So, have you ever said to yourself, ‘Hmmm, I wonder what egg salad left by a UFO in the middle of a crop circle would look like?’ Well, take a look at the above photo and wonder no more!

Sure it’s enticingly bizarre, but does it taste good, you ask? Heck yeah it does — it just looks totally extraterrestrial!

But how does a person get the idea to make something so… so… ______? (just go ahead and fill in the blank with your choice of hyperbole.)

Well, I’ll tell you: I was sitting in a bar reading Cook’s Illustrated (yes, you read that correctly) when I looked up and saw a gallon jar of intensely PINK pickled eggs. Suddenly, the provocative and irresistible phrase ‘pickled pink egg salad’ formed in my brain.

Now, I really don’t know if this is the logical consequence of reading Cook’s Illustrated and then spotting an intriguing foodstuff, or whether it has something to do with those Jagermeister shots someone twisted my arm to drink, or whether it means I should start wearing a tinfoil beanie because the aliens are projecting thoughts into my head.

Or perhaps some combination of the above. There’s really no way to tell. All I know is that I felt compelled to make pickled pink egg salad – and it turned out to be really, really good!

Or maybe that’s what the Venusians want me to say.

Believe it or not, you can buy reasonably-sized jars of pickled eggs in many supermarkets (usually in the deli section.) However, the pre-made ones can be seriously tangy, so I strongly suggest taking the time to make your own.

It’s really very easy, and you can control the amount of tanginess in the finished product. If you want to save time, you can use those packs of pre-cooked, pre-peeled hard boiled eggs (a godsend!) that are found in the refrigerated section of the supermarket.

To pickle your own eggs, just put them in a glass jar or other non-reactive (and non-staining) container, pour in the juice from one or more cans of beets (one can does half a dozen eggs nicely), add about 1/4 cup of white vinegar (you can also use half white & half cider vinegar), stir it up a bit, and wait. I let mine pickle for about 4 hours; they were not too sour and about 1/4 inch of the white had picked up the color. The resulting salad had a suitably fun color and good, not overwhelming, tang.

Here’s how to make the Venusian Pickled Pink Egg Salad:

Ingredients:

6 pickled eggs
1/4 cup mayo
2 Tbsp sweet pickle relish (or chopped sweet pickle with a tsp of pickle juice)
1/4 cup thinly sliced baby carrots
1/4 cup diced celery
1 scallion, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

PREPARATION:

Coarsely chop the pickled eggs and mix with the remaining ingredients.

Serve as a salad on mixed baby greens or as a sandwich on dark pumpernickel bread.

Enjoy!

You Can Read More of Doug’s Recipe Corner Here.

Please join us tomorrow to read our newest daily food article on Hugging the Coast: Gourmet Egg Salad Recipes Perfect for a Party or Picnic.

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