Classic Egg Salad

The ER question is getting louder. Not a crisis — a crescendo. The thought that Pete planted, the thought that Dr. Reeves has been cultivating, the thought that the pandemic accelerated: I cannot do this forever. Twelve years. Twelve years of ER nursing. Twelve years of holding dying strangers' hands and then going home and making adobo and then sleeping (sometimes) and then doing it again. The doing-it-again has been the shape of my life since I was twenty-two. The shape is starting to feel less like a calling and more like a habit, and the difference between a calling and a habit is the difference between choice and inertia.

I looked at the UAA nursing education program. Not enrolled — looked. The website. The prerequisites. The path from bedside nursing to teaching. The looking was the first step, the toe in the water, the testing of a temperature I'm not sure I'm ready for. But the looking happened. The looking is a fact. The fact is progress.

I made bistek — Reynaldo's dish, the weeknight dinner of a hospital man. I thought about Reynaldo in the hospital, about the cost of healthcare work on the body, about the kidneys that failed at fifty-three. I don't want fifty-three. I don't want the hospital to take more than it's already taken. I want to be standing in a kitchen at fifty-seven, making bistek, alive and cooking and teaching someone else to cook. The wanting is clear. The path is forming.

Bistek is Reynaldo’s recipe — I’ll carry it with me always — but on the nights when the weight is heaviest and the questions are loudest, I reach for something even simpler: egg salad, the most unassuming thing in my kitchen. There’s something clarifying about food that asks almost nothing of you, that rewards patience over technique, that comes together quietly while you think. This is the recipe I made the next afternoon, standing at the counter with the UAA website still open on my phone, reminding myself that simple and good is enough — in a bowl, and maybe in a life.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 12 minutes | Total Time: 22 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

8 large eggs
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
2 stalks celery, finely diced
2 tablespoons red onion, finely minced
1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and black pepper to taste
Lettuce leaves or bread, for serving

Instructions

Hard-boil the eggs. Place eggs in a single layer in a saucepan and cover with cold water by one inch. Bring to a full boil over medium-high heat, then remove from heat, cover, and let sit for 12 minutes.
Cool and peel. Transfer eggs immediately to a bowl of ice water and let cool for at least 5 minutes. Peel under cold running water and pat dry.
Chop the eggs. Roughly chop the peeled eggs — some people prefer a fine chop, others like larger chunks. Either works; do what feels right.
Mix the dressing. In a medium bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, and garlic powder until smooth.
Combine. Add the chopped eggs, celery, red onion, and dill to the dressing. Fold gently until everything is evenly coated. Season generously with salt and pepper.
Chill and serve. For best flavor, refrigerate for at least 15 minutes before serving. Serve on toasted bread, in lettuce cups, or straight from the bowl.

Nutrition (per serving)

Classic Egg Salad — The Weeknight Dish That Reminds Me Why I Cook