Be devil's advocate...

These deviled eggs aren’t really that different from normal ones. Some of the ingredients like labneh, pickles, and sumac are Persian leaning, but the real fun is hiding stuff under the yolk. Hiding stuff inside means you never know what you’re going to get in there – you could put caviar in if you were looking for a subtle flex, or bacon if you’re fat, but I really like the crispy fried shallots in here. Put one thing inside, or 3, who knows. I suggest using a sous vide to cook the eggs if you’ve got one. They come out perfectly cooked after 20 minutes at 194 °, then letting them sit in an ice bath for 30 minutes to fully shock and tighten up. But boiling, steaming, or baking your eggs works too – you can youtube 4 million different ways to hard boil eggs. When peeling the shells off, be careful not to damage the egg whites, but don’t worry if a couple get screwed up, it always happens. The eggs taste better at room temp than chilled, so if you’re making them in advance, let them sit out awhile before serving.

Equipment

Large pot for boiling eggs (or Sous Vide if you’ve got one!)

Small pot for frying shallots

Fine mesh strainer (if you want your eggs smooth)

Ziploc style plastic bag, or piping bag if you’ve got one

Ingredients

6 eggs

1 ½ tbsp mayonnaise (don’t use lowfat)

1 ½ tbsp labneh (if you can’t find it, use creme fraiche, sour cream, or just more mayo)

½ tbsp dijon mustard

A few dashes of your favorite hot sauce

1 tsp persian pickle juice

¼ tsp salt

Dash of sumac for garnish (if you can’t find sumac just use paprika i guess :/ )

Secret fillings

1 diced persian pickle

A few stems of fresh dill, finely chopped

1 thinly sliced shallot

2 tbsp oil for frying shallots

Directions

1. Boil your eggs however you chose to, but whatever the method, let them sit in an ice bath for 30 minutes after to really really get ‘em nice, you’ll have work to do anyway
2. Thinly slice your shallot, and add to your tiniest pot with 2 tbsp of oil on low medium heat
3. You’ll want to slowly cook the shallots, for like 10 minutes. You want the sizzle to be faint, but there
4. Strain shallots and let them dry on a paper towel or coffee filter to soak excess oil. Save the flavorful shallot oil for something, unless you used shitty oil then just throw it out
5. In a medium sized bowl, add mayo, labneh, dijon, pickle juice, salt, hot sauce
6. Finely chop your pickle spear, and your fresh dill, reserve those in tiny piles on a plate with your fried shallots.
7. Now that eggs are cooled, crack the shells and remove carefully
8. Slice eggs in half perfectly to reveal your yolks, gently squeeze yolks into the bowl of mayo and things.
9. Place egg whites, hole side up on your serving dish
10. Now thoroughly mix your yolks and mixture until pretty smooth, if you’re making a larger batch you can use a food processor, but it won’t work for just 6 yolks
11. When the mixture is looking pretty good, scoop it all into a fine mesh strainer, and push it through, back into the same bowl if you don’t want to wash another one
12. Now taste for seasoning. Since it’s going to be served inside a flavorless, hard egg white, this mixture should have a strong and powerful contrast, and be a little too salty on its own. Add more hot sauce if you’d like it spicier, etc
13. Carefully spoon your silky smooth and seasoned yolk mix into the corner of a good quality ziploc bag, the cheap stuff will break on you under the pressure, trust me
14. Push all your yolk mix to one corner, twist the bag behind it like your toothpaste that’s almost empty, and gently snip the very tip off with a scissor, maybe 2mm
15. Now fill your egg whites with secret ingredients, have fun with it, put a caper in there, a roasted garlic clove. I really really love the crispy shallots in there, a little dill, and some diced picked
16. Now the best part, piping in your egg yolk. What I like to do is place the tip in the center of your hole, hold it right against the surface and gently squeeze the back, resisting the urge to move the bag. Ideally a perfect half moon of yolk with rise around your tip, lifting up gently to reveal a perf egg. Repeat.
17. Garnish with sumac on top, or a sprinkle of whatever you’d like really
18. I cut up some radishes and place around the plate to give a palate cleanser after basically eating spoon full of room temp mayonnaise.
19. Serve immediately