Recipe: Duck Egg Salad and Bacon Sandwich

Jake often works from home and Silka's office is about a block away, so we eat lunch together quite a bit during the work week. Usually we eat at home, making our way through leftovers, but when we do eat out we almost always go to Eisenberg’s, a classic Jewish deli on 5th Avenue and 22nd. We sit at the counter and order one of two sandwiches - the BLT or the Egg Salad with Bacon - fries, extra pickles and Dr. Browns Root Beer.

The last time Silka's parents were in town they brought a souvenir from the country: 2 dozen duck eggs laid at Silka’s aunt's house (otherwise coined Dumb Duck Farms because it took about a month for the ducks jump in the water). We were definitely intrigued, but had no idea what to make. Neither of us had cooked duck eggs before and we really wanted to celebrate their flavor...even though we didn't really know what they tasted like. 

We were getting ready to write a post about one our favorite kitchen tools, the immersion blender, and make some homemade mayonnaise. It was such a great opportunity, we couldn't resist: duck egg salad and bacon sandwiches. We picked up some ciabatta rolls from Bread Alone, used some of the Flying Pigs bacon ends we had in the freezer and voila! The easiest dinner ever! The whole meal took 12 minutes to make, super cheap, and perfect for eating on the couch in front of the TV.

Major thanks to Diane for her amazing Dumb Duck Farm Eggs! 

(Duck) Egg Salad and Bacon Sandwich

+ 8 eggs

+ ½ lb of bacon, either sliced thick or bacon ends

+ 1 cup of homemade mayo

+ lettuce

+ 1 tomato

+ sandwich bread - we used heavenly ciabatta panini from Bread Alone

1. Cook bacon in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat to desired crispness. We used bacon ends because we thought it would be fun to mix them directly in the salad - and because that's all we had. But slices would be great too. 

2. Bring a pot of water to a soft boil. Gently put the eggs in the water and let cook for 10 minutes, 12 if you like the yolk very firm. 

3. Take the eggs our of the boiling water and place under running cold water for a few minutes. Peel eggs and place in a bowl.

3. In the meantime, make the mayonnaise. If you want, add a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce and mustard to the mix.

4. Combine mayonnaise with the eggs. If you used bacon ends, throw those in the bowl as well. We used about 1/3 cup of mayo but you should use as much as you like.

5. Put on bread with lettuce and tomato. Enjoy!

Serves 4

Tools of the Trade: Immersion Blender

For our first Christmas together, Jake gave Silka a Kitchen Aid Immersion Blender. Sure, that may seem like a strange gift. Not romantic or all that unique - more utilitarian, like getting socks from your grandmother. But Silka was impressed. As you know by now, she would be happy to subsist on soup and sauces alone. But until then her (now our) kitchen was missing the most valuable soup/sauce making tool: the immersion blender!

Needless to say, our (then her) kitchen now has two immersion blenders. The amazing, fantastic, life-changing immersion blender turns a chunky soup into a velvety puree in seconds - and you don't have make a mess transferring it into another container. It also allows for much better texture control when blending as compared to something like a Cuisinart. In the summer we use it a lot to make bright green basil pesto or a spicy salsa and in cooler months it's great for creamy tomato sauces, like Jake’s childhood favorite rosa sauce (recipe coming soon, don't worry). But perhaps most excitingly, it allows you to whip up thick, rich homemade mayo in the blink of an eye. See? We said "life-changing"! 

Homemade Mayonnaise

+ 1 cup of oil - we like to use half extra-virgin olive oil and half sunflower oil

+ 1 egg (room temperature)

+ 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or white wine vinegar

+ 1 tsp of dry mustard

+ 1 dash of cayenne

+ 1 dash of salt

1. In a container* pour 1/4 cup of the oil, the lemon juice, spices, and the egg. Blend it on the medium setting until it starts to emulsify (set and look like mayo). This should take just a few seconds.

2. Slowly drizzle the rest of the oil into the container as you continue mixing. It should turn into mayo. Occasionally it doesn't emulsify right- mayonnaise is just one of those mysterious things. If it doesn't work just try it again, it will only take a few seconds. Or take a look at Julia Child's recipe - we hear it's fail-proof. 

There are endless variations on your standard mayo:

Add any of the following in Step 1:

+ a few cloves of garlic makes aioli

+ 2 sprigs of mint - we like to serve it with lamb

+ a bunch of basil

+ a few strands of saffron

Add any of the following at the very end:

+ 1-2 tablespoons dijon mustard

+ 2 tablespoons buttermilk makes homemade ranch - check out a great use for homemade ranch here

+ 1 tablespoon sriracha

*Most immersion blenders come with a handy plastic container which is perfect for making the mayo in. If you have it, use it, otherwise find a tall fairly narrow container, a Pyrex measuring cup or a canning jar. You can also do it in a food processor, but we find that method trickier.