A stuffed egg is a wonderful thing. Eggs in general have suffered a lot of bad press from the cholesterol police, but for some of us they remain irresistible. I’ve always been a passionate enjoyer of stuffed eggs. My recipe is simple – it calls for the boiled eggs, mayo, a bit of mustard, and a parsley sprig on top for decoration.
On a recent visit to Piemonte our friend Leo taught me his recipe for stuffed eggs. It is a different animal altogether, not nearly as cloying as my recipe; no doubt it is healthier.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Eggs, as many as you want
A big handful of fresh Italian (flat) parsley, leaves only
2 or 3 anchovies
a piece of bread, broken into pieces and soaked in milk
olive oil
vinegar
The first step is to hard-boil the eggs, of course, then peel them, slice in half and remove the yolks. Put half the yolks in a bowl, and save the other half for some other use (or salt and pepper them and eat them in the kitchen when no one is looking).
Next finely chop the parsley together with the anchovies and the bread, from which you’ve squeezed the excess milk. Your mixture will look something like this:
Note the mezaluna – if you haven’t got one in your kitchen you may want to consider getting one and learning how to use it – it can really cut down chopping time. Plus it’s loads of fun to use.
Smush the egg yolks with a fork and add to them the parsley mixture.
Mix in enough oil to make a nice clumpy filling for the eggs, and add just a dash of vinegar to brighten the flavor. Nibble a bit and add salt and pepper to taste.
The rest you know. Fill the eggs, arrange on a plate and serve. My plate above was rather plain; Leo later decorated it with sage leaves and it looked a lot prettier.
Like all ‘deviled’ eggs these have mysterious evaporative properties; just look away for a moment and you’ll discover half of them are gone!
An Ex-Expatriate 
Great recipe – thanks. I don’t mind the odd stuffed egg.
Hope you like it – I never met a stuffed egg I didn’t like…
Fie on the cholesterol police, or as Julia Child called them “The Nervous Nellie Nutritionists”. The minute I saw these eggs I thought “Ah-Ha! Pesto stuffed eggs. I stopped long enough to read the recipe and found parsley subbed for basil.
I made a bastardized version of your green eggs (ham anyone?) using both parsley and basil, anchovy paste, SPTT, vinegar and olive oil along with the yolks. They are fabulous but retain the magic disappearing feature you mentioned.
NB: my version is likely not quite as agreeable to the phat phobic because I used all the yolks, not just half of them. Thank you for sharing Leo’s idea.
I’m inclined to use all the yolks as well. Here’s another iteration a friend told me about a couple of days ago: yolks mixed with tuna fish and may; stuffed eggs put upside down on serving plate and covered with a sauce of mayo (I think I’d mix half mayo, half yogurt), then decorated with capers (and I’d add parsley or…) – sounds pretty yummy, no?