All Ohio - Springtime Egg Salad

 
Most people think of January as the most difficult time to eat locally. After all, the garden and fields are under a foot of snow. But in January the freezer is still well stocked with frozen produce, and the mason jars are filled with pickles and salsas. By the late springtime, those supplies start to dwindle off and that's when eating locally gets difficult. It's too early for a harvest of much significance for local growers and too late too enjoy much of last year's abundance.

Springtime is egg season, above anything else. Yes, eggs have a season. Due to the lack of light over the winter months, egg production generally decreases to about half of what it is in the summer. I still get eggs from two local farmers, but I more or less ration them for brunch omelettes and baking necessities during the cold months. But in spring? No holds are barred and I can serve eggs with impunity, deviling platters of them for potlucks or luxuriously whipping a dozen whites at a time to make angel food cake or pavlovas.

Before the abundance of summer vegetables use hard-boiled eggs and early spring vegetables for the best egg salad of the year.

All Ohio Springtime Egg Salad:
2 hard-boiled eggs
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon yogurt
2 teaspoons mustard
1 tablespoon chopped green onion
Pinch of fresh or dried thyme
Pinch of dried savory
Salt

2 cups spring greens
1/2 cup snap peas, chopped or left whole
1 small kohlrabi, sliced
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
Last summer's dill pickles
Sunflower seeds

Mash the hard-boiled egg yolks with the mayonnaise, yogurt, and mustard (add a splash of vinegar from your pickles, if you have it). Season with salt, thyme, savory, and green onions. Stir in the chopped egg whites.

Serve the egg salad on a bed of spring greens. Top with snap peas, kohlrabi, green onions, dill pickles, and sunflower seeds.