Turkey and the Wolf’s Deviled Egg Tostada Is an Instant Picnic Classic

When Turkey and the Wolf chef-owner Mason Hereford was creating the opening menu for his second New Orleans restaurant, Molly’s Rise and Shine, he thought a lot about which dishes qualify as breakfast. One of the answers he came up was the deviled egg tostada. As Hereford explains in his new cookbook Turkey and the Wolf: Flavor Trippin’ in New Orleans, “it’s a dish that takes a time-tested Mexican formula (tostada, beans, tasty stuff, salsa) and applies the flavors of Southern picnics and roadside stores.” While Hereford designed it for breakfast, his reference to Southern picnics echoes our belief that a deviled egg tostada is also a perfect picnic potluck food. All of the components can be made ahead of time and assembled on site, with each person making their own tostada. And while this recipe involves two additional sub-recipes, all of them simple and straightforward. Both the Gas-Station Bean Dip and the Peanut Butter Salsa Macha can be prepared well ahead of time. All that’s left is for you to put it all together, and eat.

Deviled Egg Tostadas Recipe

Makes 12

Ingredients:

Deviled Yolks:

Yolks from 12 hard-boiled eggs (feed the whites to your dog)
1⁄4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sour cream
1⁄4 cup plus 2 tablespoons finely crumbled cotija cheese
1⁄4 cup plus 2 tablespoons well-shaken buttermilk, plus more if you need it
1 juicy lime, halved
1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt (Diamond Crystal or about half as much Morton), or more if you like

Tostadas:

3⁄4 cup Gas-Station Bean Dip (recipe below)
12 store-bought tostadas
3⁄4 cup drained pickled banana pepper rings, roughly chopped
Some finely chopped red onion
1 1⁄2 cups lightly packed roughly chopped cilantro
3 juicy limes, for zesting and juicing
Peanut Butter Salsa Macha (recipe below), for serving

Instructions:

Step 1: Make the Gas-Station Bean Dip and Peanut Butter Salsa Macha ahead of time.

Step 2: Make the deviled egg yolks: In a food processor, process the yolks, sour cream, cheese, buttermilk, juice from half the lime, and salt to a smooth puree, about 30 seconds. Season with more lime juice and salt until you’re happy, and gradually blend in a little more buttermilk if the mixture seems too thick to spread onto the tostadas.

Step 3: Make the tostadas: Remove the bean dip from the fridge 10 to 15 minutes before you want to eat, so it softens up a bit for spreading. Evenly spread the deviled yolks across the tostadas (about 2 tablespoons each). Add some little dollops of the bean dip, about a table- spoon’s worth per tostada.

Step 4: Sprinkle on the banana peppers, onion, and then the cilantro. Use a Microplane to zest the limes over the tostadas, as evenly as you can. Halve a lime or two and squeeze them on. Spoon on that spicy-ass salsa macha, until you’re happy. Eat.

Gas-Station Bean Dip Recipe

Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients:

One 16-ounce can refried beans
1 tablespoon Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce
2 teaspoons Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder
Juice of 1⁄2 lime, or more if you like
Kosher salt

Instructions:

Step 1: Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and add salt and more lime juice until you’re happy. It keeps in the fridge for up to 10 days.

Peanut Butter Salsa Macha Recipe

Makes about 2 1⁄2 cups

Ingredients:

1 cup grapeseed oil or vegetable oil
5 garlic cloves, peeled
8 dried pasilla chiles, stemmed, slit open, and seeded
12 dried arbol chiles, stemmed, slit open, and seeded
1 cup chunky peanut butter (the natural stuff!)
2 teaspoons kosher salt (Diamond Crystal or about half as much Morton

Instructions:

Step 1: Combine the oil and garlic in a small, heavy pot (narrow enough so the oil submerges the garlic). Turn the heat to medium-high and cook until the garlic is golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to move the garlic to a bowl. Leave the oil in the pot and keep the heat on.

Step 2: Add the pasilla chiles, two or three at a time (they cook really quick, so be ready) to the hot oil and fry, holding them under with a strainer and using the strainer to pull them out as soon as they blister, 5 to 10 seconds. As they’re done, move them to the bowl with the garlic. Fry the arbol chiles in the same way until they darken slightly, 5 to 10 seconds, then move them to the bowl.

Step 3: Let the oil cool to warm, pour it into a food processor, and add the garlic and chiles. Buzz for about 20 seconds, then add the peanut butter and salt and buzz until pretty smooth, another 15 to 30 seconds. Now it’s done. It keeps in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Reprinted with permission from Turkey and the Wolf: Flavor Trippin’ in New Orleans by Mason Hereford with JJ Goode, copyright © 2022. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Photography copyright: William Hereford © 2022.