Devilled Eggs

Before you start, take the eggs out of the fridge if that’s where you keep them, and leave them for an hour or so to come up to room temperature. To make the eggs, take a large pan (or two smaller ones) and half fill with water, then bring to the boil. Use a spoon to lift the eggs into the pan one at a time, then bring the pan back to the boil. Reduce the heat to a high simmer and cook for 8 minutes.

When the eggs have almost had their time, take a large mixing bowl or deep dish and fill it with very cold water. When they’re ready, use a slotted spoon to lift each egg out of the pan and into the bowl of cold water, then leave them to cool for 10-15 minutes before draining. Next, tap the eggs gently but firmly on a work surface and roll to crack the shells, then peel them carefully (making sure each egg stays whole). Rinse off any clinging bits of shell under the cold tap.
Take a clean mixing bowl, then cut each egg in half lengthwise and carefully take out the yolks, dropping them into the bowl. Choose the 18 best-looking halved egg whites, and arrange them on a serving plate (the recipe produces leftover egg whites because it takes additional yolks to make enough filling – the spare whites will make a nice sandwich filling if chopped and mixed with mayo and salt and pepper).

Half-fill and boil your kettle. Add the mayonnaise, English mustard, a teaspoon of salt, the cayenne pepper, a few grinds of black pepper and the quarter-teaspoon of paprika to the egg bowl, then mash with a fork. Add the oil, and if you have a stick blender, use it to blend the mixture until smooth and thick (or just keep mashing really thoroughly with a fork). Check you are happy with the seasoning, stirring through a little more mustard or cayenne if you’d like a bit more heat, then add hot water from the kettle one tablespoon at a time, stirring well, until the egg mixture has a smooth, pipeable consistency. If you have a piping bag, fit it with a star nozzle and spoon the egg mixture into the bottom of the bag. Pipe a fat rosette into each of the egg-white halves (if you’re not using a piping bag, just spoon a neat dollop into each half), then sprinkle each egg lightly with the seaweed pearls and scatter over a few of the snipped chives before serving.