Cheap, Sustainable, Delicious: Sriracha Deviled Eggs

My family is fairly religious, so, when I was a kid we spent Easter morning at church, then the afternoon at my grandparents’ house, where we would feast with my aunts, uncles, and cousins. Supper always started with a prayer, and there was a reading from the book of Matthew before dessert. And, it was all taken very seriously.

So seriously, in fact, that while we all gathered before the meal to watch Grandma furiously organize the final touches to the meal, we would snack on dressed eggs. That’s right, my family called them dressed, not deviled, because the devil was not to be mentioned any day, most of all on the holiest day of the Christian calendar. Even then I thought this was a ridiculous practice.

Calling them dressed was misleading—they’re peeled. Then again, calling Grandma’s version deviled would have been misleading too. That name refers not to hellfire and damnation, but to a hint of spice, usually from paprika—in those days considered spicy—also ridiculous.

There’s something in a name, though. My version is both spicy and devilish. I use what has become everyone’s favorite hot sauce, Sriracha, in their filling and sprinkle them with a little lime zest to balance the richness of the yolk.

Sriracha Deviled Eggs

Makes 24

Ingredients:

12 hard boiled eggs, peeled

5 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 1/2 tablespoons Sriracha

1 teaspoon lime zest

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

2 scallion greens, thinly sliced

Directions:

Halve eggs and place yolks in a bowl. Mash yolks together with the mayonnaise, Sriracha, lime juice, and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Place dollops of the yolk mixture in each egg white, then sprinkle with zest and scallion greens. Serve.