Baked Organic Quail Egg in a Nest. Hot Gluten-free Appetiser

In case you were wondering where I find organic quail eggs, I raise my own. In 2000 we moved permanently from a city to a farmhouse in France. I knew Andy's life would be miserable unless we came up with a cure for his hay fever. I'd been reading up on the use of quail in ancient Eastern medicine and I decided that it was well worth a trial. At that time, except for some work done around the 1960s by a Dr Truffier, no one had discovered why quail eggs cured so many respiratory and allergic conditions. That didn't bother me one jot and ironically we cured not only Andy's hay fever but also his eczema. If you want to read about the therapeutic use of quail eggs and how we raise our quail, then you can find detailed information in the links below.

This is a dish (in larger version) we used to eat regularly at home on the farm when I was a child. It is simple and nutritious, was fun for us kids to make and used the ingredients we always had to hand: eggs and potatoes.

Below: 'Hands off these are Mine!' Cecily, one of our Golden Manchurian Coturnix) protecting the nest.

TEMPERATURES

Preheat the oven to 220°C or 425°F

INGREDIENTS

Makes 18 to 20 nests

4 Medium to Large Potatoes. Preferably 'floury' varieties that are suitable for mashing.
Quail Eggs
Butter
Salt and Pepper to taste.

METHOD

Baked Organic Quail Egg in a Nest Hot Gluten-free Appetiser Recipe

Peel and then boil the potatoes until firm but cooked well enough so that a fork will pierce them easily. Mash with a hand masher, thus avoiding any chance of the mash becoming 'gluey'. Add salt and pepper and a little butter.

Form the mash into small round balls.

Baked Organic Quail Egg in a Nest - Making the nest

Make a depression in the centre of the ball with the thumb and work the potato into a nest shape.

With a fork, lift up sections of mash to create a 'twiggy' appearance.

Place the nests on a buttered baking sheet...

Recipe Baked Organic Quail Egg in a Nest Hot Gluten-free Appetiser

...and cook until lightly golden (around 10 to 15 minutes).

Recipe Baked Organic Quail Egg in a Nest Gluten-free Appetiser

Crack a quail egg into each nest add a dot of butter to the white and return to the oven cook for a further 10 minutes or until the eggs have set and have a white glazed appearance.

The nests without the eggs can be made in advance and frozen.

I also made a more rustic version, which is quicker to produce but obviously doesn't have the uniformity of the above and is not as easy to freeze!

Baked Organic Quail Egg in a Nest Recipe - Hot Gluten-free Appetiser

Enjoy!

All that needs to be said now is Bon Appėtit!

All the best,

Sue

A comprehensive guide into the history & use of quail eggs in medicine Part 1

How we cured Andy's hay fever and eczema with a dip into Ancient Egypt and 60's France...read more

A comprehensive guide into the history & use of quail eggs in medicine Part 2

Now we eat quail eggs for pleasure..here I look in depth at the clinical trials in the 1960s and the posology used then and by us...read more

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