Bacon Deviled Eggs - A Smoky Football Treat

As football mania continues with the Giants’ big win last week, I’ve been experimenting with fun football treats that I’ve been trying out on friends and family. Last week’s was a creative rendition of deviled eggs, which were made with sinful, smoky bacon bits inside the egg filling and on top too.

I got the idea to do this from an article in this month’s Bon Appetit that highlighted many non-traditional ways to make a deviled egg. The bacon option really appealed to me, especially since I’ve been on a bacon kick lately (i.e. did you see my chocolate chip bacon pancakes?).

Broiling off some really good quality bacon, I got it nice and crisp, then let it cool down and cut it up into little chunks. This then got mixed in with the egg yolk filling, together with some creamy mayo and also the super flavorful bacon drippings that I saved for myself. As you can tell from the picture, the overall effect looked vibrant and appetizing, and my guests were pretty happy with it too. I stuffed the eggs in a rustic fashion, simply by using a spoon instead of a fancy piping technique, and it definitely fit the occasion.

Hope you have fun experimenting too, and do let me know about the different combinations you come up with.

Bacon Deviled Eggs (serves 6)
Ingredients:
12 eggs, hard boiled
3 tbs of mayonnaise
2 tsp of grain mustard or Dijon mustard
3 - 4 pieces of organic bacon, broiled
Handful of parsley, chopped
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 475 or set to broil.  Place bacon on a lined baking sheet and cook for about 10 - 15 minutes or until the bacon is crispy and golden brown.  Remove from oven and cool for about 10 minutes.  Chop into small pieces and reserve about 1/4 of it for the topping.  Strain bacon drippings into a small bowl.

Place eggs in a large saucepan, add water to cover by 1".  Bring to a boil, cover and remove from heat.  Let sit for 10 minutes.  Drain.  Transfer eggs to a bowl of ice water and let cool completely, about 10 minutes; peel.  Halve lengthwise and remove yolks.

Finely mash reserved yolks, bacon fat, mayonnaise and mustard in a medium bowl; season with salt and pepper, but use the salt sparingly.

Take a spoon and scoop out the filling into each egg in a rustic fashion.  Top with the remainder of the bacon and the chopped parsley. 

Recipe adopted from Bon Appetit, February 2012 issue