Enjoy this recipe for green egg salad without the ham
Thanks to a nearby farmers market, I source fresh eggs from a small local farm where the chickens are truly free-range, never caged.
Those beautiful multicolored eggs (different chicken breeds lay white, brown, pink, beige or blue eggs) have deep yellow yolks and clear whites, which are perfect for my Green Egg Salad recipe, which I'm sharing here.
Let's start with the eggs. When I follow the directions, my Cuisinart Egg Central Egg Cooker produces perfect hard-boiled eggs every time. I found that the way to peel them easily is to cool them so they can be handled, roll each one on the counter, crack the shell all the way around, and then peel each one under a light stream of cold running water - you get flawless eggs every time.
I'm not a soybean oil-based mayonnaise fan. Please read the label; almost every national brand, whether Hellmann's, Best Foods or Duke's (a Southern favorite), is made with soybean oil. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 94% of all soybeans planted in the U.S. are GMO (genetically modified) and are sprayed with herbicide.
Avocado oil-based mayonnaise is my preferred. And my favorite brand, Chosen, is also made with nearly all organic ingredients (the oil is not organic). I use it sparingly since it costs about three times as much as standard mayonnaise.
My no-mayo workaround for a tasty, healthy, keto-friendly egg salad is to make it with ripe avocado.
My avocado egg salad does not look like a regular egg salad. No. It is green. And it requires more work, too: peeling the avocado, slicing it in half, and removing the large pit (seed) along with the skin prepares it for stage 2: mashing.
A ripe avocado is soft and easily mashed with a fork on a cutting board - a nearly impossible method with a hard-as-a-rock unripe avocado.
From that point forward, making my egg salad is like making it with mayonnaise.
A touch of Dijon mustard adds a subtle flavor note. Rice vinegar's lower acidity adds flavor without being too forward. Chopped parsley adds a deep green color and a subtle note. Finally, I add a couple of tablespoons of sliced, organic Kalamata olives, adding them at the end and gently folding them in so that they do not make my bright green egg salad dull gray.
If it is summer, which it nearly is, I stuff a tomato with my egg salad instead of making it into a sandwich.
My egg salad is very low in carbohydrates delivering just 1.8 net carbs per serving.
Give it a try.
• Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write to him at 1leanwizard@gmail.com.
Green Egg Salad - No Ham
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons dried parsley (or 4 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley)
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 medium-large very ripe avocado, peel and pit removed
4 hard-boiled large eggs, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons sliced Kalamata olives, drained
To a medium mixing bowl add vinegar, parsley, mustard, salt and pepper and whisk together until combined. Add the avocado and, using a medium rubber spatula, fold the avocado into the vinegar mixture until combined. Add the chopped eggs and stir and fold the eggs into the avocado mixture until combined. Add the Kalamata olives and stir and fold into the mixture until combined.
Makes about 2 cups that serves 4.
Nutrition values per ½ cup: 170 calories (75% from fat), 14.2 g fat (2.8 g saturated fat), 5.1 g carbohydrates (1.8 net carbs), 0.6 g sugars, 3.3 g fiber, 7.3 g protein, 212 mg cholesterol, 465 mg sodium.
Notes: A different vinegar, like apple cider or sherry, can be used. The same goes for the mustard (you can substitute yellow mustard) and olives (green can be substituted for Kalamata). I like a few pickled, sliced jalapeño peppers served on the side to add a tangy bite.
Don Mauer