Deviled Eggs: Balsamic Bacon

Contains:  Eggs.  Is: Paleo, Whole 30 (depending on bacon source).  

Recently (well, back in late July), for a picnic, I made deviled eggs.  Hard-cooked 18 of them (the hens out back have been prolific), and brought three different recipes to the event.  One was Mom’s original one; another was found on CookingBites.com, a post by Morning Glory there; and the third was just considered from wanting a bacon deviled egg – which was originally supposed to be with the avocado I forgot to buy, then was going to be done with horseradish sauce (which I’d neglected to return to the fridge overnight on a really HOT night), and so I settled on balsamic reduction as my primary/base seasoning (other than the bacon).

Deviled Eggs with Bacon & Balsamic Reduction

My bacon was sourced at a farmstand in Connecticut, the scallion in the recipe came from the Otis (MA) farmer’s market.

Prep Time:  15 minutes.
Cook Time:  20  min. for the eggs, 10-12 for the bacon (they can overlap). 
Rest Time:  Until the bacon and the eggs are room temp or cold.
Serves:  6 people?  Finger food like this will vary.
Cuisine:  Western world.
Leftovers:  Depends on how long they’ve been sitting out, and the temperature where they sat.   But eat the rest within a day.

• 6 hard cooked eggs, peeled.
• 2 tablespoons loosely packed bacon crumbles.  (Make these yourself from real bacon – cook up 2 or three slices, to a crispy but not burnt texture.  Bacon slice sizes vary a bit – especially if you do local farmer pasture-raised bacon…, so cooking time will vary.)
• 4 teaspoons balsamic reduction.
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise.  Ideal is to make your own, but I didn’t get the chance.
• Ground pepper to taste.
• 1 heaping tablespoon of scallion/green onion, starting from the bulb end.  Chop finely.

Bacon Notes:  Make your bacon as per usual (timing will depend on your slice thickness and bacon quality, as well as method), allowing the slices to get crunchy.  Bring over to a paper towel on a plate, and allow the towel to absorb extra grease.  Pat with another end of the towel.  Allow to cool, then crumble by hand.

Egg Notes:  To make the hard cooked eggs, I add eggs to a pot of salted water, not too many – less than the amount that would make one layer of eggs.  The salt is to maintain the osmotic pressure from within any egg and the surrounding water – in case there are small cracks.  The crack may still develop, but this usually keeps the egg from spewing forth all through the water.

I heat the pot to boiling, let it boil for about 2-3 minutes, then I turn the heat OFF, leaving the pot on the cooktop.  If on an electric range, I let sit for at least ten minutes (the element stays hot) – if on induction or on gas, let sit for at least 15 minutes – these both cool down much faster than standard electric elements (or hobs).  Your methods might vary from your own experiences.  Oh, if I have the opportunity, I use a spoon to move the eggs around in the water before they set completely – this helps keep the yolk from being so far to one side that they are hard to cut into halves appropriately later on.

The older the egg, the easier to peel.  Obviously, there’s a lifespan in the other direction…  If your eggs float to the top of the water bath, they’re probably too old.  (Staying on the bottom but with one end pointing up is fine.)

Anyhow, peel the eggs, slice in half longitudinally.  Remove the yolks to a separate bowl, and lay the white “boats” down on your eventual serving platter.

Recipe Notes:  To the bowl with the yolks, add the mayo, the balsamic reduction, ground pepper.  Mash and mix with a spoon.  Add the scallion / green onion, and the bacon.  You may have more bacon than you need, judge accordingly.  Mix through, no mashing now.

Dollop into the “boats”, sharing the wealth among all of them.

Refrigerate until just before serving.  (When I took them to a picnic on a hot day, I sat them on frozen freezer packs, to be safe.)

A separate batch of moderately spicy eggs… miso, quaram masala. Topped with parsley.

 

Mom’s curry mustard pickle eggs to the left, topped with mild paprika. Those spicy ones discussed in the previous photo, to the right.

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This eggcellent post is eggxactly what is needed to lay and hatch out at some Link Parties and Blog Roundups.  Without the Round-Up, of course.  So, it’s cackling its way at:

Fiesta Friday, hosted this week by Antonia @ Zoale.com and Angie @ Fiesta Friday.

Farm Fresh Tuesdays

Homestead Blog Hop

Full Plate Thursdays

 

Oh, and:

My newest hatchling, a half-sibling to Chickpea. This one is Lentil. The chick was born/ … er, hatched, July 30th and is currently less than two weeks old. Depicted to the left is Fimbrethil, one of the broody hens and her primary foster mama. She hatched Lentil, but both she and Idril work to take care of the chick. Oh — down to the bottom left corner, you see part of Chickpea.

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