Our family has held a long and lasting loving appetite for homemade deviled eggs.
Years ago, it was always my late Auntie Lilly’s simple recipe specialty (garnished with a drop of ketchup!) to bring on her special ceramic dimpled platter.
My late sister-in-law Linda, oldest brother Tom’s wife, took over deviled egg duty in recent years, taking turns with myself and alternating with my oldest sister Pam to whip up our own creative ingredient variations.
Author Debbie Moose, of Raleigh, North Carolina, is such a fan of filled boiled eggs, two decades ago she decided it was time for an entire hardcover cookbook dedicated to deviled eggs. The result was “Deviled Eggs” (Harvard Common Press, 2004), which is crammed with inviting photography, fun facts and tips to make readers want to whip up a batch of these appetizer favorites on the spot.
It was her first cookbook, which made her a special interview when we chatted years back just as I was working on my own second published cookbook.
Moose was given just a 10-week deadline to do the 95-page, 50-recipe cookbook so it could be available in stores by Easter 2004. My own four cookbooks were usually 3- to 4-month deadline projects. Some of the resulting creations from the Moose Family kitchen were deviled eggs garnished with caviar and other variations with fillings blending blue cheese and minced chives.
“All of the recipes were eagerly received, except for one called ‘Devil’s Food Eggs’ that features a chocolate filling,” she told me.
“While creating the recipe, I thought the other thing people love as much as eating deviled eggs is chocolate, so why not combine them? Once the testing ladies got over their reservations and tried one, they agreed they made an equally pleasing combination.”
The history for boiling eggs and using the blended inside yolk with other ingredients dates to the days of the Ancient Romans. By the Middle Ages, added favorites like raisins, herbs and spices found their way into stuffed egg recipes. The term “deviled” is a reference to the “zesty spices” used to increase flavor, the same process of “deviled meats,” particularly ham. Today’s more familiar recipe variation using a mayonnaise blended yolk filling base came into favor in the 1940s once commercially jarred and sold mayonnaise became popular.
Farm friend Ann Scamerhorn of the NWI Polish American Cultural Society recently introduced me to Malgorzata “Maggie” Baniak of the Westfield area of Indianapolis and her catering company “Gosia’s Rustic Kitchen and Cottage,” found on Facebook and social media.
“I came to the USA from Poland in April 2001, and I moved with my husband Tom and family to Indianapolis almost seven years ago,” Maggie said.
“We lived in Illinois then we moved to Michigan for few years, then Missouri before we ended up in Indiana, which really feels like home. My own mom can whip up anything in matters of minutes: quick, easy and tasty. I cooked a lot when I was young and was inspired by my mom to cook. But when I met my mother-in-law, I learned even more. We were only 10 kilometers apart from where I was from, yet some of her recipes were regionally different from our recipes.”
The term “Gosia” means “pearl” in Polish and is the language translation for the name “Margaret.”
“When I was growing up in Poland, we butchered pigs twice a year for homemade sausage, bacon, hams, pate and to make blood sausage. I absolutely would not eat the brains of a pig nor the processed meat called ‘headcheese.’ I never had duck blood soup, since that recipe wasn’t popular in the area of Poland I’m from geographically.”
Maggie is very excited this weekend for both Easter and because she is now the second finalist contender for Taste of Home and Chef Carla Hall’s “Favorite Chef Competition,” with online voting at www.favchef.com ending on the evening of Good Friday observance.
“I want to wish all of your readers a happy Easter, and I hope others enjoy our simple but tasty homecooked Polish cuisine,” Maggie said.
“We love what is our passion and we hope to grow the business to the next level for our daughters Maja and Natalia to be caters of authentic Polish food at its best.”
Maggie’s Polish Deviled Eggs recipe has just a hint of “mint green” natural hue for the filling, the delicious result of using mashed canned green peas blended with the yellow yolks.
“In addition to using the mashed green peas, it’s important to use a good quality mayonnaise,” Maggie said.
“I use Polish mayonnaise called ‘Majonez Babuni’ made by Hellman’s, and the name means ‘grandma’s mayonnaise,’ and it’s made with eggs from Poland.“
Columnist Philip Potempa has published four cookbooks and is a radio host on WJOB 1230 AM. He can be reached at PhilPotempa@gmail.com or mail your questions: From the Farm, PO Box 68, San Pierre, Ind. 46374.
Gosia’s Green Filling Deviled Eggs
Makes 10 deviled eggs
6 eggs
1/4 pound of Krakus Polish ham, finely minced
1-2 dill brine small Gherkin pickles, finely minced
1/3 cup of small sweet spring canned peas, mashed
3-4 tablespoons mayonnaise (Polish mayo if available)
1 teaspoon of mustard
Handful of chopped chives
Salt and pepper
Vegeta (a Polish sodium based dry seasoning), a pinch
Paprika, if desired
Directions:
Boil eggs using a good amount of salt and dash of vinegar to help with peeling the shells later for about 8-10 minutes.
Once boiled, place in cold water to cool and remove the shells. Rinse the eggs and cut the eggs in half lengthwise.
Remove the yolks from 5 eggs. The remaining egg should be chopped up with all the yolk and added to a mixing bowl with the prepared ham, pickles and chives.
Add mayo and mustard and mix everything gently. Check for taste and adjust as needed, adding salt pepper as needed and a tiny pinch of Vegeta.
Finally, add the mashed peas.
Place mixture in a sealable plastic bag and cut off the corner to “pipe” filling into each of the vacant egg white cavities.
Sprinkle eggs with paprika and/or additional minced chives if desired.
