Devilled eggs

They may be retro but who doesn't secretly love a devilled egg? Here's how I make mine and some variations ...

Serves 8 as a starter

8 large eggs at room temperature

4 tbsp mayonnaise

1/4 tsp curry powder or a 1/2 tsp curry paste

1/8 tsp Worcestershire sauce

a few drops of Tabasco or a pinch of cayenne or chilli powder

2 tbsp finely snipped chives plus a few longer ones for decoration

2 Little Gem lettuces or the inner leaves of a round lettuce

Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil and carefully lower in the eggs. Bring back to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes then drain the eggs and run cold water over them. Leave until cool enough to handle.

Meanwhile separate the lettuce leaves and wash in cold water. Drain and dry.

Crack the eggs and carefully peel off the shell. Cut the eggs in half lengthways and ease the yolks into a bowl. Mash them and add the mayonnaise then season with a little curry powder or paste, a few drops of Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco or cayenne pepper and a little salt. Mix in the chopped chives.

Arrange the lettuce leaves on individual plates and arrange the halved egg whites on top. Spoon the seasoned egg yolks into the hollows in each egg white. Scatter a few longer lengths of chives over the top and serve as soon as possible. (The egg yolk mix will discolour if you leave it too long.)

There are a number of different ways of doing this depending on what you have to hand. Anything fishy works well with eggs so you could mix the yolks with a little anchovy paste, crab paté, mashed sardines or tuna or that Scandi-style salmon paste in a tube. (If you wanted to jazz it up you could top the eggs with a bit of salmon roe.) Or you could mix in some finely chopped ham and spike it up with a bit of English mustard. Good party eating too if you use smaller, medium-sized eggs

What to drink: A drier style of prosecco would work pretty well or try a Gavi di Gavi

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