Using Up those Hard-Cooked Eggs

First there were just boiled eggs dipped in salt and pepper. Then perhaps came the egg salad sandwiches, then the deviled eggs. Now, every time you open the refrigerator, you are still faced with three, four, or even more colored creations staring you in the face. Will the family really accept another night of eggy eating?

Probably the best way to use up the last of the Easter eggs (and to add the cheap protein of eggs into meals the rest of the year) is to think salad.

Not just egg salad though. Instead, start to consider some of your usual tossed salads and add in some  hard-cooked eggs for garnishing, for texture, and for flavor. Check the refrigerator for the ingredients you have to make a basic salad. Today I have Romaine, tomatoes, a red onion (always onions!), cabbage, green pepper, and an avocado. Not hard to see how tossing these other ingredients together with some egg slices on top could be a great side dish for the rest of the meal.

There are also some classic "composed" salads. As one website says, composed salads aren't tossed, they are "placed. You could try a Salad Nicoise that starts with an array of tuna, tiny green beans, potatoes, and egg slices, with lots of other additions possible for the creative or adventurous cook.  

However, if those egg slices looking up at everyone are just too much a reminder of how often these Easter eggs have been showing up, try chopping them into your favorite potato salad recipe. Serve it as a side with some slices of that leftover ham and apple and cranberry sauce and you'll have a bright meal with the eggs relatively hidden from view.

If you have a creamy dressing--bottled Ranch or Caesar for example--you could also put crumbled egg yolks (and finely chopped whites) into the dressing for either a lettuce or coleslaw salad too.

Two tools that I have in my kitchen have proven invaluable in cutting nice slices or chopping hard cooked eggs: an egg slicer and a pastry blender. Neither is essential, but I acquired them long ago and they are especially useful at times like this. If you don't have one or the other of these tools, a standard fork works just fine for chopping too.




In doing some research for this post, I found a couple of recipes that included finely chopped eggs in meatballs, but I haven't tried this. If you have, please let me know how it worked out.

A Heritage Recipe for Today

Finally, hard cooked eggs bring back to mind a "Depression recipe"  Mom often served when finances were a little tight. She had carried this salad forward from the 30s, when selling eggs and chickens helped them keep the family farm, usually served with just some homemade bread and perhaps some applesauce or (for my father's ever-present sweet tooth) some homemade cookies for dessert.

I have lightened the recipe by substituting a yogurt dressing for the Miracle Whip that she used for all manner of creamy salads, but the rest of the ingredient amounts remain as close to hers as I can recall. It is actually a very healthy vegetarian main dish and there are a lot of textures in play here. Still good with homemade bread or crisp crackers, and a fruit tray would make a great completion to the meal...pretty inexpensive as well, so you might want to try this one out with those few remaining eggs. Just leave the sliced egg garnish off if you think the family has seen altogether too much of these lately!

Kidney Bean and Egg Salad

2 hard-cooked eggs, coarsely chopped

1/2 to 3/4 c diced celery, to taste

1/4 to 1/3 c minced sweet onion, to taste

3/4 c (1/2 15 oz can) dark red kidney beans, drained (see NOTE)

salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 

1 more hard-cooked egg, sliced, for garnish (optional)

Dressing

1/3 c plain, nonfat yogurt

1 t mustard--yellow prepared or your favorite flavor

1-2 t sugar, to taste

1.  Combine dressing ingredients.

2.  Toss the salad ingredients together and add just enough dressing to coat the mixture.

3.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  

Suggested serving:  garnished with sliced hard-cooked eggs and parsley, on lettuce leaves if desired. Black olives are also a very good addition to this salad, adding even more color.

NOTE:  For whatever reason, canned kidney beans invariably have sugar added--unlike just about any other kind of bean other than "pork and bean" styles. If you want to use home-cooked kidney beans, you may find a bit of sugar stirred in with the salad ingredients will give you a more "traditional" flavor.

  

      

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About Those Hard-Boiled Eggs

Egg salad sandwiches. Hard boiled eggs with toast. More egg salad sandwiches....

Not ready with a lot of options for all those eggs you are spending today decorating and hunting tomorrow? Here are a few ideas for using them up.

(Of course, you did keep them refrigerated except for the hour or so--at most--that you were hunting them, right? If not, don't take chances; they need to be composted rather than eaten.)

But, for the safe eggs you want to incorporate into menus this week, an old-time vegetarian main dish salad and a variation on the tried and true Chef's Salad:

Kidney Bean and Egg Salad

1/3 c finely diced sweet onion
2 c (or 15 oz can) kidney beans, drained
3 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped coarsely
2 c diced or thinly sliced celery
Yogurt Dressing

Combine all ingredients with dressing. Taste for seasonings and adjust as needed. Chill for an hour or more to blend flavors. Garnish with parsley or serve on lettuce leaves if desired.

Yogurt Dressing

2/3 c plain yogurt
1 to 2 t prepared yellow mustard
3 to 4 t sugar (see NOTE)
salt or seasoning salt and pepper to taste (see NOTE)

Combine ingredients and mix well. This is very similar to "mayonnaise style salad dressing" that works well on old-fashioned potato salad or even as a sandwich spread instead of mayo.

NOTE: If using canned kidney beans, be aware that these almost always contain added sugar and salt, so don't add either of these ingredients to the dressing until you have tasted the salad to see how much will be needed.

One more thing--the serving suggestion in the photo above includes fresh orange slices. Keep in mind that the iron in plant foods (and kidney beans are a particularly good iron source) is far better utilized if you include foods rich in Vitamin C at the same meal.

Vegetarian Chef's Salad

Per main dish serving:
1 to 2 c baby spinach leaves, coarsely chopped
1 c iceberg or romaine lettuce, torn
2 T diced bell pepper (see NOTE)
sweet or red onion--2 t finely chopped OR thinly sliced and separated into rings
3 to 4 black olives, sliced
1 hard-boiled egg, sliced
1 oz cheese, your choice, grated or cut in fine cubes
1 T chopped parsley or fresh basil (optional)
vinaigrette dressing of your choice
freshly ground black pepper

Combine the greens, peppers and onions and toss in the black olives and cheese. If serving in individual bowls, arrange the egg slices over the top of each serving and sprinkle with the parsley or basil. Otherwise, fold the egg slices in with the olives and cheese, reserving a few for garnish on top. Serve the dressing at the table.

NOTE: This time of the year, fresh tomatoes rarely are very flavorful, and bell peppers can be quite price-y. If you are making this salad with good tomatoes available, by all means add them in. If, however, you don't have either tomatoes or red bell peppers, look for roasted sweet peppers in the pickle section of the market. These are often reasonably priced (compare the weight to the cost of fresh produce) and will keep in the refrigerator for several weeks, and they add a nice touch of color to salads and casseroles when we are really looking for some brightness in our menus.

And--if you have a Trader Joe's near you, look for their frozen pepper strips. These too are a reasonable alternative for casseroles and even salads when the price of fresh peppers might otherwise keep these wonderful vegetables off your table.