Now that Easter has passed and our eggs have been decorated, hidden, and found, we have a refrigerator full of eggs. Fortunately, we all like egg salad. We found a delicious recipe in the Gourmet Cookbook a few years ago that uses tarragon and shallots, and the combination is wonderful. We have adapted the recipe to suit ourselves, and it is now one of our regular weeknight meals. The hint of tarragon adds an unusal freshness and the shallots add a subtle onion flavor and texture without being overpowering. Although fresh tarragon is best, when it is not available at the store (like today), dried tarragon still works well. Because we often have it for dinner, this recipe makes enough to serve all five of us for dinner, with a bit left over for lunch.
The egg salad is very quick to prepare. If you have hard boiled eggs in the refrigerator, it will only take 10 or so minutes. Even if you have to cook the eggs, you can chop the shallots and tarragon while they cook, and you will have a delicious, filling meal in no time.
The children were a great help in preparing the dish. They love to use the egg slicer, and Olivia was a good peeler. We served the egg salad with thick slices of lightly toasted crusty bread and some wonderful microgreens from Chesapeake Greenhouse's stand at the Takoma Park farmer's market. These tiny greens are a mix of lettuces, harvested when they are small and tender. The mix includes arugula and red leaf lettuce and it added a great flavor and crunch to the creamy egg salad.
Today I planned to use up all of those Easter eggs, but the children wanted us to hide them for one last egg hunt. Luckily, I had an extra dozen. I think we'll be eating a lot of egg salad.
Adapted from the Gourmet Cookbook
Serves 6
10 minutes preparation time
20 minutes cooking time
1 dozen eggs
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh tarragon or 1 teaspoon dried, or more to taste
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
1/3 cup mayonnaise
3 teaspoons white wine or champagne vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Bread for serving
Microgreens or other garnish for serving
If you need to cook the eggs, place them in a suacepan and cover generously with water. Bring the water to a boil, and let it boil for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and let the eggs sit for 15 minutes. Drain the water and run cold water over the eggs for a few minutes until they cool.
Peel the eggs and dice them into small pieces. Add the remaining ingredients, taste to see if you need more seasoning or tarragon, and serve. Enjoy!
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Few things beat the egg slicer for fun in the kitchen!
Posted by: Andrea | April 14, 2009 at 11:17 AM