I remember this as one of my dad’s favorite lunches. Well, minus the whole wheat bread. He liked his sandwiches on swirly rye. As a kid, I didn’t much care for green olives. It was a rare thing to be granted food preference concessions in our house. You ate what was served, period. Egg salad was just about the only thing I can remember that was made two ways – my sandwich was made before the addition of the olives. I never really thought about how remarkable that accommodation was, until just now. Thanks, Mom! Of course, my palate has expanded since then, and I’ve come around to prefer adding the olives. Now, egg salad just seems incomplete without them.

In our house, there were, and still are, two non-negotiable ingredients in Egg & Olive. It has to be Hellman’s mayonnaise and Lawry’s Seasoned Salt, no substitutions permitted! We did eat store brand mayo, and many other generics, for a while when my kids were little and funds were tight. At the time, I’m quite sure Hellman’s was making the mayo for Price Chopper. But when they switched to another manufacturer, we went back to Hellman’s. We really don’t use a lot of mayonnaise, so we like to use the good stuff when we do. We do still buy generic for some other things, like the olives. You can add more or less mayonnaise, according to your taste. 

Unfortunately, this is not one of my healthier lunches, which is why I don’t make it very often. As always, the printer-friendly recipe is at the bottom of the page. 

Ingredients:

6 Hard-Cooked Eggs

½ cup Hellman’s mayonnaise

¼ tsp Lawry’s Seasoned Salt

½ cup chopped pimiento-stuffed green olives

Preparation:

1.) Peel and dice the eggs; place in a medium bowl.

2.) Add the remaining ingredients, and mix well. Refrigerate until lunchtime. Serve on a bed of lettuce, or in a sandwich.