Simple Spring Egg Salad

Egg salad reminds me a lot of lunches at my grandparents when I was little. A visit to their house on the weekend usually happened around lunchtime and that meant sandwiches. I really can’t recall ever having anything BUT sandwiches. We never had leftovers for lunch or whatever was lying around in the fridge. If there was a leftover, like meatloaf, it went into a sandwich. Some salad maybe if it was summer and Pop-Pop’s vegetable garden was in full swing, but alongside a sandwich. Always sandwiches.

And it wasn’t just the sandwiches, it was the whole preparation which went into making the sandwiches. The noon whistle would blow at the firehouse. Pop-Pop would put the radio on to hear the news and Paul Harvey. Grandma would get everything out. Maybe even go down to the basement to get a jar of bread and butter pickles she canned the previous fall. Pop-Pop would then slice the bread on a bread board which slid out of the counter like a drawer. He always cut the bread. This was back when there was still a bakery in town which made good Italian bread, crusty on the outside but fluffy inside, and this is what our sandwiches were made of.

Bread cut, Grandma would assemble the sandwiches. Bologna, deviled ham, the aforementioned meatloaf, and occasionally egg salad (see, I made it back to the point). Of course I always wanted to be the one who got to slice the eggs in that old style mouse trap-like egg slicer. Her egg salad wasn’t fancy, pretty basic with maybe some salt and pepper, but was a light interior spread in between two fluffy pieces of bread. It’s a good food memory. I really liked those lunches.

Anyway, egg salad is something you can easily dress up with many different flavors. Truffle salt, olives, chives, peas, cheese, pickles, relish, etc. Do it up. The Spanish seem to get this. There always seems to be some sort of eggy salad item at tapas bars. It’s always pretty simple but the variations are endless. The incredible edible egg is your canvas. Get creative!

Egg Salad (2 sandwiches)

• 3 hard boiled eggs, peeled and diced
• 3 Tbs mayonnaise
• Watercress
• 1-2 Tbs diced red pepper
• 1-2 Tbs diced olives
• Good sandwich bread

In a bowl combine the eggs and mayonnaise and mix together. Stir in the remaining ingredients and incorporate well.

Spoon onto bread with some watercress for a deliciously light sandwich.