Recipe: Sriracha Deviled Eggs

I am a huge fan of deviled eggs. I'm not sure why, or what it is about them, but I love 'em. Apparently, it runs in the family. Another thing that I can blame on my dad. Over Labor Day weekend, my family decided to do "Appetizer Night" on Saturday, and everyone would contribute a shareable dish. We'd space them out and feast all night, while enjoying wine, laughs, and some quality time together.

This left me nervous and hesitant...what would I contribute? I'm really not joking when I say that I can't don't cook, and that I have a tendency to screw up even basic things in the kitchen. My dad was jokingly giving me a hard time (blah blah blah, where did we fail you?), and mentioned something about cooking eggs. I piped up and said "I can cook eggs! Geez." Immediately, my dad requested deviled eggs, and was inspired. I started to search my Pinterest boards. I could handle this. Thankfully, this recipe from I Can Cook That sounded great, so I set to it....

Sriracha Deviled Eggs

Ingredients: (Shown below- I doubled the recipe.)
- 6 eggs, hard boiled and halved
- 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons Sriracha
- The juice from 1/2 a lime
- The zest from 1/2 a lime
- 1 teaspoon chopped cilantro

1. Fill a large bowl with ice water. To hard-boil the eggs, add 6 eggs to a large pasta pot. Cover with 1 inch of water and bring to a boil. Boil for 8 minutes uncovered. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to the iced water for 30 seconds and remove. To crack the eggs, roll back and forth on the counter and peel the shell off of the egg.
2. Halve the eggs.
3. Scoop out the yolks and transfer them to a bowl.
4. Use a fork to mash the yolks. Then add the mayo, Dijon, Sriracha, lime juice, zest, and cilantro to the yolks in the bowl.

5. Mix to combine, trying to work out any chunks that may remain (you want it as smooth as possible). Note: Taste-test and add more sriracha or lime juice to taste. I probably added 1 more tablespoon of sriracha and lime juice each. The photo above represents original recipe (doubled).
6. Add the mixture to a ziplock bag. If you have a pastry tip, feel free to use it. If not, just cut off one of the bag's corners and squeeze the mixture into each egg white. Note: I just used a small spoon and spooned it into the egg center carefully.
7. Garnish with chopped cilantro (I didn't) and a sprinkle of paprika.

These were a huge hit, and a great kickoff to our Appetizers Night. I'm glad that I went first in the lineup, because some amazing and creative dishes came out that night. I have such a talented family in the kitchen---what happened to me?

With a nice hint of citrus and heat, without overpowering, these were proclaimed a "winner" and we all said that we'd make this recipe for deviled eggs again.

Do you have a go-to appetizer that you like to make for gatherings?