Egg Salad Sandwich

Most of us have done it one time or another. I am guilty of it. We ask ourselves, why did we do it? We try to rationalize as much as we can, but no matter what we do, we’re stuck with it.

What am I talking about?

Buying more than we need, just because it’s cheaper.

Aside from tomatoes, the one item that I almost always overbuy when I go to the supermarket are eggs. Why? Because a package of 10 eggs is cheaper per piece compared to the smaller box with 6 eggs. And every single time, I would tell myself, oohh I can do so much with those eggs! I can bake with them, prepare frittata, make egg noodle soup… Yeah right. I use half at best and forget about the rest.

After a week, I start to feel guilty. Each time I open my refrigerator and I see them, sitting there on the shelf. If they could talk, they would probably say, “Put us out of our misery and use us!”

One sure fire delicious way of using these week old eggs would be to prepare Egg Salad sandwiches.

MATERIALS and METHODS

Egg Salad Sandwich (makes one)

1 Mix all ingredients in a small bowl such that the eggs are covered with the mayonnaise and chives.

2 Add salt and pepper (and sugar if you added it) and mix up until the taste of the mayonnaise is somewhat homogenous.

3 Prepare the bread. You can put the lettuce leaf on one slice at this point. Spread the egg salad on the lettuce leaf or directly on the bread. Cover with the other slice and serve.

DISCUSSION

Boiling the egg.I used to not think about how I prepared a hard boiled egg. I put it in a pot of water and boil until I think the egg is cooked. Because I’m one of those people who need security, I cook that baby for 30 minutes. Two things would always happen: The egg shell would crack and the yolk would have a greenish surface. Enough of that!

I revised the way I make hardboiled eggs. I take some week old eggs from the refrigerator and I put them directly in a pot. I put enough cold water up until the water level is 1 inch above the eggs. I let the water boil with the pot uncovered. Once the water has boiled, I lower the temperature to low and leave it like that for 2 minutes. I turn the stove completely off, I cover the pot and leave it on the hot plate for an additional 10 minutes. The cooked eggs are then placed in very cold water to stop the cooking process.

Sometimes my eggs would still crack. Why, I don’t know. This is not very important when preparing the egg salad, because the eggs will be cut into small pieces anyway. For other egg dishes, e.g. deviled eggs or Son-in-Law eggs, which require pristine egg surfaces, care must be taken when boiling the eggs. Addition of salt or vinegar to the water helps prevent the breaking of the shell during cooking.

Spicing it up. I’ve seen some recipes which add curry powder or Dijon mustard into the egg salad mix. I personally do not like the bite that these two flavors give the egg salad. when I prepared the egg salad on the photo, I sprinkled a little bit of curry powder, hence the yellow specks on the mayonnaise. It’s not a flavor that I’m used to and it’s also not a mix that I liked. I’m already good with the small amount of sugar that gives that tiny hint of sweetness to the flavor.

How much mayo? There is no real rule about how much mayonnaise should be in the egg salad. It’s a matter of taste. Some people like their egg salad mayo-y, while others would like less of it due to dietary constraints. I made my recipe simpler in that there is a 1:1 ratio between the number of eggs and the amount of mayonnaise used. It gives the necessary creaminess without putting too much in. It’s also idiot-proof to scale up.

CONCLUSION
Egg salad sandwiches make good lunches for hot summer days. If you prepare a good batch, you can use some for sandwiches and the rest you can eat by itself. And if you add that lettuce, you have a complete meal with all the necessary food groups all in one tiny sandwich.