TUESDAY

Shredded Egg Salad  |  Smashed Avocado Bruschetta

I prepared this salad {dry, without any dressing} around lunchtime Tuesday, happy to be getting a jump on dinner when I had a few moments to spare as the afternoon was packed with activities.  My plan was to be able to come home, fluff and minimally dress the salad, and simply toast some bread…dinner would be done.  A glass of crisp sauvignon blanc and this wonderfully light salad was just the dinner we needed after two days of Irish feasting.   Best laid plans…

Apparently, and ever so silently, a small virus affixed itself {most likely} onto one of the children at school and moved in over the weekend, carefully taking up residence in each one of us and saving his grand appearance for Tuesday evening.  At school pick up, sniffles, watery eyes, scratchy throats and achy bodies were in abundance.  By the time Michael arrived home from work, it was clear that this little invader had, like a championship bowler, thrown a perfect strike knocking down every “pin” in our family.  Instead of sauvignon blanc that evening, Michael and I joined the children in a pot of herbal tea while this beautiful egg salad remained tucked in the fridge.  In its place, I prepared a quick batch of this soup {leaving out the chicken and adding more ginger and white pepper to free our stuffy noses}.  What seemed like the black plague on Tuesday evening turned out to be a mild cold and, after a gallon of hot tea, a bucket of that soup and a good night’s sleep, we declared victory over our little opponent.  I ended up enjoying this egg salad the following day for lunch with nothing more than a light drizzle of olive oil and a kiss of champagne vinegar.  Now, you may feel tempted to chalk this salad’s success up to my pure joy in the fact that not a single one of us was draped over a vaporizer with a triple digit temperature, but I am calling this one for what it is:  simple & tasty ingredients + a “genius ” method of preparation = one damn good salad!  And, with an overall texture as billowy as a cloud and a pretty color palette:  soft yellow, white, green and purple, it is the perfect salad to introduce you to on this first day of spring.

The original recipe at 101 Cookbooks {which I followed} can be found by clicking here.  The main cast of characters, in and of themselves, are not extraordinary, but rather the usual suspects you would expect to come across in an egg salad:  shallot, dill, radicchio, radish…

But, what does make this salad unique is its incredibly fluffy, light texture…not adjectives commonly used to describe traditional egg salads where the eggs have been smashed with a fork and then bullied around with either some yogurt or mayonnaise.  No, everything about this salad is light:  radicchio, dill and shallot are finely chopped and radishes are shaved to paper thinness.  As for the eggs…after being “gently” hardboiled {eggs are brought to a gentle boil and then removed from the heat, covered and allowed to sit and cook for several minutes}, removed to an ice bath and then peeled, they are grated on a box grater creating fluffy shreds as opposed to smashed crumbles…

Everything is then gently combined with your fingertips into this light, colorful salad…

And this is how it went into my refrigerator {covered} for safe-keeping on Tuesday evening.  Because there was no dressing, the salad emerged on Wednesday in perfect condition.  As I mentioned earlier, I first enjoyed some with just a drizzle of olive oil and a few drops of champagne vinegar, along with a spread of smashed avocado on toasted french bread slices…

But I have also tried it since with a dollop of organic yogurt on the side and was equally pleased…the dressing you choose really depends on the mood you are in and what you have a taste for at the time.  The beauty in this preparation is that the salad remains dry until serving and, even then,  the dressing is a minor player, relegated to the sidelines, rather than the star of the show.  Everyone can finish the salad as they see fit…a definite plus when I am feeding five different mouths, each with unique likes & dislikes.

One slight variation I made from Heidi’s recipe was that I chose to keep the radish slices as a garnish rather than tossing them into the salad.  For me, these relatively large {all be it, paper thin} circles just seemed out of place mixed in with those tiny bits of herbs, egg and lettuce.

This salad really is a celebration of Spring:  light, color and the anticipation of things to come.  Again, the recipe can be found with Heidi over here at 101 Cookbooks.  I hope you give it a try!