Whether it be for one or eight, egg salad is easy to make and certainly a crowd-pleaser.  It’s amazing what spending a little time on an otherwise ordinary ingredient can do to bring it to the next level.  Take canned tuna.  Dreadfully boring on its own, a little mayonnaise, some celery, relish, onion, and egg transform it into something special.  So it is with the egg.  I have nothing against a plain hard-boiled egg, but why eat that when you can spend just a couple more minutes and have egg salad. 

 While my weekday lunches consist of grilled cheese, peanut butter and jelly, and reheated leftovers, on the weekends  I like to spend a little more time on my lunch.  Recently egg salad sandwiches have been a favorite on Saturdays with a slice of ripe tomato between two pieces of toasted homemade bread.  It’s comfort food that is inexpensive and easy to make.  

 I include a simple recipe for egg salad below, but feel free to add or change ingredients to suit your taste.  Green onions would be yummy and would add some nice color, different herbs could most certainly be substituted for the thyme, and finely chopped celery or red pepper would give the salad crunch.  Have an idea for an ingredient but worried it won’t taste good?  Add a small amount of the ingredient to a spoonful of the egg salad and taste before committing to the whole batch.  Of course, this recipe can be doubled, tripled or quadrupled, but I think it’s nice to have a recipe for one.  After all, sometimes it’s worth the extra effort to make a meal just for you.

Egg Salad for One

 2 large eggs
1 tablespoon finely chopped onions or shallots
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper, to taste

1.  Put eggs in a small saucepan and cover with cold water.  Place on stove over high heat and bring to a full boil.

2.  Once boiling, cover pan and remove from heat.  Allow eggs to sit in water, covered, for 15 minutes.

3.  Run cold water over eggs until cool.  Using the palm of your hand, crack egg and roll on counter to crack remaining shell (this makes it easier to peel). 

4.  Peel the eggs and roughly chop.

5.  In a small bowl, combine chopped eggs, chopped onions, thyme leaves, mayonnaise, mustard, and red wine vinegar.

6.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve on a bed of lettuce or on good bread with a slice of ripe tomato.