Everyday the chickens and rooster, yes of course there has to be a rooster, roam from my neighbor's property onto mine. Sometimes I worry that I will run over them backing my car out of the driveway, but I have been reassured they will get out of the way. So far, they have. I would feel terrible if something were to happen to them as I have gotten to know these hens over the past year. Little do they know that their eggs have been responsible for turning most everything I have made from ordinary to extraordinary.
When putting the eggs in the refrigerator, I realized I had not yet made egg salad with these eggs. What was I thinking? What was I waiting for? Well the egg salad moratorium ended this weekend. I had forgotten how incredibly wonderful this egg salad recipe was. Word of caution here, not all egg salads are created equal. This one has just the right amount of creaminess, the right amount of bite from the freshly squeezed lemon juice and dijon mustard, and the right amount of crunch from the minced celery and onions. Yes, there is lemon juice in this egg salad recipe. I am beginning to think that next to salt, lemons are the next most incredible flavor enhancer. And yes, this recipe is as close to being the most over the top, insanely delicious egg salad you will ever want to eat. Seriously. I would say it is perfect, but I will let you decide for yourself. It is an egg salad that screams, that begs to be served on a hearty loaf of thickly sliced multi-grain or pumpernickel bread. But it is equally delicious and will not disappoint if you choose to eat it on white bread.
The eggs are put in a medium sized sauce pan or one large enough so the eggs have some room to move. You add enough cold tap water to the pan to cover the eggs by at by one inch. As soon as they come to a boil, you remove them from the heat and cover. Some say you let them rest for 10 minutes, some say 12 minutes, and some say 15 minutes. I let them rest in the pan for 15 minutes.
In order to stop the cooking process, the eggs are then transferred to a cold water bath and left to sit in it for five minutes before you begin to peel them. You should be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to peel these eggs.
There are egg salad recipes out there that call for finely chopping the eggs, for grating the eggs, for mashing the yolks. But this recipe calls for simply cutting the eggs in to a medium chunky dice. I don't know about you but I love seeing, tasting and the texture of the bites of egg yolk and egg whites in my egg salad. I first slice up the eggs and then do a rough chop.
Finely chopping and dicing the celery and onions are really important here. This egg salad wants you to experience the crunch of these vegetables, but doesn't want you to be overpowered by the taste of a piece of celery or onion as the eggs want to remain center stage. The onions and celery are there to add flavor and some additional texture.
Everyone has their dijon mustard preferences, mine is Maille. You can use Grey Poupon, but again I would encourage you to try the Maille, not just in this recipe but in every recipe calling for dijon mustard. The mayonnaise, mustard, freshly squeezed lemon juice, salt and pepper are added to the chopped eggs and stirred gently until combined.
I love eating this egg salad freshly made but it equally delicious cold. Don't wait until Easter is over to make egg salad out of all of those dyed hard boiled eggs. You will want to make this recipe before the holiday, you will want to make it year round, because this isn't your ordinary egg salad.
Recipe
Not Your Ordinary Egg Salad (slight adaptation of the Cook's Illustrated recipe, March 1999)
Ingredients
1 dozen large eggs, room temperature, organic if available
1/2 cup Hellman's mayonnaise
4 teaspoons Dijon mustard, recommend Maille
4 Tablespoons minced red onion, about half of a small red onion
6 Tablespoons finely chopped celery, about two stalks
4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt, plus an additional pinch
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
1 loaf of multigrain, pumpernickel, or other hearty bread
Directions
1. Place eggs in medium sized saucepan. Cover with one inch of water and bring to a boil.
2. Remove pan from heat, cover and let sit for 15 minutes.
3. Fill a medium sized bowl with ice cubes and water. Transfer eggs to ice water bath and let rest for up to 5 minutes.
4. Remove eggs from ice water bath. Cut into a medium dice.
5. Mix diced eggs with chopped celery, minced onion, mayonnaise, dijon mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Stir gently until well combined.
6. Serve on sliced bread, open face or as a sandwich.
7. If not serving immediately, cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
About a decade ago someone important to me was dealing with the impending loss of his father. Having had lost my father many years back, I knew that I wanted to show my support in ways other than words. So one day after work I came home and began to put together what I hoped would be a great 'comfort food' basket for him and his family. I was up cooking until 3 am but when cooking out of care for someone, you don't feel the exhaustion, only the energy. I don't remember everything I made for this basket, but I do remember making this egg salad recipe as I thought it be a perfect food to get everyone distracted, at least for a little while. Why do I remember this? Well there are some things I suppose I just remember.
Creating, making or bringing gifts of food to those I care about allows me to share a small part of myself with others. Often there are no words to show my support of someone or how important they are to me, so the gift of food is how I sometimes express my thoughts, my feelings, my thankfulness, my love. Sometimes these gestures make a difference and sometimes they matter to others, but regardless of their impact, they always matter to me.
