By The Covered Dish
Debbie Dance Uhrig
Brought to you by your neighborhood market
Harter House Supermarkets
and
Harter House World Flavors
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How do you eat egg
salad? Well, I've been digging around
and asking folks, here are some suggestions on how to enjoy this dish:
1. Between two pieces of white bread, lettuce
added, maybe a thin slice of tomato.
2. With Crackers or inside celery.3. In a canapé.
4. Stuffed inside a large tomato as a full meal.
5. Piped into small cherry tomatoes.
Is there anything specific
that goes in egg salad? Well, boiled
eggs are a must, ha!
I always use a pickle of some sort. Usually I don't use dill; I'll pull out sweet or bread and butter most frequently. Pimento is a nice choice for color. For added zip consider horseradish and different mustards, small green onions, celery, olives, and sweet peppers. In the spice department I sometimes like to take egg salad down the curry road for a different twist. Paprika, peppers, garlic powder and different salts can also add their own zing.
How you approach your dressing is all based upon personal choice. If I'm in a hurry I just chop the eggs and pickles and throw in mayonnaise and pickle juice and that's it! If I want a more glamorous approach I will reserve 3 or 4 egg yolks and blend them into the dressing. This gives a nice color and taste to the entire salad. You will note that I did not use any sugar in the dressing. Sometimes you'll find cooks added just a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to the dressing. I was going to use a 'bit' of mustard in this recipe, but I enjoyed the taste without, so it was omitted.
Today when I chopped the
eggs I chopped them using my egg slicer turning the eggs both ways. This gave my salad a more uniform look versus
a free hand chop.
One of my biggest tips is
directed towards the boiling of the eggs.
Your salad will look and taste better if you don't overcook the
eggs. My usual process is as follows: Place eggs in cold water with 1-2 teaspoons
of salt bringing eggs to a hard boil for ten minutes. Remove from heat, drain off water and replace
with cold water. Shake the eggs around a
bit cracking the shells. Allow to cool
in the cold water. The water will find
its way under the shell easing the removal later. *Overcooked eggs turn green around the outer edges. The longer they're overcooked the greener
they will get. Regarding the salt in the
boiling water: Many feel the salt added
to the water helps the shell comes off easier.
Another method for boiling
eggs is to bring the eggs to a hard boil, put a lid over the pot and then turn
off the heat. Leave eggs for about 20
minutes, and then cool. I have never
preferred this method.
Let's get to the recipe,
it's easy, very tasty and oh so comforting.
Simply Yours, The Covered Dish.
Egg Salad 101(Reserve 3 yolks for the dressing.)
1/2 cup finely chopped bread and butter pickles
1 tablespoon 'finely' chopped sweet onion
Dressing
3 reserved egg yolks1 cup mayonnaise1/8 cup pickle juice1/2 teaspoon Black Kettle
Seasoning, (Substitute with a nice all-purpose seasoning salt.)1/8 teaspoon ground white
pepper
Yields: 5 cups of salad
Hard boil the eggs,
cooling in cold water. For uniformity
chop the eggs using an egg slicer.
Reserve 3 yolks for the
dressing. Chop the eggs, pickles and
onion and combine in a bowl. Using a
fork crumble the 3 egg yolks then add the remaining dressing ingredients. Make the mixture extremely smooth. Consider using a submersible hand blender to
make it very creamy. Gently stir the
dressing into the eggs, pickles and onions.
Place in a container with a tight fitting lid. Yum...
*If you don't want an abundance of egg salad certainly
cut the recipe in half.
