"A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch." - James Beard
Deviled Eggs are always a hit at parties and potlucks. My aunt's deviled eggs are famous in our family. But they're kind of a pain to make and transport, even if you have a fancy deviled egg tray.
These lazy versions are much easier! You don't need a piping bag or any other special tools - although there are a couple of pieces of equipment that do make these especially easy, but you can make them without anything special.
Instead of scooping out the yolks, you just slice up hard boiled eggs, season them and serve them on a cracker. It couldn't be simpler! And you can transport the peeled eggs to your location and make them fresh on site quickly, instead of transporting piped egg halves that can get squashed.
One of the things that makes this particular recipe so easy is using an Instant Pot to cook the eggs. If you don't have one, you can just hard boil your eggs the normal way, but the Instant Pot makes wonderful hard boiled eggs that never get that green line around the yolk.
To hard boil eggs in the Instant Pot, use the rack. Put a cup of water in the bottom of the pot and place your eggs on the rack. This recipe calls for only 3 hard boiled eggs to make 18 bites, but why not cook more eggs to double the recipe or have for lunch during the week?
If you want to hard boil a dozen eggs, just pile them on top of each other! Close the lid and set to low pressure for 7 minutes for a creamy hard yolk. For a firmer yolk, try 8 minutes. For a jammy yolk, 6 minutes (not for this recipe, but if that's what you like, go for it.)
Release the pressure manually, remove the lid, and use tongs to plunge the eggs into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.
The nice thing about the Instant Pot is peeling the eggs. The peels come off beautifully! I do recommend peeling them just after cooling, because the peels are a little harder to get off cleanly if you refrigerate the eggs in their shells.
Mix some mayonnaise and Dijon mustard together.
Spread a little on 18 plain rice crackers.
Peel the eggs and slice them into even rounds. An egg slicer is really great to have for this step, and super cheap. If you don't have one, carefully cut them with a knife as evenly as possible.
Place an egg round on each rice cracker. Sprinkle with smoked paprika, kosher or sea salt, and a sprig of dill.
I took these to a work potluck and it was so simple to mix up the dijon mayonnaise and cook the eggs the night before, then slice the eggs and assemble the bites right there in our work kitchen. People loved that it was just a taste of deviled egg, rather than half an egg. And you really get a lot of bang for your buck, making 18 servings out of 3 eggs!
Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
3 hard-boiled eggs
1 tablespoon mayonaisse
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
18 plain rice crackers
smoked paprika
sea salt or kosher salt
fresh dill
Instructions:
Mix the mayonaisse and mustard together and spread on rice crackers
Slice the eggs. Place one egg slice on each cracker
Sprinkle with paprika and salt and a small sprig of dill
Enjoy!
I'm really enjoying pork roasts lately. They are easy to cook and as long as you serve them with a tasty sauce, they're always moist and delicious. A 1.5 to 2-pound pork roast serves us dinner plus lunch the next day with enough leftovers for another meal, like pork fried rice.
I roasted this pork in the oven with mushrooms and onions, then made a pan gravy by adding cider, mustard and honey. Here's what you need:
1 boneless pork loin centre roast
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, sliced
250g cremini mushrooms, quartered
3/4 cup apple cider or apple juice
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup honey
1/4 tsp ground cardamom and/or nutmeg
When it's not grilling season I'm sometimes stumped about what to do with boneless chicken thighs. This easy recipe makes a very delicious change of pace.
Here's what you need for this recipe inspired by Epicurious:
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 cup orange juice
3/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup grainy dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
Since we've been busy with the holidays and then away on a little trip, there's not much food in the house for New Years breakfast. But there were some dumplings in the freezer so we had dim sum.
These are my favourites. Also called shumai, these pork dumplings are delicious and easily steamed.
I use my bamboo steamer and cut a piece of parchment to fit with a small hole in the centre. This keeps the dumplings from sticking to the bamboo.
Place the steamer over a pan of simmering water and add the dumplings.
Then top with the lid and steam about 10 minutes.
We also had some potstickers which are only slightly more involved and just as tasty.]
These ones are vegetable and chicken and they were extremely tasty. Instructions are on the package.
Heat about a tablespoon of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat until hot.
Carefully add the frozen dumplings. You'll likely get some splatter when the frozen dumplings hit the hot oil, so step back.
Brown one side until golden.
Then add cold water to the pan to cover the bottom.
Bring to a boil and simmer, covered for a few minutes. Then remove the cover and let the dumplings brown until all the water is evaporated. Keep a close eye on them so they don't burn!
Mine got a tiny bit too brown on one side but were still super tasty.
I love hot mustard with the shumai. This is English spicy mustard. I also served some soy sauce and rice vinegar with a few chili flakes. You can mix sesame oil, rice vinegar and a bit of soy sauce to make a nice dip for the dumplings, but I was being lazy and honestly they didn't need more than a touch of mustard.
These make a great breakfast, lunch or snack and are very easy to make with delicious results.
Enjoy them on New Years Day or any time! Happy 2013!
Need a healthy, delicious meal that's quick enough for a weeknight? This turkey scallopini is absolutely delicious. And if you buy the turkey scallopini instead of pounding out fillets yourself, it can be done in less than 30 minutes.
But I was too cheap to buy the turkey scallopini when turkey fillets were almost half the price, so I'll show you how to pound them thin for this recipe.
Here's what you need:
About 3/4 lb turkey tenders, fillets or scallopini
4 tbsp flour
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
1 bunch kale, stemmed and torn into bite sized pieces
1/2 red onion
2 cloves garlic
1.5 cups chicken stock (or 1 cup chicken stock & 1/2 cup white wine)
1.5 tbsp whole grain dijon mustard
2 tsp lemon zest
To pound the turkey into scallopini you need a kitchen mallet or rolling pin or even a heavy pan and plastic wrap or wax paper.
Place the turkey fillet between two double sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper. Make sure there's enough plastic wrap for the turkey to expand as it's flattened.
Pound the turkey through the plastic wrap until it's an even 1/4 inch thickness all over.
It should double or triple in size as it is pounded thinner. that's why you need enough plastic wrap to more than cover.
Mix the flour, sesame seeds, dill, paprika, cayenne and some salt and pepper.
Spread it on a plate.
And dredge the turkey in the flour to coat both sides.
Heat about a teaspoon of oil in a large pan and fry the turkey in batches, one or two at a time without crowding the pan.
Cook the first side for about 2 minutes until browned and then flip and cook 2 minutes on the other side until cooked through.
Once cooked, remove the turkey to a plate, add more oil to the pan and cook the rest. Cover the plate to keep warm or place in a low oven.
Wipe out the pan and add a little more oil. Add the sliced onion and garlic.
Cook for about 2 minutes until softened, then add the chicken stock, mustard and lemon zest.
Add the stemmed kale and cover to bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let it simmer for about 10 minutes until kale is wilted and sauce is reduced and slightly thickened. If necessary, place the turkey on top of the kale to warm through.
Serve the kale alongside the turkey and drizzle the turkey with the sauce.
I served this with my cauliflower gratin for some delicious richness alongside the healthy kale and turkey. Matt said it was the best kale he's ever had and he loved the turkey, so that's a ringing endorsement! Try this, you'll love it!
Making your own chicken fingers has got to be healthier than the ones that come out of the box, right? These are doubly mustardy with dry mustard in the coating and a mustard-yogurt dipping sauce.
Here's what you need:
Boneless chicken breasts, panko breadcrumbs, an egg, dry mustard, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Plus spicy and/or Dijon mustard and yogurt for the dipping sauce.
Crack the egg and add a little mustard powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
Whisk the egg and spices with a fork.
Now you're going to make a breading station. In a separate bowl, measure about 1/2 a cup of flour and season with salt and pepper. I also added some paprika and mustard powder.
Mix the spices into the flour with a fork.
And now spice up your panko. I did salt, pepper and mustard again.
Now cut the chicken breast into strips.
Now dip a chicken strip in the egg to coat.
Remove the chicken from the egg and let the excess drip off.
Now dip the chicken in flour to coat.
And shake off the excess.
Now dip the floured chicken back into the egg.
Let the excess drip off again.
Put the chicken into the panko and coat it well.
Place the coated chicken on a parchment or foil lined baking sheet.
These two big chicken breasts made a lot of chicken fingers!
Bake in a preheated 475 degree oven for around 10 minutes then flip them and bake 5-10 minutes more until cooked through.
For the dipping sauce...
... mix about 1/2 a cup of yogurt with about a tablespoon of mustard in a small bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste.
You can also add Dijon mustard.
Once the chicken fingers are browned and crispy, remove them from the oven.
You can serve these with potato wedges or a salad.
These potato wedges were just tossed with oil, salt and pepper and baked along with the chicken for 30 minutes, flipping half way through.
And serve with the mustard yogurt sauce.
