No wimpy hors d’oeuvres are the order of the day where Joe Tedesco is concerned. He’s an Italian/American version of a meat-and-potatoes man if you traded pasta and sauce for meat and potatoes. When Joe receives an invitation to the new neighbors’ all-guy bash, he assumes he’ll be served something subpar. To make sure this doesn’t happen, and to guarantee he has something he likes to eat, Joe brings a tray of Shirley’s famous deviled eggs.

The following recipe for deviled eggs is the one I had in mind when writing the above-mentioned scene. While there are a lot of great recipes out there for deviled eggs, and some of them are quite flamboyant with unexpected ingredients, I find this recipe satisfies on both the taste scale and elegance factor.

Shirley Tedesco’s Famous Deviled Eggs

12 large eggs

¼ c mayonnaise

1 T unsalted butter, left at room temperature to soften

2 t yellow mustard

2 t Dijon mustard

3 T finely diced bread and butter pickle chips ***(see below)

2 T juice from bread and butter pickle chips

¼ t sea salt

¼ t black pepper (I used table grind)

3 – 4 hearty dashes of Tabasco sauce

2 T fresh dill, destemmed and chopped

Paprika for sprinkling

Fresh dill for garnish

Most recipes for deviled eggs will tell you not to use fresh eggs (only a day or two since laying) because despite an ice water bath, the shells will stick to the cooked eggs. You’ll end up with ragged deviled eggs. While this is true, please don’t use store-bought eggs if you can help it. They are low in nutrition and have been sitting around for far too long even for ease of use in deviled eggs. I suggest eggs from a local farmer that you allow to sit in your refrigerator for a couple of weeks. Trust me, this won’t hurt them.

Place the eggs in a single layer in a large pot. Fill the pot with enough cold water to be at least one inch over the eggs. Bring the water to a boil and reduce the heat to a soft rolling simmer. You don’t want the eggs banging around in the pot. Time the eggs for ten minutes. When they are done, drain the water from the pot and refill it with cold water until you are able to handle the eggs.

Peel the eggs and gently blot excess moisture and bits of shell with a paper towel. Set them on a plate until all are peeled. Chilling the eggs will firm them up even more and make them easier to handle, but you can proceed with deviling if necessary. Slice the eggs in half and carefully remove each half of yolk from the white. Set the whites on an egg tray or the dish on which you wish to serve them.

Place the yolks, mayo, butter, two mustards, diced pickles, pickle juice, salt, pepper, Tabasco, and dill in a glass mixing bowl. Mash the yolks with a fork, stirring them into the other ingredients until smooth, and then continue with a whisk. The mixture will have a chunky texture from the diced pickles. If you desire a smoother filling, you may transfer the mixture to a food processor and blend until completely smooth.

Use a rubber spatula to scrape the egg yolk filling into a pastry bag with a star or round tip big enough to allow the bits of pickle to pass. (You can also substitute a plastic storage bag with the corner cut or create a piping bag out of parchment paper.)

Sprinkle the whites of the egg with paprika. Pipe the egg filling in a spiral into the empty whites. Garnish each egg with a piece of fresh dill tucked into the egg where the filling meets the white. Chill in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

***When choosing sweetened pickled vegetables, there are many choices on the market. Unfortunately, most have high fructose corn syrup in them. Try a farmer’s market that sells products with recipes closer to home-canned goods. I’ve had great success in such stores.