Superior Sandwich: The Best Egg Salad Sandwich I Ever Ate

I saw this sandwich on the Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate - Served Cold episode.  It got my attention right away.  I have always loved a good egg salad sandwich.  Artificially soft, sugary white bread slathered with mayo laden onion-y egg salad...yup, love it.  But there is room in me for growth...I'm open minded.  The addition of sun-dried tomato pesto sounded divine, and the sophisticated touch of the important MEDIUM boiled eggs really had me hooked...I had to try it.  But what sealed the deal on the final recipe was the freshly squeezed lemon juice, I wasn't expecting this small detail to bring this sandwich to "superior" status.

I had most of a jar of sun-dried tomatoes left after making the Walnut Pesto.  So I got to work in on making my Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto right away.  Super easy...

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

1 jar oil packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained of most of it's oil (or 1 jar minus 2 tablespoons - for Walnut Pesto)
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 cup loosely packed flat leaf parsley leaves
1/4-1/2 cup olive oil

Combine all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely chopped and combined.

The Best Egg Salad Sandwich I Ever Ate
Origin: Euro Pane Bakery, California, The Food Network

Notes:  Whoa, that title is a mouthful. But this sandwich...oh this sandwich, it deserves a title like that.  The sandwich was featured on the Food Network but originally comes from a restaurant/bakery in California called Euro Pane Bakery.  There was no recipe provided, I just rewound the episode a couple of times to see how it was made.  Do not skip the chives or lemon juice!

Ingredients:
hearty bread, toasted (I used Ciabatta, but any baguette or crusty whole grain bread would work)
8 eggs
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
4 tablespoons chopped chives, divided
3 tablespoons sun-dried tomato pesto
a handful of lettuce or salad greens
freshly squeezed lemon juice
salt and pepper

Place eggs in a pot and cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  When a full boil is reached turn of heat and let stand 6 minutes.  Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the eggs from cooking further.  Peel the eggs and roughly chop into large pieces.

Combine eggs, mayonnaise, mustard and 2 tablespoons of chives in a small bowl, season with salt and pepper, mix.

Take the toasted bread and cover with about 1 tablespoon of pesto,  layer with greens or lettuce,  then egg mixture.  Top with additional chives, pepper and a generous squeeze of lemon juice.  Serve open-faced.

Makes about 3 sandwiches.