Clogged Shower Sump. Egg-Streme Measures Required

Wayne’s even more delicious than my
deviled eggs; his cute hiked-up hinny
got my attention.

Overly proud of myself for recognizing before I started cooking I could use seawater for boiling -- a rare event -- I got distracted (not a rare event, admittedly).  Bad timing; I was in the midst of hard boiling eggs.

To tell this story, I need to mention the two basic techniques for hard boiling.  One is you boil them for a while.  The other is you boil them briefly, then let them sit a while.  In both cases, you drain after, then add cool water to stop the cooking, and not scald your fingers as you attempt to free the egg from its shell.

What you don’t do is boil them for a short period of time and also drain their hot cooking water.  I realized that as I watched the water go down the galley sink.  Arg!

What clever solution would keep the eggs cooking so my devliled eggs were still viable? 

Clogged shower sump pump.  A view
Wayne’s all too familiar with.

I slapped the lid back on the cooking pan, and since Wayne had the cabin floor torn apart and his derriere hiked up in the process of draining our clogged shower sump pump, grabbing the towels in the v-berth on the other side iof him was out.  Ummm, you might make some well educated guesses on the source of my distraction;).

Looked silly, but the best quick solution I could come up with to
 keep the heat in to continue cooking their eggs after their
boiling water was drained too early.

Anyhow, I padded the pan with potholders, my dishwashing towel and a pair of pillows.

It worked.

They were still some pretty cobby looking hard boiled eggs, but like the strategic placement of the prettiest produce up front, I knew how to slice those eggs to their best advantage.  Once they were filled, no one would notice.  Best of all, they’re one-gulp foods, rarely inspected.

In fact, all 24 deviled egg halves were gone well before we got to our fish fry potluck buffet line servings, and we weren’t very far in line.

Besides, going to an event gone wild at the tail end of Spring break, my develied eggs were no match for hordes of sunny-side up and fried twenty-somethings.  But that’s another post.

Not my best peeling job.

Yolks were a touch overcooked.  Some
had a slight green coating at the
yolks edge; if they were perfect they
would be 100% yellow globes.

Deviled eggs are such a forgiving recipe.

For those of you who like deviled eggs, here’s my mayonnaise-free recipe (click here for more about the first time I made deviled eggs sailing in Desolation Sound, Canada, British Columbia)

Dana’s Deviled Eggs 

ingredients

12 eggs, hard boiled and shelled*

1 c nonfat plain yogurt, preferably Greek, drained (you may want less… start with ½ c)

2 T lemon juice (adjust to your taste – start with 1 T)

1 ½ t Dijon mustard (or less -- alt. ¼ t mustard powder)

¼ t garlic powder (adjust to your taste – I tend to add more)

¼ t onion powder (adjust to your taste – I tend to add more)

1/8 t salt

1/8 t pepper (adjust to your taste – I tend to add more)

1 t Spike seasoning (optional -- adjust to taste)

2 dashes Worchestershire sauce (optional)

2 T green, pitted olives, with or without pimento, chopped OR

2 T chopped pickles, dill or sweet (I prefer dill)

paprika, preferably smoked

directions

prep the eggs

• carefully split each hard boiled egg lengthwise**
• gently pop the yolks into a bowl that holds at least 2 cups
• set the egg whites into a serving tray

prep the filling

• to the egg yolks, add all the remaining ingredients except the olives or pickles and paprika
• using a fork or frosting spreader, mix thoroughly until light and creamy and ingredients well distributed
• add the olives or pickles and stir them in
• taste; adjust seasonings to your taste

fill the eggs

• using a fork, spoon or small frosting spreader, pile the filling generously into and above each egg’s hollow (usually, there’s a little left over anyway – cook’s reward --enjoy!)
• sprinkle each yolk fill with a light dusting of paprika, for color

*my preferred method for hard boiling: 

bring eggs to room temperature

place in pan with plenty of room to move – I pinch it a bit using my 10” wide 2 ½” deep skillet for 1 dozen medium-sized eggs (less water = less time to boil)

cover in cool or cold water – clean seawater is excellent

bring to boil

boil 2 minutes

turn water off

leave eggs in pan with hot water for 20 minutes

after 20 minutes, drain and cover with cool water

carefully remove hard-boiled eggs from shell while still in the “cool” water

**using a sharp, unserrated knife, like a meat carving knife, works best for me