I'll devil your egg

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On Sunday Tom and I went to an afternoon tea to celebrate the first birthday of a beautiful little girl. There were balloons and blocks and hand made toys and, importantly, lots of delicious food, the climax of which was a divine bitter chocolate cake in the obligatory shape of a giant number one.

We made deviled eggs, just because I like to go outrageously retro sometimes, and generally, I find that people are surprisingly charmed. I'd go so far as to say that deviled eggs are the food world equivalent of nasturtiums (although, I guess technically you can eat nasturtiums), pink plastic telephones and beehives, particularly when topped with home grown cress.

They're also super easy to make, and don't really require much in the way of a recipe. All you need to do is boil some eggs (let's say 12), peel them, halve them and scoop out the yolks. Chuck the yolks into a bowl, then mix in two or three heaped tablespoons of mayo, depending on your taste (I always use soy mayo) and some seasonings. I went with two teaspoons of curry powder and a squeeze of lime, but feel free to experiment. Place a teaspoon of the mixture back into each of the egg holes, and decorate with a little stripe of paprika and a tiny bunch of cress, or some dill, or caviar, or whatever takes your fancy. These could be easily made in advance for a fancy dinner or cocktail party and kept in the fridge for several hours.