(Deviled) Balsamic Pickled Eggs

Trust me when I say I am *really* excited to write this post. It's by far one of my best experiments.

Thanks to some wonderful Amish neighbors, I am up to my eyeballs in fresh farm eggs. Being the scavenger-type, I'm not one to turn down good food, especially at a low price. However, it does leave me with a dilemma. What to do with all these eggs!?

I did Oopsie Pizza, omelets, and made some very yummy custards. I put them in my morning protein shakes and fry them up for lunch daily, but they didn't use up the eggs quite fast enough, and the foods only last so long. Then the thought crossed my mind, and I got a craving for pickled eggs. It was as if the gods spoke, "Pickle the eggs, you fool!" And so... I did.

Of all the vinegar options, I love balsamic vinegar the most. It's not too harsh, and has a sweetness to it that is just irresistable. The recipe is very basic and takes very little preparation. Best of all, the eggs are beautiful, exotic-looking and DELICIOUS. I'm really having some trouble staying away from them.

You will need:

2 dozen eggs
4 cups balsamic vinegar
4 cups of water
2 large onions, sliced
1 bulb of garlic, crushed

A large pot for the eggs
A smaller pot for the vinegar
A ladel
A funnel
Wide mouth jars of any size

Put your eggs into the large pot and cover with water. Heat on the stove until boiling, remove from heat, cover and let it set for 7-10 minutes.

While the eggs are cooking, Add your vinegar, water, onions and garlic to the smaller pot. Reserve a few slices of onion for the canning. Heat to boiling and remove from heat.

Cool your eggs under water and peel them. Put them in your jar(s). Scoop the onions out of the vinegar and layer them in the jar with the eggs. When the jar is full, pour your warm vinegar over the top, add a few slices of raw onion, put the lid on and put it in the fridge.

Let your eggs soak in the vinegar for at least a week before eating. The longer they set, the better they taste.

When I finally sampled my eggs they were amazing. I decided to dress them up as deviled egs for dinner and they looked lovely! Not only that, but they taste heavenly. Instead of mayo, I decided to stay in season with some goat cheese, as the goats will very soon be milking. The goat cheese really plays off the pickling flavor.

Ingredients:

3 balsamic pickled eggs
2 ounces goat cheese (or neufchatel, cream cheese)
1/8 tsp dill
cured kalamata olives for garnish

After cutting your eggs in half and removing the yolks, soften your cheese. I stuck it in the microwave for just a few seconds to get it nice and creamy.

Mash the egg yolks into the cheese until thoroughly mixed. Mix in your dill.
Fill your egg whites with the cheesy mixture and top with a kalamata olive.

Ohh... and notice the interesting "marble" pattern on the egg. I noticed this comes from these very fresh eggs, where part of the outer membrane stays on the egg in some spots and not on others. Some eggs have no membrane and come out very light, while some eggs have the full membrane and look very dark. I do like the marbled look. Very exotic-looking.