The real recipe for deviled egg, prosciutto

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CONCORD, N.H. -- That's what I get for admitting my mistakes.It seemed such an innocent idea for a column -- vegetarian deviled eggs with prosciutto. I accidentally forgot that prosciutto isn't vegetarian.

It was all in the name of research. I'd found a recipe for deviled eggs, a dish of which I am quite fond. The editors of the magazine that printed it said these eggs were so good they would reimburse anyone who made them the cost of the ingredients.

Up for the challenge, I called Larry, my trusty food photographer, and asked him to pick up the ingredients as he headed to the photo shoot -- ingredients that included prosciutto, cured uncooked Italian ham.

Even after writing this column -- which since I clearly blanked on it at the time, I should point out is dedicated to vegetarian cooking -- for nearly five years, for some reason it didn't occur to me that pork products weren't the best choice.

It was only after I had boiled the eggs and was about to chop the prosciutto that Larry pointed out that, well, in nicer language than I recall him using, I was an idiot.

In an effort to salvage the shoot, I turned the eggs into egg salad and wrote the column.

Well, you would have none of that.

"... Give us the recipe for the deviled eggs," one somewhat irate reader wrote. "Or at least the magazine that published it."

Meanwhile, a woman in Toronto exchanged about a dozen e-mails with the editors of her local paper as they collectively tried to track down first the deviled eggs recipe, then me.

Editors at newspapers around the country e-mailed me, saying readers had called or written to request the recipe.