Dinner Tonight: Open-Faced Egg Salad And Watercress Sandwich
During the time I spent studying abroad in London, I became infatuated with the egg and watercress sandwiches you could buy pre-wrapped at the corner store. I loved how the simple ingredients were transformed into a unique package. Perhaps I loved them so because they were the cheapest possible meal I could find, but I came home with a real hankering for them in all their packaged glory.
I thought it would be easy to recreate them—it’s basically just eggs, mayonnaise, watercress, and bread. I attempted to crack the code a few years back, but something essential was missing and my early interpretations always ended up a tad too creamy and bland. This recipe from Saveur is much better. This recipe spikes that basic mixture with white wine vinegar and mustard, adding a wonderful contrast to the creamy mayo. It’s also advertised as an open-faced sandwich, which allows the watercress to play a more critical roll. But it’s just as good squeezed between two slices of bread.
About the author: Nick Kindelsperger is a co-founder of The Paupered Chef, a blog dedicated to saving time and money while enjoying food in every way possible. He sells wine for a living and lives in Columbus, Ohio.
Open-Faced Egg Salad and Watercress Sandwich
- serves 4 -
Ingredients
6 eggs
1/3 cup chives, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoon white wine vinegar
2 teaspoon dijon mustard
4 slices bread
Small bunch watercress
Procedure
1. Place the eggs in a large pot. Cover with cold water. Set over medium heat and cover with a lid. When it starts to boil, remove from heat and set aside for 10 minutes. Dump the warm water, and refill the pot with cold water. Let sit for 5 minutes or so, dump and refill again with cold water.
2. When cool to the touch, peel off the shells and roughly chop the eggs.
3. In a large bowl, gently combine the eggs, chives, and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Pour on the mayonnaise, vinegar, and mustard. Gently fold together.
5. Toast the bread.
6. Construct the sandwich. Pile the watercress on a slice of the toasted bread, and dollop the egg salad on top.
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8 Comments:
I LOVE egg salad, I was practically weaned on it. I like a richer, firmer egg salad these days so I substitute cream cheese for part of the mayo. Use a bit less than 1/3 cup of mayo and blend in one pkg of softened cream cheese for every dozen eggs. You can't use whipped, it's too watery and breaks down. Also full-fat please, none of that lite crap....
RichardCrystal at 4:38PM on 04/07/08
Egg salad is the only sandwich I'll eat open-face. I don't know why.
An interesting addition to egg salad is your favorite grated cheese.
srhcb at 11:18PM on 04/07/08
Love egg salad, however, I had to make it "skinny" to justify the love.
Here's my method:
2 yolks
4 whites
1 cup non-fat cottage cheese drained for 15 minutes
some dill
dijon to taste
I love to eat this on toast for breakfast with sliced tomato. Yum.
allie2dine at 11:29PM on 04/07/08
How about curried with diced apples and nuts?
Littlebluesiren at 12:13AM on 04/08/08
My father ate egg salad sandwiches when I was a child, of the mushy and flavorless variety. I made this and ate it tonight, and now I want to do a couple of things: make it again... and punch my old man in the face.
RYNRGSDL at 4:04AM on 04/08/08
Love egg salad. I like it really finely chopped/mashed with capers and tarragon (and mayo, of course).
Lilla at 8:16AM on 04/08/08
What a great looking sandwich. I just thought I'd point out though, that those English egg and cress sandwiches are not made with watercress, but with what Americans call sprouts. Your version looks much nicer.
caley at 9:30AM on 04/08/08
Some freshly minced dill really perks up the egg salad!
kimberly joe at 5:55PM on 04/08/08