Exotic Eggs

Appears in
Modern Classics
Modern Classics

By Frances Bissell

Published 2000

  • About

Did you make lunch? I asked. ‘Yes, I had an omelette,’ replied my husband, Tom. But there were no eggs left, I said. ‘I used the quail eggs.’ One of the dafter recipes to emerge from my kitchen, a twelve-quail-egg omelette. Especially as I was saving them for another recipe, quail eggs baked in potatoes, for a supper party the next day.

If you have the time and inclination, these delicate small eggs can be turned into all manner of dainties – fried and served with tiny young asparagus spears; poached and served on miniature muffins as Eggs Benedict; boiled, shelled and served in a sauce in a nest of green tagliolini, not to mention as salad garnishes, or even individual quail-egg omelettes. But quail eggs are not a good idea for large numbers, unless you pile them, hard-boiled, in a basket, hand round seasoned salt, and let your guests help themselves and shell their own eggs. Quail eggs for 2 to 4 is a manageable plan; for 6 or more, it is asking for trouble, unless you have someone to help you. They are devilishly fiddly and difficult to shell.