little sliced mango pickle was rather nice. If you like that sort of thing.

I liked the smoked oyster! But then you kind of gotta be into smoked oyster to enjoy this . . .

Now this was tasty! A sprinkle of chipotle pepper, a sprig of cilantro and sliced roasted red bell pepper! All that was missing was a little onion.

Can you tell I'm deeply attached to onions in my deviled eggs? How could I go so wrong and leave them out?

These were tasty! A dab of cocktail sauce and itsy bitsy precooked shrimp!

Have you seen these before? Little 4 oz packets of tiny shrimp goodness! Perfect for hordourves, salads, and cat treats. I paid $1.50 for the bag. That's right you can serve a shrimp appetizer to a bunch of people for cheap!

Now it was time for me to whip out my secret ingredient! There is one condiment that raises hard boiled eggs to delicious heights. It just changes them. It makes them! I don't know why it's so good!

WASABI! Yes, wasabi in a tube can change the entire way you feel about hard boiled eggs! It's just yummy. Besides, wasabi is just fun to say! WASABI-I-I-I!

This is by far the FAVORITE egg of the night! That dollop of wasabi has the perfect hit of bitterness and nose clearing heat to balance the richness of the egg. The shrimp is a briny jewel of goodness on top!

Plus it's really the prettiest too!

So when you're making your deviled eggs try adding something new to them!

Shrimp Pasta Salad

There's nothing quite like a good pasta salad. Especially on a hot day! We've had a few hot days this month and I jumped at the opportunity to make this taste treat!

Boil your pasta in some heavily salted water. You know I'm talking 2 teaspoons of salt in a half gallon of water! Otherwise you really are going to have to let your salad set in the fridge 24 hours to get some flavor in those noodles. What type of threshold do you have for self denial? Mine is low and my thighs attest to that.

I'm using elbow noodles since it's what I have on hand. I really prefer rotini pasta in a salad like this. Cook 'em until they're done to the tenderness you like in a pasta salad. I like mine a little chewy! Then drain them and rinse them with some cold water. It'll stop the cooking process.

Now embarrassingly enough I drained my noodles and when I checked them I discovered several were less than done! So I rinsed them with a little more water a couple of times while I was preparing the other ingredients. They soaked up enough excess water they were fine by the time I put them in the salad.

Now to make a really tasty dressing we need to get some good shrimp flavor going. One way is to make shrimp stock. Of course that requires you cook your shrimp from scratch! I'm going to assume you've got some frozen precooked shrimp. Thaw them out and pinch their tails off. You don't want tails in your pasta salad do you? Put the tails in a little dish. We'll use them in a minute. Stow your shrimp in the refrigerator.

We're going to base our dressing on this. There's a cup of clam "juice" in here and you want to boil it down to half a cup. So put it in a pan and start it boiling. How long it'll take depends on how high you turn the heat up and how big a pan you use!

I had some frozen artichoke hearts I wanted to use in the salad so I actually threw them in the broth to thaw out. Mmm! After they were cooked a little I picked them out and added . . .

The lemon, a little garlic and a bay leaf. They'll give good flavor to the dressing. You should also add the shrimp tails at this point. If you thawed your shrimp in the bag like it recommends on most packages you can even throw that liquid in here. Bring it to a boil!

Strain it after its reduced to around half a cup. (You'll have the smallest bit covering the bottom of the pan.)

You'll need a half cup of mayonnaise! Isn't it pretty? I just want to eat a big spoonful right now!

I threw in a couple of green onions. I mixed them up and let them sit in the mayonnaise for a minute or two while I was boiling down the juice.

Mix your stock and your mayonnaise together!

I added a little celery seed because I was out of actual celery! I love real celery in this dish. If I had known I was out of celery I would of added the seed to the broth while I was boiling it!

Taste it and add salt and pepper as you like it. I obviously like it peppery! Now if I had it on hand I would of added some Old Bay seasoning at this point.

This is what's going in the salad! Look at the disproportionate sizes! This is why I prefer rotini! Oh well nothing a knife can't fix.

That's better!

My ingredients were all a little too pastel and savory for me so I decided to add some raw bell pepper chunks. For crisp sweetness! I like a little texture in my salads.

Toss it all together to chill! Garnish with a little chopped parsley if you like! This is so light and refreshing! The shrimp is briny and meaty. The pasta has a nice chew to it. The artichokes are rich and tender. The red pepper adds a crisp sweetness. Parsley has a herbaceous bitterness I crave in all things.The mayonnaise is where it's at though! It has all the seafood flavor in it and the lovely tang that mayonnaise is known for. If you like serve this salad with a lemon wedge so guests can amp up the acid right at the table!

This salad is delicious with celery and peas in it too! Which I hear normal people have laying around their refrigerator and freezer . . .

Shrimp Pasta Salad

1 lb cooked shrimp, shelled
8 oz. frozen artichoke hearts
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 lb cooked pasta, macaroni, rotini, or shells

For dressing

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2-3 large green onions, sliced
1/2 tsp celery seed
1/2 cup shrimp stock
salt and pepper

For shrimp stock

1 8 oz bottle clam juice
tails from shrimp
1/2 lemon sliced
1 clove garlic
1 bay leaf

Make shrimp stock. You can poach your artichoke hearts in the stock if you're including them in the recipe. Stir dressing ingredients together. Chop shrimp and artichokes as necessary to make salad ingredients similar in size. Mix dressing and salad together and enjoy. Refrigerate for an hour for best results.

Beer Poached Shrimp

With the coming of warm weather we're all watching our waist lines a little closer. I've also been breaking out a few cool make ahead meals too. Boiled shrimp is just the ticket!

I have a few issues with boiling shrimp. I'm never quite sure how much to salt the water! Some shrimp is really salty and others are really bland. Then of course there's the fact that a lot of it gets over cooked just waiting for it to "come back to a boil." Oh and if you have to go help a screaming child you know it's going to over cook in about 30 seconds! Who likes shrimp jerky?

What about a kinder and gentler cooking method? I was watching Alton Brown poach some fish and started to wonder . . . about shrimp.

These packets of goodness have been on sale a LOT lately. Thank you Lenten Season! I like them because they make a cut down the back and clean out the digestive track for you. Ick!

We need a flavorful poaching liquid! So let's start out with these lemon wedges I had in the fridge! Since I'm using a nice big 12 inch skillet I would normally slice a lemon thinly for this but the wedges will do since I cut them up last night for dinner. I threw in a couple of bay leaves too!

Some peppercorns too! Red pepper flakes would be delicious in addition but I was feeding a few friends . . .

I thought I was done so I threw my shrimp in! They're bigger ones 26-30's. Did you know that means there's 26-30 per pound? Helps to know if you're making shrimp cocktails!

Ooops! I forgot shrimp's best friend, garlic! Throw a couple of those in there too. If you don't want to peel them just rinse them off and give them a bang with a knife so the poaching liquid can mingle with the garlicky goodness.

Some thyme leaves too! Don't forget the thyme! Normally, I'd throw in some fresh thyme still on the stems but mine is just coming up and isn't quite ready for me to start harvesting it. :(  I am going to add my shrimp to another recipe and it needs to look nice so I'm wrapping my thyme up in some cheese cloth.

Now for some flavorful poaching liquid . . . you want a mild beer. My hubby and I call this "camping" beer. You can drink it all day while camping and don't have to supplement with water because its so weak! Okay that's OUR theory at least. Now if you want to substitute an actual flavorful craft beer I would recommend ,using a cup of beer and adding a half cup of water to it. I'm thinking a Boulevard Zon or a Pale Ale might be nice. This is a lovely application for any of your standard Budweiser, Miller, or Coors products too! You know if somebody leaves one at your house . . .

Pour it in and turn the heat on low! Yes, LOW! We want to avoid a boil for as long as possible. I unloaded the dishwasher, and did a Sudoku puzzle while this was warming. For those of you worried about bacteria and other organisms does it comfort you to know that 140 deg F for 5 minutes has killed just about everything dangerous in it?

Look it practically covers it! I do this with up to two lbs of shrimp. By the time the shrimp thaws it's all under the beer. Stir it periodically. You want to get the shrimp thawed out good before it starts to cook. Oh and salt! Add about half a teaspoon or even better add a teaspoon of Old Bay Seasoning. If a seasoning has been around for 60 years you know they're onto something!

It's all thawed! That only took 10 minutes or so.

Look! It's starting to get pink! If you can turn your heat any lower do it. Slow and steady wins the prize!

They're all pink and firm now so I fished them out with a strainer! At this point if you have no other plans you can just cover them with some plastic wrap and throw them in the fridge to chill.

They babies are sweet, juicy, shrimpy deliciousness! They taste of the salt and the sea. They're done all the way through yet they're tender because you didn't over cook them.

I'm going to use the poaching liquid and the shells to make a nice shrimp stock. These shrimp are actually headed to a shrimp salad today. They're perfect for it because they pack a punch of shrimpy flavor. Besides, how else can you economically feed four adults shrimp as an entree?

Beer Poached Shrimp

1-2 lbs frozen raw shrimp
1 light beer, 12 oz size (or 1 cup craft beer with 1/2 cup of water added)
1/2 a lemon, sliced
1-2 bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh thyme, or 1/2 tsp dried
3 cloves garlic, smooshed
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning or 1/2 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients together and cook over low heat until shrimp are pink and firm.  (It should never reach a boil!)