When things are quiet around here, one of two things are usually happening: I’m busy with a side project or traveling far from the physical Smitten Kitchen. Or, I’m really obsessed with eating something that I don’t expect to interest anyone but me. This month we have two for two. For the three weeks before I was briefly in San Francisco and Napa last week, I was absolutely fixated on this sandwich. Fixated! I craved it everyday. Sometimes it was breakfast; sometimes it was lunch. I could walk by a bagel shop wafting with warm everything seeds, by a cloud of bodega bacon egg and cheese sandwiches, and still beeline home to put a cold boiled egg on a roll with arugula. I know I make no sense. I decided to keep this weirdo thing myself but then I returned from California and yes, I had a suitcase full of Model Bakery english muffins and a stash of Dandelion Chocolate hot chocolate mix, and I still just needed this. I have finally accepted that the only way to move on, at least for long enough that I could tackle the rest of the amazing things I have on our cooking agenda for the summer, was to exorcise it, whether anyone cares to join in my strange little preoccupation or not.
Think of this like a deviled egg, unmixed, or deconstructed egg salad sandwich. The essentials here are a sliced just-about-hard-boiled egg (I stop at 9.5 minutes), a challah roll or slices (but brioche or a potato bread would work), a great fistful of arugula, and what I consider the perfect sandwich spread — some mayo, sharp dijon, coarse dijon, and prepared horseradish. A shot of hot sauce is not unwelcome; the mixture should be sharp. Between the egg and the arugula, I always have a thin layer of something and it’s different almost every time, usually leftover from another dish — caramelized onions, pickled shallots, shaved fennel I’d tossed in lemon juice and olive oil, cucumber, and here, some thinly-sliced pickles and celery — and every single one is perfect. I cannot choose a favorite and I won’t ask you to. Please have fun with it.
Previously
6 months ago: Baked Brie with Garlic Butter Mushrooms
1 year ago: Summer Ricotta with Grilled Vegetables
2 years ago: Perfect, Forever Cornbread
3 years ago: Beach Bean Salad
4 year ago: Raspberry Crumble Tart Bars
5 years ago: Ice Cream Cake Roll
6 years ago: Strawberry Graham Icebox Cake and Broccoli Rubble Farro Salad
7 years ago: Almond-Rhubarb Picnic Bars
8 years ago: Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake, Fake Shack Burger, and Swirled Berry Yogurt Popsicles
9 years ago: Carrot Salad with Tahini and Crispy Chickpeas
10 years ago: Greek Salad with Lemon and Oregano and Two Classic Sangrias
11 years ago: Vidalia Onion Soup with Wild Rice and Tzatziki Potato Salad
12 years ago: Classic Cobb Salad, Lime Yogurt Cake with Blackberry Sauce and Blue Cheese Scallion Drop Biscuits
13 years ago: Asparagus, Lemon and Goat Cheese Pasta and Raspberry Buttermilk Cake
14 years ago: Martha’s Mac-and-Cheese, Crisp Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies
15 years ago: Cherry Cornmeal Upside-Down Cake
16 years ago: Homemade Oreos and Cellophane Noodle and Roast Pork Salad
Sliced Egg Sandwich
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon smooth dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard
- 2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
- Salt and freshly-ground black pepper
- 2 soft challah, brioche, or potato rolls, split, or slices from a loaf
- Butter, for toasting
- 2 hard-boiled eggs, cold, peeled, and sliced
- Thinly sliced pickles, celery, pickled onions [more suggestions in Notes]
- 2 cups fresh arugula, roughly torn
Toast your bread: While you can toast it in a toaster, my favorite way to toast my sandwich rolls is to heat a pat of butter in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Place your rolls, cut-side down, in the pan. Cook until cut sides are golden-brown, about 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to plate to cool slightly before assembling sandwiches.
Assemble: Generously coat both cut sides of first roll with sandwich spread. Arrange egg slices over the bottom half and season lightly with salt and pepper. Add pickles or any of the other alternates suggested below, a big handful of torn arugula, then press the top of the roll down, smooshing everything into place. Repeat with remaining sandwich.
Eat right away and repeat daily for as long as the fixation lasts. Personally, I’m walking into the kitchen to make another as soon as I hit publish.
Notes:
- Eggs: Here’s my go-to method for hard-boiled eggs. For a sliced sandwich, I stop cooking them at 9 minutes 30 to 40 seconds, to keep the centers a dark, never dry, yellow. I love a solid egg slicer; I’ve had mine for over a decade.
- Spread: Just for reference, I’m using Hellman’s mayo, Amora dijon mustard, Maille wholegrain mustard, and I make my own prepared horseradish over Passover and use it for months after. My current jar of Amora is jarringly sharp (almost like wasabi) and I love it but just a heads-up that you might need to adjust your ingredient levels or seasoning to get the punchiness I promised with other brands.
- Rolls: Any storebought roll will work but, but I made rolls recently from my challah recipe, turning one of the two challahs it yields into 12 rolls. They bake in 15 minutes.
- Additional ingredients: As mentioned above, I tend to add to the sandwich a thin layer of whatever I have left in the fridge, from pickled to caramelized onions, thinly-sliced cucumber, celery, or fennel. Not one has tasted bad.
