I love hard-boiled eggs – I love everything about them.  I love making egg salad out of them, I love making deviled eggs, and I love just eating them plain with a little bit of salt.  I always have these grandiose plans of whipping up a bunch of hard-boiled eggs over the weekend, and then I can eat them all week.  Right – like that has ever happened.  I know it is easy, but who has time for that?  I remember when I was younger, I was at a friend’s house before Easter, and we were decorating eggs.  I asked if she had hard-boiled them, and the answer was yes.  I was over the moon when she told me I could take some home after we had decorated them.  Since I didn’t celebrate Easter, I didn’t feel bad at all about digging right into them at soon as I got home.

When my husband and I moved to Seattle, one of the biggest disappointments for us moving from Denver – was the airport.  Denver had just built an amazingly modern new airport – and Seattle’s airport looked old and completely dated.  Trying to find some decent food before flying was nearly impossible.  That was before they started renovating the airport a few years ago.  Little at a time they have updated all of the terminals – and my favorite section is when you come through the main security gate.  There are all sorts of fun places to eat – mostly specialties of Seattle.  My favorite is Dish D’Lish.  I can always count on getting some good food there to bring on the plane – in particular the hard-boiled eggs that come two to a package – with a little – wait for it….BACON SALT!!!  It is just ridiculously good, and now a staple for me whenever I fly.  I just couldn’t understand why I couldn’t get these packaged hardboiled eggs in the store?  Fortunately Trader Joes was thinking the same thing – and now I can get them 6 to a package – and believe me, they are now a staple at our house.

The other week I was flipping through The Seattle Times Pacific Northwest Magazine, and I found this recipe from D’Lish Deviled Eggs by Kathy Casey.  This is the name of her new Deviled Eggs Cookbook that she was promoting.  I couldn’t wait to give these a try.  Two of my favorite foods all packed into one.  I made these for my daughter’s book club last weekend, and even some of the kids liked them.  I absolutely loved them – the asparagus was just a delicate flavor in the center, and I used light sour cream and light mayonnaise since that was all I had in the house.  The leftovers were the perfect treat for the rest of the week – and would you believe I never even had to hard-boil an egg?  Gotta love that…

Ingredients

• 1 dozen hard-cooked eggs
• 12 spears baby asparagus, bottoms trimmed
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon finely minced fresh mint

Preparation

In a medium pot, bring 4 cups of water to a boil, then add the asparagus and quickly blanch for 30 seconds. Immediately remove the asparagus from the boiling water and run under cold water to stop the cooking. Drain well. Cut off the tips, slice the tips in half lengthwise and reserve for garnish.  Slice the stems (you should have about 1/2 cup) and purée in a food processor with the mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice and salt, until smooth.

Halve the eggs lengthwise and transfer the yolks to a mixing bowl. Set the white halves on a platter, cover and refrigerate.  With a fork, mash the yolks to a smooth consistency. Add the puréed asparagus mixture and mix until smooth. (You can also do this using an electric mixer with a whip attachment.) Stir in the mint and onion. Taste and season accordingly.

Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain or large star tip, then pipe the mixture evenly into the egg-white halves. Or fill the eggs with a spoon, dividing the filling evenly.  Top each half with one of the reserved asparagus tips.

Makes 24

For a printer-friendly version of this recipe, please click here:  Emerald Asparagus Deviled Eggs