(my yummy egg salad on toasted sour dough!)
now that the eggy holidays are approaching and you may have lots of hard boiled eggs around, i am going to share my MAYO-FREE egg salad that i have recently (dare i say?) perfected! as someone who really loves egg salad (i have serious mid-western roots!) and who absolutely canNOT consume mayo (not even when it’s called “aioli,” not when it’s in a california roll, certainly not on a sandwich…) this has been a challenge. over the years i have tried different ways of making it and generally my egg salad was okay. but recently, i read how martha stewart made it for lunch on set one day when she was filming her show and now my egg salad is tip top.
MAYO-FREE EGG SALAD
a dozen hard boiled eggs (directions to follow)
1/4 cup homemade salad dressing (NO mayo - directions to follow)
1/4 cup dijon mustard, smooth
1/4 cup chopped up cornichon pickles
salt, pepper, paprika to taste
put all peeled and rinsed eggs in a large bowl (make sure to get all the weird “skins” off of them)
take a pastry tool to mash them all up (this is what i learned from martha!)
add the salad dressing and mustard. mix and mash well. add the pickles and seasonings to taste.
(this is my pastry dough tool. even though it is kind of wonky, it works really well to smash up the eggs)
HARD BOILED EGGS
place a dozen eggs in a large pot and just cover them in warm water. bring the water to a boil. once the water is boiling, set the timer for THREE minutes. off the heat when the timer buzzes, but leave the eggs in the water until it cools enough to peel the eggs
1/2 red onion chopped finely
1/3 C red wine vinegar
2/3 C good olive oil
1 big dollop of mustard (“pardon me, would you have any grey poupon?”)
salt and pepper to taste
put chopped onions in a bowl with the vinegar and cover… this is the KEY to the whole recipe. the longer the onions sit marinating, the more “pickled” and poignant they become. i try to do this first thing in the morning for an evening salad.
add olive oil, mustard, salt and pepper and transfer into something with a lid that you can really shake so it mixes well. this should make enough dressing for several salads. ENJOY!