This month ARWB is celebrating our good friend, Great Day Farms. Thanks for all you do for us.
Egg salad sandwiches are a potent food memory from my childhood.
Saturdays meant taking fishing trips with my dad. We got out of bed way before dawn, driving a couple of hours to a farm pond and a quiet day on a boat. Dad’s years in the Army reserve were enough to instill in him an appreciation for rationing food; slowly dolling out snacks and drinks on fishing trips was part of the tradition.
For these excursions, Mom would prepare and chill egg salad sandwiches, my favorite. A morning spent on the water waiting for fish to bite makes for a hungry child. When lunchtime arrived (always later than it should have), I was beyond ready to eat. Dad would pull the sandwich out of the cooler and hand it to me with carrot sticks and potato chips, crunchy compliments to the soft texture of egg salad and bread.
I suspect my love for egg salad is because of how delicious food tastes when a person is hungry. I’ve never tired of eating egg salad, and I make it occasionally for sandwiches and as a topper for crackers. My mom’s recipe was simple, though I never saw her read it from a cookbook. She and I have changed it a little over the years to improve on the original.
Tips for great egg salad sandwiches:
- Use quality white bread. This comes down to personal taste, of course, but I give you permission to toss any adherence to whole grains and use a hearty sourdough or French-like loaf.
- Toast the bread. If you’re packing a lunch, the moisture and consistency of egg salad makes for a soggy sandwich on regular bread. Toasting bread first helps it hold its own.
- Cut your sandwich after spreading on the salad and before putting on the top piece of toast. Spread the egg salad on one piece of toast, cut that part of the sandwich with a sharp knife (and the top piece of toast to match) and assemble. This keeps the salad from spilling out over the sides.
- Outsource the boiling and peeling of eggs. Don’t let the cumbersome process hold you back. Sometime after the third child arrived, I started purchasing hard-boiled eggs from Great Day Farms, peeled and ready to eat. My children like hard-boiled eggs, and spending a few more cents is worth it.
- Reserve one hard-boiled egg. If the salad ends up too moist, you can always add some of the egg.
- 6 Great Day Farms hard-boiled eggs
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 to 3 tablespoons mustard
- ¼ cup diced sweet pickles
- 1/8 to ¼ cup sweet pickle juice (straight from the pickle jar)
- 1 teaspoon mayonnaise (optional)
- 1 handful of panko bread crumbs (optional)
- Using a large fork or pastry cutter, slice and break up the eggs into large crumbs.
- Mix in salt and pepper.
- Add mustard, pickles, and pickle juice. Mix well.
- If the egg salad is a bit dry, add the mayonnaise if you’re using it or a little more pickle juice. If your salad is too moist or watery, add that reserved egg. If it’s still a little wet, add a handful of panko breadcrumbs.
Getting to Know our ARWB Foodies
Rhonda Franz
Captain Mom
What food reminds you of childhood?
Aside from egg salad sandwiches, I remember eating peaches fresh off the tree. Every summer, my mom would take my sister and me to an orchard outside of town where we picked the peaches ourselves. A trailer took us from the parking lot out to the trees, where we filled our bushel baskets. Customers were allowed to eat a peach or two from the trees, the most delicious (and messiest) thing ever. It was years before my sister and I ate a peach from a grocery store, and when we did, we couldn’t believe it was the same food.
What is your favorite international cuisine?
I’ve always loved eating Mexican food. I learned more about cooking it from Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen Cookbook, and was able to eat at his restaurant when I visited a friend in Chicago. I also learned a lot while teaching school in a Mexican community in Wichita. My favorite foods are enchiladas, streettacos, and salsa with avocado.
What is always in your refrigerator at home?
Eggs. I eat eggs each day for breakfast, use eggs in cooking for my three children and husband. We go through about three dozen a week.
What is your most used cookbook?
All of my cookbooks are well-used, but I go through periods where I’m using one or two more than the others. Recently, I’ve been picking up the cookbook put together by the church I grew up in. No one knows how to feed peoplewell like Baptists cooking for a potluck.
What is your favorite kitchen gadget?
My garlic mincer. I purchased it at a kitchen store in downtown Eureka Springs.
Do you have a favorite food indulgence?
Stovetop-popped popcorn. It’e embarrassing how much I can eat in one sitting.
What is your go-to ingredient that you use time and time again?
Fire-roasted diced tomatoes. They liven up any dish that calls for tomatoes.
What is your favorite food meal to cook at home?
Pasta soup. My whole family loves it, and it’s easy to prepare in my slow cooker.
What is a cooking tip that you would like to share with beginning cooks?
Keep an eye and ear out for any information about cooking. I’ve learned several useful things from short cooking segments on television, and from leafing through magazines in the checkout aisle.
When you’re not cooking, what are your favorite pastimes?
Reading, writing, playing guitar, singing, taking long walks, hiking. About once a week or so, I like to plop myself down in front of a movie and eat a big bowl of popcorn.
What else would you like us to know about you?
Except for breakfasts, I’m not good with planning out meals every week. My husband is a pilot, and with his inconsistent and unpredictable work schedule, it’s hard to commit to certain meals on certain nights. I am trying to get better at this, however.
Connect with Rhonda:
Enjoyed this, Rhonda!
We eat a lot of eggs at our house, too, but we grow our own, so hardly ever buy. If I do have to, it is so important to go for good quality, as I see you already know! 🙂