Keep it simple, stupid

My contribution to our picnic in the park was egg salad.  I was to bring the egg salad and good bread to put it on.  After Sheila asked me to bring it, she did a little double-check to make sure my egg salad recipe was acceptable.  I would have done the same.

Egg salad (potato salad, too) falls into this weird category in the food world.  Most people love egg salad, but they are very picky about what should and shouldn't be in it.  I'm no different.  It has to taste a certain way or it isn't really egg salad.  You don't want too much mayo, or it's just a gloopy mess.  But, you have to have enough to hold it together.

The list things that should not be in egg salad is long. Sweet pickle relish tops the list, closely followed by cheese, celery, onion, and olives. I could go on, but space is limited.

Thankfully, most of my picnicking friends and I agree on what egg salad should taste like.  I've tried it with a bunch of different 'extras' in there.  But my Auntie Faith's motto holds true for egg salad just as well as most other topics..."Keep it simple, stupid!"

So, without further ado, here's my recipe for egg salad.  Hope you like it.

Egg Salad

INGREDIENTS

1	doz boiled eggs*
	Salt
	Pepper
3-4	t chopped fresh dill
2-4	T mayonnaise (it has to be Best Foods)

Directions

1.     Peel boiled eggs and cut into small dice.  Place in a large mixing bowl.

2.     Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

3.     Add fresh dill.  Toss gently together.

4.     Add mayonnaise and mix well.

5.     Serve on study bread (like OroWheat’s Honey Wheatberry) with lettuce (if desired).

*A perfectly boiled egg is another topic altogether, but I'll include it here because it is one of the most important things to get 'right' when making egg salad.  It's a delicate balance between 'not quite done' and that gray-green ring around the yolk.  This is the way I make a perfectly boiled egg on my electric stove.  If you have a gas stove, this timing will not work.  Just experiment one egg at a time, you'll figure it out.  And maybe you can post your findings as a comment below.

Perfectly boiled eggs are no accident.  Start with a shallow pan (single-layer egg height) filled with cold water.  Add cold eggs until you can't fit anymore in.  If you need more eggs than that for your recipe, just do this more times or change to a larger (but not deeper) pan.  Place pan on a cold burner.  Turn burner on medium heat and let come to a boil. As soon as it boils (this is easier to detect if you have pans with whistling lids like I do), turn the burner off and set a timer for 10½ minutes. When timer goes off, pour off the hot water and fill pan with cold water. Wait about 30 seconds and repeat until water stays cold. Peel eggs right after cooling them. This is when they peel easiest.