Beet Pickled Curried Deviled Eggs

We have chickens, so we are always looking for more creative ways to use the eggs they so generously provide on a daily basis. Eggs are a gift to friends, teachers, just about anyone these days as the weather is beautiful in Florida and the chickens are happy. When chickens are happy they lay more. Give them extra hot and rainy weather and they just shut off production as this is their form of protest. Deviled eggs are as traditional as you can get. But this easy recipe just adds one little twist. You can choose to have them lightly pickled by marinating the hard boiled eggs for just 4 hours or you can choose to have a stronger flavor by letting them marinate 12 hours or more. The longer they marinate, the deeper the color. We use them chopped or halved without deviling them in salads too, as one thing is for sure, they are beautiful. These eggs have just a slightly lovely sweet and tart taste that is complemented by the addition of curry to the traditional creamy deviled egg recipe. The pickled hard boiled eggs can also be used to top salads. Just halve, don’t devil and serve on top of your salads.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 14 minutes

Cooling Time: 10 minutes

Marinating Time: 4-24 hours

Ingredients for the eggs:

12 eggs, all the same size for consistency in cooking

1 large jar (35oz or 2 cans of 15 oz pickled beets, liquid drained out and beets set aside for other uses)

1 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tbs whole black peppercorns

½ cup dark brown sugar

½ tsp salt

Ingredients for the curry stuffing:

½ cup mayonnaise

2 tsp mustard (I like the grainy dark ones)

2 tsp curry powder

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp freshly ground pepper

fresh chives for garnish

Directions:

Place the eggs into a medium pan. Cover with water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil, quickly lower the heat to a slow simmer. Let the eggs simmer for 11 minutes. Meanwhile, place ice in a medium bowl. Fill with water. Drain eggs when done. After draining the eggs, place the eggs immediately into the iced water to stop them from cooking. Let sit for 10 minutes. Peel under water.

Drain the beet juice out of the jar into a large plastic baggie, add the sugar, salt, vinegar and peppercorns. Add the whole boiled eggs. Set the beets aside for other use. Let the eggs marinate a minimum of 4 hours up to 24 hours. The longer they marinate, the stronger the flavor and color. In this picture, I only marinated them for 4 hours. The pickled beet flavor was very mild. I actually like the flavor better after about 8-12 hours.

Remove the eggs from the beet mixture. Dry with a paper towel. Cut the eggs in half and remove the yolk. Place the yolks in a small bowl with all of the curried deviled egg ingredients. Mash until smooth. Add a tablespoon or two of water as needed until you reach the consistency you desire. The easy non complicated way to make these eggs is just to spoon the deviled egg topping right back into the center of your egg. However, you can be fancy and place the stuffing in a piping bag with a fancy tip or juice your a perfectionist, just cut off a small corner of a small ziplock bag and pipe the stuffing into your egg using this. Sprinkle with chopped chives.