Egg Salad for a Duchess

A dear friend of mine told me to check out OpenSalon because there was a little egg salad contest going on there. I chuckled to myself and wrote, “Sure - but I hate egg salad.”

“Perfect,” she wrote back.

Is it strange that a foodie should hate egg salad? I can't even stomach the smell of a hard boiled egg, let alone chopping it up and adding it to mayo. There was only one thing for me to do: face the fear.

I figured that if I were going to go down the dreaded egg salad path, I'd better make the thing so sinful, so luscious, so positively heart attack-inducing that even I couldn't resist it. 

So this is, by far, the most ridiculous egg salad you're likely to come across.

I'll let you know that I did, indeed, take a bite--but it took several embarrassing minutes of huffing, puffing, hand wringing and cringing to do so. 

In the end, I have to admit: it was great! That being said, the mere knowledge that my nemesis, the hard boiled egg, was in that lovely buttery morsel made it all but impossible for me to enjoy. (My husband had no problems whatsoever gobbling it all down, though.) I know it was a hardship, honey… no, not really, it was pretty awesome.

Egg Salad for a Duchess
6 extra large hard boiled eggs
1 cup finely chopped fresh dill
¾ cup finely chopped fresh chives
¼ cup finely chopped red onion
Juice of 1 small lemon
8 oz crème fraiche
1 tablespoon Himalayan pink salt (pink salt has a subtle sweetness to it that really lends itself to this. You can substitute Hawaiian pink salt too - and, if you do, I like your style. Kosher salt is totally fine, as is table salt. If you're using table salt, though, start with a teaspoon and work your way up - it's more intense than other salts.)
1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
*1 tablespoon mayonnaise (I've starred this because of personal taste. Personally we liked how thick this came out; however, if you want the salad a little looser, add mayo 1 tablespoon at a time until you get the desired thickness)
4 Croissants

-Split and toast the 4 croissants, set aside to let cool
-In a large non-metal bowl, add crème fraiche, dill, chives, onion, lemon, salt and pepper, mix well. Adjust seasoning as you see fit.
-Cover with plastic wrap and let chill in the fridge so all the flavors meld
-Meanwhile, peel and chop the eggs (I chopped them fairly small, but you can make it chunkier if you like). If you find that the yolks are on the small side, only use 5 of the egg whites but all of the yolks to balance out the texture and flavor.
-Take out the crème fraiche mixture and gently mix in the eggs.
-If you want the concoction a little thinner, now is the time to add the mayo.
-Serve egg salad on the croissants-and enjoy!