A Simple Egg Salad

Last Friday afternoon, I walked into my office with a towering stack of five full egg cartons in my arms. Having just come from my Friday farm egg pick-up, and knowing my car was a little too warm to keep them for the afternoon, I carefully set them down near the a/c vent to keep until I went home.

My sweet co-worker DeAnne did a double take. 

"So, what's with the eggs?" 

"Oh, my friend Steph raises chickens, so I buy eggs from her." 

"What are you going to do with all those eggs?"

"Eat them!" 

"Really? You eat that many eggs?" 

Looking down at my dozens of gorgeous brown, blue-green and white eggs, and considering the massive empty carton collection I just passed along to Steph, I realized, yes, we do eat A LOT of eggs. But they are incredibly versatile. Egg drop soup. Huevos rancheros. Spaghetti alla carbonara. Burgers with a fried egg on top. Plus, they are inexpensive even when buying the best right off the farm (re: I'm cheap), offer plenty of protein and some satiating fat (re: I'm hungry), and are easy-peasy to make (re: I'm lazy). So as a cheap, hungry, lazy person, yes, I love me some eggs. But no egg white omelets please - for me, that's a pointless waste of a perfectly good yolk, and really, yolks are delicious. I guess that makes me a cheap, hungry, lazy person with a discriminating palate?

How do we end up eating so many eggs? We often have a jar of pickled eggs in the fridge. Hard-boiled eggs are an easy snack for Ben. About once a week we're eating eggs for dinner, whether as a frittata or scrambled with rice and spinach, or fried to top off a big bowl of stir-fry. Even on weekdays I'll occasionally make eggs-in-a-frame for breakfast, and for lunch I often crave egg salad.

I've made egg salad so many times that I no longer reference a recipe for it. I rely on my egg salad instinct, and it's always a little different based on what I have on hand. For the record, here's my basic egg salad recipe. Lately I've preferred fresh lemon juice over vinegar, but sometimes I'll use vinegar instead. Sometimes I leave out the mustard, or use a different type of mustard. Sometimes I add a tiny pinch of sugar. Sometimes I may skip the vinegar and chop in pickles instead. Sometimes I'm feeling the need to add a little garlic. Sometimes I want some crunch and add celery. 

Egg salad: an artist's canvas. 

A Simple Egg Salad

My two favorite egg salad recipes come from Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook and Super Natural Every Day. I think of this as a mash-up of the two, with lots of potential for variation. 

4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and roughly chopped

2 Tbls. mayo, plain yogurt, veganaise or a mixture of those (for me, a little mayo and a little yogurt mixed together is perfect)

1 Tbls. chopped chives or scallions

A squeeze of lemon juice or a splash of white vinegar 

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Other optional add-ins: chopped celery, chopped pickles, about 1 tsp. mustard, a small pinch of sugar, a small amount of crushed garlic (or a touch of the garlic juice that you find in jars of pre-chopped garlic)

Combine the mayo, lemon juice, chives, and pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper. Add in chopped eggs and stir with fork, mashing the eggs as you go to desired consistency. Taste and add more seasoning or mayo as needed. Serve on toast or with Wasa crackers.