For Easter last weekend, I hosted a brunch for a few of my transplant friends. While the lemongrass-garlic lamb was roasting in the oven, I tantalized my guests with pesto pinwheels and my version of deviled eggs—really tiny, cutesy quail eggs seasoned with salt and pepper and dolloped with spicy aioli. There were four dozen of those, and they all disappeared.
These attractive, dark, speckled eggs used to be a hard-to-find delicacy but now are quite common. I purchased mine at the Global Foods Market in Kirkwood. The cost is around a dollar and a half per dozen, and they taste just like an average chicken egg.
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Quail eggs take hardly any time to cook—the easiest way is to boil them. Place eggs in a saucepan covered with water, and close the lid. Once it comes to a boil, turn off heat. Let them cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Drain the hot water and replace it with cold water until the eggs are completely cold before peeling. The colder the eggs, the easier they are to remove the shells. Gentle fingers are required!
Quail eggs make perfect starters or cocktail snacks. My favorite way to prepare them is to treat them as you would with deviled eggs. Since they are too small to scoop out the egg yolk, you simply pipe or spoon any flavored topping. Another fun way I like to serve is to poach them. You can use them in miniature egg benedicts or serve them on potato pancakes. They are also very dainty fried sunny side up served on the same size piece of toast.
The most difficult thing about these eggs has to be opening them when raw. I found that the easiest method is to cut the top with kitchen shears so you can easily slide the whole egg out of the shell.
