Ina Garten used to own a catering business and specialty food shop called Barefoot Contessa in The Hamptons. The store specializes in takeaway dishes like salads, roast chickens, and baked goods, and many-a Hamptons resident or visitor walked out with lunch or dinner for themselves and/or a crowd.
This makes Ina especially adept at make-ahead, casual gathering recipes like egg salad. She’s published a recipe or two in the past, and has a new one for Truffle Egg Salad in her latest cookbook, Simply Ina. She demonstrated the luxurious but simple recipe in a recent Instagram video, and I was struck by a couple of tricks she utilizes to make her egg salad special—and neither of them are using truffle butter.
By cooking the eggs a little less than you typically would for egg salad—until the yolks are jammy (not fully opaque)—and using a food processor to mix everything up, the result is a creamier, more indulgent-tasting egg salad fit for a restaurant menu.
How To Make Jammy Eggs for Egg Salad
To make jammy hard boiled eggs, all you need to do is cook the eggs a little less. If you’re boiling the eggs using this method, seven to eight minutes is ideal. If you’re steaming the eggs (my preferred method for easy-to-peel eggs), eight to nine minutes works just right. No matter your method, add the cooked eggs to an ice bath before peeling and proceeding with your favorite egg salad recipe.
The jammy eggs add an extra level of creaminess to the egg salad, enriching the mayonnaise and enrobing the egg whites. It’s a super easy trick for leveled-up egg salad that in fact takes less time.
For Fast and Creamy Egg Salad, Use the Food Processor
In Ina’s recipe, she assembles everything in a food processor. As she says, you can do it in a bowl, but “it’s so easy in a food processor.” Add you do is add the ingredients to the processor and pulse until mixed. It’s certainly fast and easy, but it also helps to make the egg salad a bit creamier than if you make it by hand. And everyone loves creamy egg salad, right?
How To Make Ina’s Truffle Egg Salad
If you’d like to make Ina’s fancy egg salad, here are the instructions she lays out in the video. If you can’t find truffle butter, you can simply leave it out or use plain butter. Butter is a tasty upgrade for deviled eggs, so it should add an extra little something to egg salad, too.
-
2 tablespoons truffle butter, optional
-
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives or other herb
1. If you’re including the butter, mash it on a plate with two egg yolks. Add the eggs along with the egg yolks to the food processor and pulse a few times.
2. Add the mayo, chives, salt, and pepper and pulse just until well-mixed. Serve of focaccia with an extra sprinkle of chives.
Read the original article on Simply Recipes