Ei Candy: Viennese Eiersalat, Two Ways, for the International Incident Eggs Party

 

Welcome to the September International Incident Party!  Because this is my birthday month, I'm thrilled to be co-hosting with the fabulous Penny aka Jeroxie. These little shindigs she started back in February just keep growing - not only is this the biggest party yet, but Epicurious just did a write up about the Incidents. Cool stuff.

In the past, party themes have included gnocchi, noodles, pizza, and tacos, but I don't think we've ever had a party with such a wide-open theme as this one: eggs. Eggs! The sheer number of possibilities made this one tough to nail down. I had so many ideas: a souffle? eggs en cocotte? a cake for my birthday? Too bad I already made Julia Child's gateau omni omelette!!

But then I remembered those tiny little sandwiches I fell in love with in Vienna.
Remember? The artfully arranged ones from Duran Sandwich:

The Emmenthaler (top) was one of my favorites

How beautiful is that!

And the brotaufstriche, or bread with spreads, from Buffet Trzesniewski, which we always had with a little pfiff of beer ...

Ah, look at those eggs on top!

We became so obsessed with these tiny sandwiches that we even took them on a picnic at the Schloss Schonbrunn on our last full day in Vienna:

Please don't take my sandwiches away!

Do you notice the one thing many of these sandwiches have in common? Yes - ei, or eggs. Eggs on top, eggs in salad, eggs in noodles - the Austrians are an egg-crazed nation, it seems. Even the light fixture at the Trzesniewski Maria Hilf location is an egg:

I really want one of these for my kitchen

So for this party I decided to make to different kinds of eiersalat, or egg salad, and dress them up, Duran and Trzesniewski-style. For the first kind of salad, eier-hackerle, I turned to this recipe book I got in Vienna:

Yes, it's all in German, and no, I don't speak the language (except for a few food and menu words!) but with the help of my Austrian Mother-in-Law-Trix and the Google translator, I managed quite nicely.

The first step of course is to hard boil the eggs:

Actually, I never really boil them. I put them in a pot with the water covering them by about one inch. Then I allow the water to just boil and turn off the heat and cover them for 10-20 minutes. Next, I put them in ice water until they cool. This generally makes them very easy to peel:

The incredible, edible egg

I made a dozen. I used five for my eier-hackerle from the Dr. Oetker Austrian recipe book ("for party-buffet or picnic!"), five for a Trzesniewski-style spread (aufstriche), and two I saved for awesome egg slice garnishes. I even bought a new gadget for that:

Why is this so much fun to do??

The Dr. Oetker recipe recipe called for :

• a can of Gemusemais, or corn, but I used 2 ears of fresh sweet corn that I boiled and cut off of the cob.
• hard boiled eggs (I used 5)
• 100 g mayonnaise (I used mayo with olive oil for a more European flavor)
• 150 g yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)
• 1 T mittelscharfer Senf, or (I think) medium hot mustard. I used some Zwiebel, or onion mustard, I got in Vienna
• fresh ground pepper
• salt
• a small shallot, finely chopped
• Kresse ... which is a peppery green. I used a handful of arugula
• Schnittlauch, or chives

The rest of the directions were beyond my translation skills, so I just mixed together the mayo, yogurt, mustard, shallots,  salt, and pepper until it tasted right,  and then gently folded that into the rest of the ingredients. The corn was a very surprising component of the salad, and it added a lovely crunchy sweetness. Poppa Trix declared that it tasted Austrian, and I agree. A big hit!

For the spread, I simply mashed up five eggs, added a bit of Zwiebel mustard, mayo, salt, and pepper and whizzed it until it was smooth:

It seems odd that something so simple would taste so good and so very distinctively Austrian, but it took me right back to Trzesniewski. For variety, I added chopped dill to half of this mixture.

But now for the really fun part - putting the tiny sandwiches together! I had a bunch of toppings and garnishes lined up - dill, Camembert, radish, paprika, purple frisee, chives, and of course, Emmenthaler. You must be very careful and neat when putting the aufstriche on the bread:

But it's really all about using your imagination and having fun with your little constructed sandwiches.

Emmenthaler with paprika!

Pretty purple frisee

A little of Camembert with a line of paprika ... egg slices ... real Trzesniewski style!

Radishes add great texture ... plus they're cute

Iconically Trzesniewski

And what kind of picnic would it be without a lovely beer?

Thanks to all of the Eggs Party participants this month! Happy birthday to my fellow September babies, and thanks Penny for letting me co-host. Don't forget to check out all the other amazing egg dishes!