Author Notes: This recipe — easily made with common pantry ingredients on fairly short notice! — gives you several options for using lime aioli with hard cooked eggs and the Egyptian spice, seed and nut mixture known as “dukkah.” In each case, you hard cook and cool the eggs, at least to room temperature. You can then either use the aioli to make deviled eggs, which you generously sprinkle with the dukkah, or you can make 21st century egg canapés, by toasting sliced ovals of rustic bread, then slathering them with the aioli, topped with a slice of hard cooked egg and more aioli, if you like, and then several fat pinches of dukkah. I started making dukkah to eat with a barley flatbread I’ve been perfecting, when I learned that Egyptians eat dukkah with flatbread that they dip first in olive oil. Aioli, with its rich, garlicky flavor, takes it to a whole new level. The basic ingredient combination for the dukkah, and the brilliant suggestion to use it with hard cooked eggs, come from Arabella Boxer in “The Spice Book.” I’ve changed the ratios and substituted grains of paradise for peppercorns, and suggest using pumpkin seeds instead of nuts or garbanzos. (I really prefer the use of pumpkin seeds.) I’ll be posting a variation on this shortly: an egg salad sandwich with dukkah, aioli and watercress. Dukkah’s fantastic on a fried egg and bacon sandwich, too. Enjoy!! ;o) – AntoniaJames —AntoniaJames
Food52 Review: I made the canape version of this recipe and oh, was it divine! I couldn’t assemble the canapes fast enough for my family. The combination of eggs, aioli and dukkah is terrific. AntoniaJames’ dukkah spice mix is really special. My husband lived in Jerusalem and the smell and taste transported him back. I used pumpkin seeds for it and love that variation. I am sprinkling dukkah on everything now … tomato sandwiches, roasted fingerlings, and even on my morning oatmeal which made a delicious savory porridge. I’ll be making it on a regular basis! – BlueKaleRoad —BlueKaleRoad
Makes: about 1/2 cup of aioli
Ingredients
The Lime Aioli
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½ – 1 teaspoon minced garlic
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½ teaspoon salt
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Yolk of one large egg, which is at room temperature (This is an important detail.)
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2 teaspoons lime juice
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1 teaspoon water
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1 – 2 teaspoons coarse brown mustard (optional)
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1/4 cup of grapeseed or other neutral oil
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1/4 cup of tasty olive oil (I’m partial to the California arbequinas.)
The Canapés, Deviled Eggs and Dukkah
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Hard cooked eggs, peeled
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Thin baguettes of French, sourdough or artisanal bread
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Aioli, to taste
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THE DUKKAH:
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2 heaping tablespoons raw sesame seeds
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2 tablespoons lightly roasted pumpkin seeds (or, more traditionally,¼ cup hazelnuts, toasted and skins removed, or roasted pistachios, coarsely chopped)
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1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds
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1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds
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1 teaspoon grains of paradise (or 1/2 teaspoon nice quality black peppercorns)
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Pinch or two of flaky sea salt, to taste
Directions
The Lime Aioli
- Mash the garlic with the salt to a paste using a mortar and pestle. Put the mashed garlic in a bowl wide enough easily to accommodate a large whisk.
- Drop in the egg yolk, lime juice and water (and mustard, if using), and whisk vigorously.
- Continue to whisk while adding a few drops of oil at a time. I use a cruet from the restaurant supply store that’s designed for tabletop use for vinegars, hot oils, etc. It has a single small hole on the top, which releases at most two drops at a time unless you really shake hard. I find it perfect for this. Also, I use an OXO bowl with a rubber bottom that hugs the counter, which keeps the bowl from jumping around, as I let the oil drop from the cruet in my left hand, while whisking with my right.
- Add single drops of oil at a steady rate as you continue to whisk. Once about 1/3 of the oil has been incorporated, and you’ve whisked a good long time (and the fragrant yellow stuff in front of you has gotten nice and thick), it’s okay to drizzle the oil at a slightly faster rate, i.e, in a slow, but light stream, as you continue whisking.
- Keep this up until all of oil is incorporated, and the mixture is fairly thick. Test for salt and add more, if necessary, to taste.
- Refrigerate immediately and use within a few days, at most.
- I hope you like this. Yours truly, AntoniaJames ;o)
- N.B. I use the basic ratios described in Michael Ruhlman’s “Ratio” for this aioli.
The Canapés, Deviled Eggs and Dukkah
- TO MAKE THE CANAPES: Slice the eggs lengthwise. You should get three or four slices.
- Then slice the baguette, cutting at an angle that will yield ovals about the size of your cooked egg slices.
- Toast the slices of bread. While still warm, slather with aioli, then layer on a slice of hard cooked egg.
- Gently spread on each egg slice another good dab of aioli.
- Then, sprinkle generously with dukkah. (See steps 9-14, below.)
- TO MAKE THE DEVILED EGGS: Slice the eggs in half lengthwise.
- Remove the yolks, press them through a fine strainer, and mix with enough aioli to give it a consistency similar to that of a creamy mashed potato.
- Fill the cavities in the egg whites first with a small pinch of dukkah and then with the yolk and aioli spread. Generously sprinkle more dukkah on top. (I spread the filling over as much of the surface of the egg white half as I can, so that I can get more dukkah on each piece.)
- TO MAKE THE DUKKAH: Toast the sesame seeds in a small heavy skillet. Remove and partially crush using a mortar and pestle, just enough to release a bit of fragrance.
- Finely chop the toasted pumpkin seeds (or hazelnuts). When using pumpkin seeds, I just pulse them two or three times in my electric spice mill, and don’t worry about the few left whole.
- Toast the cumin seeds and the coriander seeds, separately, in a small heavy skillet just until fragrant. Watch carefully, and remove immediately, lest they burn.
- Crush the seeds using a mortar and pestle, or by pulsing an electric spice grinder. They should be coarse, and not fine.
- Combine all of the ingredients in the mortar and pestle and pound lightly a few times. Give the blend a few final good stirs, to combine. It will smell divine.
- Store any leftover dukkah in the refrigerater, tightly covered.
- Enjoy!! ;o)
- N.B. A more casual treat is simply to slather a bit of aioli on a piece of homemade sandwich or other bread, then cover with a layer of hard cooked eggs, then a few generous pinches of dukkah, and then another slice of bread. Voila! The tastiest egg sandwich you will have eaten in a long time.
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