Sunday, October 11, 2020

Egg Salad with Capers, Dill, and Lemon

The eggs salad sandwich brings back childhood memories. If you grew up in the 60s, this was probably part of your school lunch or a simple dinner from time to time. Likely served on Wonder bread to boot. Although every mother may have had her twist on the recipe, I am certain all of our childhood egg salads were more alike than unique. The allure of egg salad continues to this day. If you search of egg salad on the internet, you will find that nearly every one of them has the word "classic" in the title as if it would be unheard of the vary egg salad or try something new. 

I have a few paper notebooks where I tape recipes from magazines or newspapers that look interesting to me. I was looking through them trying to find some simple meals I could make for a friend going through chemo and radiation. This recipe caught my eye and I decided to give it a trial run. 

While waiting for the eggs to cool after hard boiling them, I was trying to decide how to chop the eggs. The recipe suggested using a potato masher but I don't have one of those. So I decided to use the wooden bowl and knife set I got as a Christmas present. The set is from Holland Bowl Mill out of Holland, Michigan and they make high quality wooden bowls and they also have the Mezzaluna knife. The bowl features the chopping knife designed to work right in the bowl. The idea is that you can chop your green salad right in the salad bowl. In addition to salads, it turned out to that the bowl and the scalloped knife was the perfect way to chop the eggs. 

This recipe still has a lot of same ingredients as the classic egg salad but it does have some new twists.

Egg Salad with Capers, Dill, and Lemon

Ingredients:

  • Mayonnaise - 1/2 cup
  • Capers - 4 tbsp. rinsed and chopped
  • Dijon mustard - 4 tsp.
  • Dill - 4 tsp. fresh chopped
  • Lemon zest - from 1 medium to large lemon
  • Eggs - 8 hard cooked, peeled and chopped
  • Radishes - 2-4 thinly sliced
  • Romaine lettuce leaves - 4 washed, dried, and cut to fit
  • Buns - 4 high quality buns (ciabatta, brioche, etc.)
  • Salt - start with a generous pinch 
  • Black pepper - 1/2 tsp. 
Instructions:
  • Hard boil eggs and let cool.
  • In a medium bowl whisk together mayonnaise, capers, mustard, dill, and lemon zest.
  • In a separate bowl, coarsely chop eggs.
  • Thinly slice radishes.
  • Add chopped eggs to mayonnaise mixture and stir to mix. Add black pepper and salt to taste. 
  • Cut buns in half and place cut side up on a cookie sheet. Broil in an oven until lightly toasted. 
  • Spread some egg salad mixture on the bottom layer bun. Top with sliced radishes and lettuce. Top with more egg salad and add the top bun.
  • Serves 4