Egg Salad No. 1

This is the time of year where all my online feeds fill up with egg salad sandwiches. Which I hate. Well, used to hate.

I�ve mentioned here before that my whole life I had a major hate-hate relationship with eggs, until about five years ago. Now it�s sort of love-hate. I eat a ton of eggs. Love �em over medium, baked, scrambled, and sometimes even hardboiled. But I still have a few weird leftover hang-ups from my egg hating days. Like, I don�t want to eat eggs that other people prepare. And I don�t like watching other people eat eggs. And until this week, I hated egg salad sandwiches.

My egg salad memories from childhood are squishy and smelly. Amanda loved the things, and would really disgustingly eat them in front of me since she knew it grossed me out. Since egg salad is all over the place around Easter, I started a little convo about it on Facebook. And, kind of to my surprise, it turned out that everyone loves egg salad sandwiches.

You guys also told me on the 'book that you like dill and green olives in your egg salad. I decided to work with that. But I was still a little nervous, picturing a smelly, mushy mound of squishy egg salad, so I decided to go the deconstructed route: baguette slices with tangy green olive and mustard tapenade, micro greens, sliced hard-boiled eggs, and dilly mayo. 

GUYS! This is actually good. Really good! Hey egg salad, I�m not afraid of you anymore! You hear that? I�m not afraid of you! Sorry, quick Home Alone tangent. Anyway, my first foray into egg salad gave me enough courage to try a mixed up version� today you get deconstructed, and later we�re doing a little somethin� somethin� with everyone�s favorite bright red hot sauce. Stay tuned for that one!

Deconstructed Egg Salad Sandwiches

1/2 cup mayo 

2 tablespoons fresh dill

Sea salt

1.5 cups green olives

2 teaspoons grainy dijon mustard

Hardboiled eggs

Baguette slices

Micro greens (I like the Trader Joe's micro greens, but sprouts or spring greens work too)

Dill fronds
Sliced chives

Salt & pepper

Add mayo, dill, and a pinch of salt to blender, and blend until combined. Taste, and add more dill or salt as needed. Scoop into a dish. Once blender is thoroughly scraped out, add olives and mustard, and blend until combined and chunky, but not totally pureed. Scoop into a separate dish. 

For each baguette slice, spread a bit of the mustard tapenade, add a handful of micro greens, sprouts, or other greens, a layer of thinly sliced hard boiled eggs, a pinch of salt and pepper, a drizzle of the mayo (I add mine to a ziplock baggie with the corner cut out to pipe), chives, and a bit of fresh dill. Make as many as your heart desires! 

Papa's Marinated Green Olives

THANKSGIVING! Just a few weeks away! I have a few recipes that you can adopt for your Thanksgiving table this year, and the first is so, so perfect: a simple little snack that also happens to be a really special family recipe for Evan. 

Every time Evan and his family visited his paternal grandparents, his grandpa, Frank "Papa" Piro made his signature marinated olives. Evan said these olives were always a highlight of the trip. And he said that as a kid, he was amazed that his Papa could make olives, he had no idea how he did it! PS. Evan was a really cute little boy, and this is my favorite picture on Earth. Those sandals! 

Unfortunately, I never had the chance to meet Papa or Mamo Piro, but luckily I get to hear tons of great stories from Evan and his family, and we ended up with a copy of the recipe for Papa's Olives! 

These are so easy and flavorful�just a jar of store-bought green olives, marinated in garlic, red pepper flakes, olive oil, and oregano. We like to make a jar and just keep them in the fridge for snacking, but they would be such a perfect addition to the Thanksgiving feast�a simple snack you can prepare ahead of time, before you get all crazy with the turkey and ninety seven side dishes. 

Thanksgiving is for giving thanks, so this one, this thank you is to Evan's family, for making me one of their own, being supportive and caring and welcoming to my family, letting me whisk Evan away all the time, sending me awesome hilarious childhood pics (Thanks Mary Ellen!), and for sharing their amazing history and traditions with me. And for these olives.

Papa's Olives

You can make these right in the jar they came in, or if you buy canned olives, just mix it up in a bowl or other jar! The flavors intensify as they sit and meld, but feel free to add more garlic, pepper flakes, etc, as your tastes desire! 

1 6-7 oz jar or can of green olives, drained

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon dried oregano

Add garlic, pepper flakes, olive oil, and oregano to jar, and shake to mix well. For a pretty presentation, serve in a little dish, or transfer to cute jars for gifts (!!).