Deviled Eggs with Prosciutto

Look for The Spotted Pig!

Deviled eggs were always a big deal in my family. Well, most things food related were. The unfortunate thing is that we tended to only see them show up during the holidays. It’s definitely a great party food – easy to pick one up and pop it in your mouth and swing back later and pop another in there. Repeat as often as necessary and warranted by how good they are.

I was working in New York a number of years ago and found my way into a love affair with The Spotted Pig, which has since become one of my favorite places to go in the city. To me, it’s the perfect bar, pub, restaurant/gastro pub there is. There is great food, great beer, great atmosphere. It’s comfortable — like you are in a small town neighborhood pub, but outside you are surrounded by New York City.

I was sold on the place when, one night, I ended up going there alone and one of the waiters went way out of his way to find me a stool and a place at the upstairs bar to sit and enjoy my dinner and a couple of beers. Well, okay, I was sold before that, but that gave it an extra star in my book!

HA! I dug deep into our archives and found some of the originals at The Spotted Pig! Those are some heaping devils of goodness!

My friend Dave Wilson (who has filmed and directed most of the PizzaQuest webisodes) and I have gone there numerous times and one of the first things we always order is their amazing deviled eggs, while we work on our first Old Speckled Hen. The devils are amazing. What a great bar food to offer and to do it in “style”–  a gourmet deviled egg to boot!

If you haven’t been – add this to your list.

One Easter, a few years ago, I was going to make deviled eggs at my in-laws and I did a little digging on Google and found a recipe for the Spotted Pig Deviled Eggs! They came out amazing and have been made in our house many times since.

I sat here alone at The Spotted Pig, early one evening as the sun set, with my Old Speckled Hen disappearing. I texted Dave Wilson the pictures bragging about where I was and he wasn’t. He has returned fire many times!

This past Easter, I was getting ready to make them again and one of those idea bubbles popped into my mind’s eye. It said “Bacon and Eggs!”. I don’t know how that works when my subconscious mind works out things like this when I wasn’t even thinking about it. I realized that this meant I was supposed to remember that I had some prosciutto sitting in my refrigerator and that if anything went with Deviled Eggs, why not prosciutto?

Bacon and Eggs go together. Period.

Bacon and Eggs! I’ve been playing with some morning egg dishes lately by tearing small pieces of prosciutto and cooking them right into the eggs. The prosciutto gets crispy and is a light version of bacon — all pork and salty goodness and none of the fat. I think this must be the connector here because, really, I’ve been using prosciutto as bacon with my eggs. It’s awesome!

So, how’d this work out? I think you’ll like it — check it out. Next time, even though there is ground up chili flakes in the eggs, I think a drizzle or two of chili oil on top would be in order for these. Also, I didn’t have them this time, but chives can still find their way into these as well.
My Spotted Pig inspired Deviled Eggs with Prosciutto Coto!

*My recipe comes from one that J. Kenji Lopez-Alt did in an article in Grub Street. *Link here
There are a number of articles with their version of The Spotted Pig Deviled Eggs if you Google it. I found this one and have always used it.

Hello bacon! I am eggs. But, I am Prosciutto?!!

As with almost all recipes I use, once I do it, I begin to wing it and let it evolve. Cooking is more fun that way. Certain things need exact measurements, but most things I find better when I let my instincts get involved.

Here’s the ingredient list from the article:

Crispy prosciutto and creamy egg yolks go together like salt and pepper, or sweet and spicy. It’s just right together!

12 large eggs, properly hard boiled
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon malt vinegar
Malden Sea Salt, to taste
Pepperoncino red chili flakes, pulsed in a spice grinder
3 tablespoons thinly sliced chives

I won’t tell you how to make deviled eggs if you don’t already. Mix up these ingredients with the egg yolks and then sprinkle the Sea Salt, Chili Flake Powder and Chives on top and drizzle with Olive Oil

You will not be disappointed!

Drizzle with olive oil and I suggest using some chili oil as an option. I did sprinkle a few more chili flakes on top and a touch of sea salt, but not much.

For my Deviled Eggs and Prosciutto I followed the basic recipe above. I had a nice cut of Prosciutto from our favorite producer, La Quercia. I shaved a number of irregular sized pieces off the prosciutto and tossed them into a small non-stick skillet to crisp them up, like bacon. I thought the texture of the crispy prosciutto would be a nice contrast to the smooth creamy egg yolk mixture. Cooking the prosciutto also intensifies the saltiness, so cut back on your use of the Sea Salt in the above ingredients list.

I chose to mix in the chili flake powder into the yolks because I was doing the Prosciutto on top. I still wanted that spicy note, but mixing it in balanced it out a bit more. I later sprinkled a few chili pepper flakes on top as I ate the finished eggs.

This isn’t a pizza is it? However, it’s giving me an idea right now… Cooking is fun! Play with things you like and make them your own!

These came out great! I think the crispy prosciutto “bacon” was a great addition to an already amazing appetizer! So many things can work to enhance your standard old Deviled Egg recipe, adding sweet, spicy, tangy and salty notes to the finish.

Trust me and start with these Spotted Pig inspired Devils and you can’t go wrong!

Enjoy!