Egg Salad with Homemade Tarragon Mayonnaise

For tomorrow's "Spring Fling" luncheon at Huber, one of the cold sandwich salad recipes that I wanted to try out was egg salad, and I based what I made off of this recipe by Emeril Lagasse.

Egg and Lobster Salad with Homemade Tarragon Mayonnaise

Ingredients

• 6 large eggs
• Homemade Tarragon Mayonnaise, recipe follows
• 1/4 cup minced shallots
• 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
• Pinch cayenne
• 1 (1-pound) lobster, cooked until tender, tail meat chopped, claw meat left whole
• 2 cups mescaline greens, washed and spun dry
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 firm, ripe Hass avocado, peeled and seed removed, rubbed with fresh lemon juice to prevent discoloration
• 8 pencil-thin asparagus spears, blanched and shocked in ice water bath, patted dry
• Sevruga caviar, tobiko, golden whitefish or salmon roe, for garnish
• Chopped fresh tarragon leaves, for garnish

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, place the eggs and cover with water by 1-inch. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook the eggs at a bare boil for exactly 10 minutes.
2. Drain and rinse under cold running water. Place the eggs in an ice bath to cool. When chilled, peel the eggs, cut in half lengthwise, and chop into 1/2-inch pieces. Place in a medium bowl and add 1/4 cup of the mayonnaise, the shallots, garlic, and cayenne and mash with a fork to blend. Add the chopped lobster tail meat and additional mayonnaise 1 tablespoon at a time to reach desired consistency. Adjust the seasoning, to taste. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. (Salad can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours.)
3. In a bowl, toss the mesclun with the olive oil and salt and pepper, to taste. Arrange across the bottom of on a large plate or platter.
4. With a thin, sharp knife, cut each avocado half lengthwise almost all the way but not completely through to the other end. Place each half seed side down on the lettuce and gently spread out into a fantail shape. Place the lobster-egg salad in the center of the two avocados and the asparagus spears around the sides of the plate. Top the avocados with caviar, garnish with the tarragon, and serve.

Homemade Tarragon Mayonnaise:

• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Pinch freshly ground white pepper

1. In a food processor or blender, blend the egg and lemon juice for 10 seconds. With the processor running, slowly pour in the oil through the feed tube and process until emulsified. (Should the mixture become too thick, with the machine running, add water 2 teaspoons at a time.) Add the tarragon, salt, and pepper and pulse to blend. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before using. (The mayonnaise will keep tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.)

Yield: about 1 1/4 cups

I made the Homemade Tarragon Mayonnaise first, moved on to the Egg Salad part, then stopped when lobster came into play.

Pete's Sister's Crab Salad

Tomorrow, at Huber, we're having a "Spring Fling" luncheon. After some serious thought, I thought I'd bring a variety of cold sandwich salads (i.e. tuna, chicken, egg) and cocktail bread. The first one I decided to make was something I had tried many years ago at a friend's post-Christmas party, got the recipe, but never made - Pete's Sister's Crab Salad.

Pete’s Sister’s Crab Salad

1. 1 lb. Lump or Backfin Crabmeat
2. Add a mixture of diced onion, celery and green pepper (I just add it to add color and look healthy so I don’t measure any of the ingredients).
3. Add about 3 TBSP of Mayonnaise (or more until it is a consistency that you like)
4. Mix together all of the above (use a fork so that you can separate the pieces)
5. Add a few shakes of OLD BAY Seafood Seasoning (I use the low sodium one)

When adding seasoning, taste your crab mixture immediately after adding the Old Bay. If it tastes like it could use a dash more , STOP. The seasoning will be absorbed by the meat and it will be fine. Serve the salad with extra Old Bay so that others can season to taste. Unfortunately, once you’ve added too much, it can’t be removed.

Reggie

Good bye, Little Buddy, we'll miss you!

Pepper

We'll miss you!

Orange Chicken

I saw a post on Facebook from Tasty on Orange Chicken. Tom's always talked about how much he loves it, so I decided to try it out.

Orange Chicken (inspired from Panda Express)

RECIPE:

• 1 egg
• 1 tsp of white pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp of salt
• 2 chicken breasts, cubed
• 1/2 cup of corn starch
• 1/4 cup of flour
• vegetable oil for frying
• 1 Tbsp. of oil
• 2 tsp of garlic
• 1 Tbsp. of ginger
• 1/2 tsp of red chili flakes
• 1 Tbsp. of rice wine
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. of soy sauce
• 5 Tbsp. of vinegar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. of water
• 3 1/2 Tbsp. of sugar
• 1 Tbsp. of orange zest
• 1 Tbsp. of corn starch slurry (1 Tbsp. of corn starch dissolved in 1 Tbsp. of water)
• Chopped scallions for garnish

1. Combine the egg, white pepper and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the cubed chicken breast, make sure it’s coated with the egg mixture.
2. In another bowl, combine corn starch and flour. Add the coated chicken to the flour mixture. Stir to coat.
3. Working in batches, fry the coated chicken until golden and done. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
4. In a large pan or work, add oil, garlic, ginger and red chili flakes. Stir fry until fragrant. Add rice wine and stir for a few seconds. Proceed to add all of the other sauce ingredients, including soy sauce, vinegar, water, sugar and orange zest.
5. Add the fried chicken. Stir to coat in sauce. Thicken the sauce with the corn starch slurry. Garnish with chopped scallions and serve with rice. Enjoy!

Besides the fact that it was too spicy, and there wasn't enough sauce, and it wasn't sweet enough, Tom thought it was successful. I was pleased with the flavor, too. We started to dissect the recipe for future reference, when we realized that I had only added 1 1/2 T sugar, that what Tom really liked was Panda Express' Honey Chicken, and that Panda Express doesn't even make Honey Chicken, the Honey Chicken is actually from Mandarin Express. I made extra sauce anyway - no red chili flakes, the correct quantity of sugar, 1 T of orange juice, and 1 T honey, and Tom thought it would be great for next time.

Sausage, Egg and Cheese Breakfast Roll-Ups

For Huber's Christmas Breakfast Potluck, this was the second item I decided to bring - Sausage, Egg and Cheese Breakfast Roll-Ups.

Sausage, Egg and Cheese Breakfast Roll-Ups

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury™ refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
• 8 fully cooked breakfast sausage links
• 4 slices (sandwich-size) Cheddar cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oven to 350°F. In small bowl, beat eggs. Reserve 1 tablespoon beaten egg for brushing on tops of crescent rolls. Scramble remaining eggs.
2. Unroll dough onto work surface; separate into 8 triangles. Cut cheese slices in half; place 1 half on each triangle. Top each with spoonful of scrambled eggs and 1 sausage link. Loosely roll up triangles as directed on can; place on ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Brush reserved beaten egg on top of each crescent. Sprinkle salt and pepper over each.
4. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown.

These ended up being tasty and quite popular.

Caramel-Banana-Pecan Bread Casserole

For Huber's Christmas Breakfast Potluck, one of the items I decided to bring was Caramel-Banana-Pecan Bread Casserole.

Caramel-Banana-Pecan Bread Casserole

Ingredients

• Disposable slow cooker liner
• 1 12 ounce loaf French bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 9 cups)
• 2 cups half-and-half, light cream, or whole milk
• 3 eggs or 3/4 cup refrigerated or thawed frozen egg product
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped and toasted
• 1 recipe Caramel-Banana Sauce

Directions

1. Line a 3-1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker with disposable slow cooker liner.
2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Arrange bread cubes in a single layer on a baking pan. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until bread cubes are golden, stirring once or twice; cool. Place bread cubes in prepared slow cooker.
3. In a large bowl whisk together half-and-half, eggs, granulated sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour mixture over bread cubes in cooker. With back of a large spoon, press bread down slightly to moisten cubes completely.
4. In a medium bowl, using a pastry blender, cut butter into brown sugar until pieces are pea-size. Stir in pecans. Sprinkle pecan mixture over bread mixture in cooker.
5. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 4 to 5 hours or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove crockery liner from cooker, if possible, or turn off cooker. Cool mixture for 30 minutes.
6. Serve casserole with Caramel-Banana Sauce.

Caramel-Banana Sauce

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 tablespoons light-color corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 banana, thinly sliced

Directions

1. In a medium heavy saucepan combine brown sugar, whipping cream, butter, and corn syrup. Bring to boiling over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally; reduce heat to medium. Boil gently, uncovered, for 3 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Pour sauce into a small bowl; cool to room temperature. If desired, cover and chill in the refrigerator overnight. To serve, let chilled sauce stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Stir in banana.

I thought it was mighty good.