What You'll Need
Scale
Deviled Eggs:
- 12 large eggs
- ¾ cup mayonnaise
- 1 heaping tablespoon basil pesto, homemade or pre-made
- 1 heaping tablespoon spicy brown mustard
- 1 heaping tablespoon minced roasted red peppers
- 1 large clove garlic, grated
- ¼ teaspoon red wine vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- Salt
- Pepper
Antipasti add-ons:
- Sliced salami rounds, cut into quarters
- Sliced prosciutto, rolled and cut into spirals
- Provolone cheese, cut into bite-sized cubes
- Mozzarella cheese, bite sized balls or cubes
- Anchovies, rolled or flat
- Marinated mushrooms
- Marinated artichoke hearts
- Assorted olives
- Sweet or roasted red peppers
- Cherry tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise
- Pine nuts
Anything else your heart desires…
What You'll Do
- First thing’s first, let’s get the eggs hard-boiling! Everyone has their own hard boiled egg method but in case you’re in search of a new one, here’s mine:
- I always use large eggs and try to get ones that are closer to their expiration date than not. Fun fact: The fresher the egg, the harder they are to peel! Grab your eggs from the fridge and place them in a single layer on the bottom of a pot. Submerge the eggs in an inch of cold water and place the pot on high heat (cover OFF). As soon as the water starts to boil, set a timer for 9 minutes and lower the heat to a slow boil. While the eggs cook, prepare a bowl of ice water. When the timer goes off, gently place your eggs in the bowl of ice water for 15 minutes at least, but longer is fine!
- While the eggs soak in their ice bath, prep all of your antipasti add-ons as listed above. Use as much as you like, too. These are all optional add-ons to top off the deviled eggs, but they are also meant for just snacking on in general. It’s one of the many things I love about this platter—you get more than just deviled eggs out of it! It’s the full antipasti snacking experience.
- Now that the eggs are done chilling, let’s peel them. I start by cracking them at the wider bottom of the egg, as there tends to be an air pocket there. Get under the skin and peel away. Once all eggs are peeled, slice the eggs in half lengthwise. Separate the whites from the yolks. Set the whites aside for now.
Let’s make our fillings. This recipe makes three different fillings, each for 8 egg white halves. Here are the ingredients for each filling:
Garlicky Paprika:
- 4 egg yolks (8 halves)
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 heaping tablespoon spicy brown mustard
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- Salt
- Pepper
Basil Pesto:
- 4 egg yolks (8 halves)
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon heaping basil pesto, homemade or pre-made
- Roasted Red Pepper:
- 4 egg yolk (8 halves)
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 heaping tablespoon minced roasted red peppers
- ¼ teaspoon red wine vinegar
- Salt
- Pepper
NOTE: You can absolutely do all 24 of your halved eggs with one or two of these filling flavors. Just multiply the ingredients as needed from above (i.e. doubled for 16 egg halves and tripled for 24 egg halves).
- Grab three small bowls and place your ingredients for each filling into the bowls, using one bowl for each flavor. Using a fork, smash your egg yolks, incorporating the ingredients into the yolk as you go along. Once you have everything fairly incorporated, make a few passes through the filling with a whisk or spatula to smooth things out as much as possible. Taste fillings and adjust each for flavor as you like.
- Fill three small sandwich bags with fillings (one filling per bag). Remove all excess air from bags and seal. Grab your egg whites. Using scissors, cut a ½ inch slit in one corner of the bag. Press your filling through this corner of the bag and pipe the filling into each egg white half. You can be generous in your filling! And remember: it’s 8 eggs per filling flavor, if you are doing all 3 flavors.
- Once your eggs are all filled and looking devilishly good, either begin to arrange them on your antipasti tray or cover and refrigerate them until it’s time to serve. I do have some tray topping adjacencies I recommend here, but you can absolutely do what makes you happy. Here’s how I arranged today’s platter:
- Garlicky Paprika: salami, olives, provolone
- Basil Pesto: tomatoes, pine nuts, mozzarella, prosciutto
- Roasted Red Pepper: sweet or roasted peppers, sardines
- Have so much fun arranging your tray and, as always, don’t take it too seriously! Just serve and enjoy.
- Any leftovers (who are we kidding?) can be left in the fridge for a few days.