When I go into the kitchen at lunchtime, I don’t always know what I’m going to make. The other day it turned out to be egg salad with radish and onion, a dish I picked up long ago while posted in the former USSR. I had the ingredients on hand (including fresh herbs), it was broiling hot in Paris and I didn’t want to spend a long time cooking. As I’d boiled a couple of eggs the day before, the salad was ready in less than 10 minutes.
Salade d’oeufs hachés aux radis / Egg salad with radish and onion
This recipe differs from most versions of egg salad in that it does not involve mayonnaise. When I make the usual version, I use homemade mayo, which takes a bit of time (about five minutes). Did not have the energy for that in the heat that smothered Paris during the last week of May. So this version, which uses vegetable oil, popped into my head.
The radishes available at this time of year in France are fresh and crunchy. I tend to keep some on hand for snacking, and sometimes go all out and serve radis au beurre (radishes with salt and butter). So the radishes were already in the fridge, and washed. I also had spring onions, which are more readily available in Paris than scallions (the difference being that spring onions have a larger bulb). And there was a bunch of fresh cilantro in the vegetable cooler. Had there been dill, I might have used that instead.
Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that this is my first post in a while. The reason is that I’ve been busy on other fronts, notably helping to produce a special 50th anniversary issue of The Paris Metro, the newspaper where I got my start in journalism … fifty years ago. Our anniversary this weekend coincides with the start of the 2026 World Cup, in which France is expected to do well. In honor of this year’s event, I’m planning evenings with friends chez moi where I’ll serve the food of the countries playing. Think Caribbean, think African, and watch this space.
Happy cooking.
