Fresh Friday

I decided to stick with my 'egg' theme for the week and feature an often sneered-at variation of the egg, the Egg Salad sandwich. Even I cringe at the thought of one, they smell funky, look a little something that's been regurgitated on bread and are often overloaded with mayo.

Dave is the first person that I can remember meeting that regularly orders an egg salad sandwich when we're in a deli or bagel shop. I eventually nibbled on some of his egg salad and didn't mind it, not something I'd order though. In general, I've never been a big fan of eggs cooked in any fashion. So I was surprised when I found an egg salad sandwich that I loved. It was in Starbucks of all places! In some Starbucks (not here in State College,) you can get ready made sandwichs. The ones I've had are pretty good. I think its a combination of the bread and the egg salad they use that makes it so good. I examined the ingredients on the packaging in an attempt at figuring out what their secret was. Of course, I had no idea what, besides egg and mayo, went into egg salad. The best I could come up with was eggs, mayo, salt and paprika. So that where I began my first attempt at egg salad.

The first round came out waaaaay too salty! The next came out pretty good, but was still not the same. Several attempts later, I think I have something that's pretty good. I don't care for the taste of the yolks so I disguard about half of the yolks.

As I mentioned earlier this week, boiling the egg is the hardest part. Timing is everything, too long and you will get that green/grey ring thing that surrounds the yolk in many hard boiled eggs. The key is to avoid over cooking, and to dunk the eggs in a bowl of icy water to stop the cooking after you remove them from the hot water.

Egg Salad:

8 large eggs
1-2 tablespoons mayonnaise
Salt and pepper (I recommend using kosher salt for better flavor)
1/8 teaspoon paprika
A tiny squeeze of lemon juice
1/2 bunch chives, chopped (or dill)
2 small handfuls of lettuce
8 slices of whole grain bread, toasted

Place the eggs in a pot and cover with cold water by a 1/2-inch or so. Bring to a gentle boil. Now turn off the heat, cover, and let sit for ten minutes. Have a big bowl of ice water ready and when the eggs are done cooking place them in the ice bath for three minutes or so - long enough to stop the cooking. Peel the eggs and place on a cutting board. (You could just mash them in a bowl, but I like mine a bit chunkier.) Dice the eggs into small chunks, about 1/4" wide. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper, then add the mayonaise.

Stir in the paprika and chives. Taste, and adjust the seasoning - adding more salt and pepper if needed. If you like a little crunch, add in 2 stalks of chopped celery.

To assemble each egg salad sandwich: place a bit of lettuce on a piece of toast, top with the egg salad mixture, and finish by creating a sandwich with a second piece of toast.

Enjoy!