My first memory of eggs goes way back to my days of half day kindergarten when I would get off the school bus just around the time Dad would get home for lunch and we would all eat together. Dad often had fried eggs, sunny side up with toast while I enjoyed my favorite lunch of cream of mushroom soup with toasted cheese sandwich.
Not a big fan of eggs back then....I do remember only wanting the hard boiled yolk with salt and being repulsed by the white. Fast forward many years and I joined the ranks of egg fans. Best breakfast: scrambled eggs on the dry side, (hate slimy eggs!), side of bacon or ham or sausage, toast with lots of berry jelly and butter. Then, I moved onto the omelet...a little more flair...with veggies and different cheeses.... home fries, well done and still with the toast and butter and lots of berry jelly!
I did not indulge often in this breakfast or brunch fare until I became pregnant. What I craved, more than anything on this planet were egg and cheese sandwiches...on toast, on English muffins, on bagels....I would get up in the late hours of the night and wee hours of the morning and start making egg and cheese sandwiches. Just had to have them....no ice cream and pickles for this gal!
Fast forward a few months, one beautiful daughter later, I was still lugging around baby fat (more likely egg and cheese fat) and my cholesterol was through the roof!!! Eventually lost the weight and got the cholesterol reading to a manageable number, but my heart still pines for eggs.
In fact when I came home from the hospital, my Mother came and spent a week with us, helping and cooking and my requested lunch was always egg salad...
...which is what I made today. Egg salad that makes me VERY HAPPY is more like a spread than chunks of eggs...(maybe that way I do not have to deal with the "yucky white"). I use a masher or ricer to make the egg bits very fine, add a dollop of mayo, salt & pepper and we're good to go. Today, I added a little bit of minced onion and finely chopped celery and chipotle. It offered a bit of a tang and was very good. My error was not nuking the onion before hand, so now I must deal with repeating onions. The nuking seems to take away the gassiness.
'Love egg salad with thick slices of tomato and iceberg lettuce leaves and lots of pepper on a hard roll! mmmm....
From The Kosher Gourmet, it is suggested that hard cooked eggs get chopped very finely. Then, blend with melted butter (yes...melted butter!!) or mayo to a paste-like consistency, seasoning to taste with dry mustard, salt & freshly ground pepper.
In Too Busy to Cook from Bon Appetite, I found:
Curried Egg Salad Spread.
8 water chestnuts, chopped
6 hard cooked eggs, chopped
1/4 to 1/2 cup mayo
2 green onions, chopped
1 teas curry powder (or to taste)
1/2 teas Worcestershire sauce
salt & freshly ground pepper
Combine all ingredients and blend well. Cover & chill until ready to serve.
In The Artists'Cookbook, Lilian Dodd offers her egg salad recipe:
3 hard boiled eggs, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1 large Spanish onion (diced)
1 sour cucumber (diced)
Salt & pepper
Teas. of mayo
Teas. of vinegar
1 oz grated Cheddar
Combine the diced eggs, tomatoes, onion and sour pickle. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the mayo and vinegar, mixing gently trying not to breakup the ingredients. Chill in refrigerator for several hour and sprinkle grated cheese on top before serving.
This recipe sound really good except for the diced eggs....as mentioned previously, I'd need to mash the eggs, but the rest of the ingredients would offer a tasteful melange.
Well that's it for today. Hope to visit soon!
