Not that many years ago, the meaty main course took center stage at my dinner parties. Who will be the featured star for this meal? Salmon? Lamb? Chicken? I still serve meat, poultry and seafood, but I'm just as likely to feature a vegetarian main course such as Fettuccine With Ricotta and Spring Vegetables.
Serving a vegetarian main course makes it easier for other dishes in the meal to shine. Deviled Egg Salad melds appetizer and salad into one simple yet impressive first course. The creamy sweet-sour flavoring for the egg yolk filling doubles as dressing for salad greens.
Showcase colorful spring vegetables such as asparagus, carrots, peas and scallions in this attractive main course. There's no "sauce" to make. Simply stir a few pan-roasted mashed garlic cloves (they cook in five minutes!) into ricotta cheese. That, and a little pasta cooking liquid for thinning, is all you need to flavor and moisten the pasta.
Since there's no big cut of meat to deal with, why not bring up that pasta machine that's been languishing on the basement shelf for years and make fresh pasta from scratch? Making the dough is surprisingly simple — my recipe is just 2 cups of flour and 3 eggs for six people — and if you allow enough time, rolling and cutting the dough is a fun project.
Deviled Egg Salad
Serves 6
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey
4 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
Salt and ground black pepper
6 boiled eggs, peeled and halved, yolks removed and mashed with a fork
2 heads Boston lettuce, leaves separated, washed and dried
Whisk mayonnaise, mustard, honey and vinegar in small bowl. Mash 5 tablespoons of the dressing into the yolks to make a smooth filling. (Dressing, filling and eggs can be covered and refrigerated overnight.)
When ready to serve, spoon a portion of the yolk mixture into each egg white half. Arrange a portion of lettuce leaves on each of 6 salad plates; drizzle with remaining dressing. Top each salad with 2 deviled eggs and serve.
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