Just wanted to let you know that the Hugo House Quail Eggs will be featured on today’s UK Ready Steady Cook to be aired at 4.30pm till 5.15pm on BBC2 with my quail eggs.

Hope you can tune in to see what they cook up with my bag of goodies and the quail eggs produced on my farm.

Let me know if you catch it, I’d love to know what you think or if you have any recipes using quail eggs that you’d like to share.

• They are nutritious.
• Easily digested.
• Egg dishes are quick to prepare.
• Eggs have many different uses.
• They can be prepared in many different ways.

Cooking And Eating Eggs

Eggs can be cooked in a variety of ways.

1. Boiled
2. Fried
3. Poached
4. Scrambled
5. Steamed
6. Omelette

Boiled Eggs – Eggs can be soft or hard boiled.

Soft Boiled Eggs can be cooked in a number of ways.

You can plunge the eggs (still in their shells) into a pan of fast boiling water and cook according to taste and size of eggs: 3 minutes = very soft, 3.5 minutes = soft, 4 minutes = medium hard or 4.5 minutes = firm for hen eggs. When cooked, put into egg cups and cut the top off the eggs.

A second way to cook soft boiled eggs is to cover the eggs (still in their shells) with cold water and bring slowly to the boil. The moment the water boils remove from the heat. Put into egg cups and cut the top off the eggs.

Hard Boiled Eggs – Put the eggs (still in their shells) into boiling water and boil for 10 minutes for hen eggs. Try not to over cook for more than 10 minutes as the eggs may be discoloured. Put the eggs immediately into cold water to cool as this prevents a dark colouration around the yolk. When cool, crack the egg shell and peel it from the eggs.

Fried Eggs – Heat some fat (sunflower oil is high in unsaturated fat) in a small frying pan. Crack the eggs into separate cups and then slide the eggs into the pan and draw off the heat for a minute. Then replace over a low heat and fry until the eggs are set. Shake the pan slightly to prevent sticking. A plate over the pan can sometimes help the top to set. Remove from the pan and drain any excess fat before serving.

Poached Eggs – Break the eggs carefully into cups, unless using a special poaching pan. Put a teaspoon of vinegar and a pinch of salt into a pan half full of water. Slide in the eggs, keeping the white together with a spoon. Simmer gently spooning water over the eggs, until they are set and the whites are opaque. Remove from the pan and drain well before serving.

Scrambled Eggs – Use half an ounce of margarine or butter and 1 tablespoon of milk per egg. Crack the eggs into a bowl and add the milk. Beat the eggs and milk together and season with a little salt and pepper. Melt the margarine/butter in a saucepan and add the beaten egg mixture. Stir with a fork until the mixture is nearly set. Remove from the heat and serve.

Steamed Eggs – Grease an oven-proof dish and break the eggs into it. Stir the yolk and white together, add a pinch of salt and then put the dish into a saucepan with enough boiling water to come half way up. Steam the eggs until they are set and then serve.

Omelette – Crack the eggs into a bowl and add a little milk and seasoning. Beat the mixture together. Heat some oil in a frying pan and then add the egg mixure so that it spreads out and covers the whole of the bottom of the pan. Cook until the egg mixture has set. The omelette can be turned or flipped over so that both sides are evenly cooked but this is not always necessary.

Using Eggs In Cooking And Baking

Eggs have many benefits when they are used with other ingredients in cooking and baking.

1. Whisking
2. Setting
3. Binding
4. Coating
5. Emulsion
6. Glazing
7. Enriching other foods

Whisking – Eggs hold alot of air and are used to make meringues, souffles, mousses and swiss rolls. The ingredients are whisked together and the air held in the mixture by the eggs makes the meringues and cake very light.

Setting – Eggs enable a liquid mixture to set for example in a quiche, a baked egg custard and lemon curd.

Binding – When you add an egg yolk to a fish cake or beefburger mix, it helps the ingredients to stick together.

Coating – Beaten egg can be used to coat fish, chicken portions and other food before they are coated in breadcrumbs and fried.

Emulsion – When an egg or egg yolk is used to make mayonnaise, it helps the oil and vinegar to stay blended together.

Glazing – Pastry topped pies and scones are brushed with beaten egg and milk to give a shiny golden brown appearance when cooked.

Enriching other foods – Adding beaten egg to mashed potato, fried rice or milk pudding can help to improve the flavour and food value of the dish.

• Hard boil the quail eggs for 3 minutes.
• Leave to cool, then peel.

Great added to;

• Sausage Casserole
• Bolognaise
• Caesar Salad
• Kedgeree
• Cauliflower Cheese
• Tuna Pasta Bake
• Prawn Cocktail
• Boiled Peas
• Rice Salad

If you have any serving suggestions for hard boiled quail eggs or other quail egg recipes then please leave a comment.

Avocado And Guinea Fowl Egg Mayonnaise

Avocado and Egg Mayonnaise is a fabulous starter if you have an abundance of eggs. When we have lots of guinea fowl eggs we try to vary the egg recipe which can be a bit of a challenge.

Avocado & Guinea Fowl Egg Mayonnaise

Ingredients

• 1 ripe avocado per person for a large starter or light lunch or shared between 2 people for a light starter or an accompaniment to a salad lunch.
• 2 – 4 guinea fowl eggs hard boiled.
• 2 spoonfuls of mayonnaise mixed with 1 spoonful of brown sauce and 1 spoonful of ketchup sauce.

Method

1. Boil the eggs for 10 minutes until they are hard boiled.
2. Cut the avocado in half and remove the stone.
3. Peel the shell off the eggs and cut up the hard boiled eggs in to pieces.
4. Mix the mayonnaise, Ketchup and brown sauce together.
5. Add the mayonnaise mixture to the eggs and stir well.
6. Spoon the egg mayonnaise mixture onto the avocado.
7. Serve on it’s own or with a salad.

Quail Eggs With Peas

Boil the quail eggs for 1 and a half to 2 minutes until they are nearly hard boiled with a slightly runny yolk. Peel the eggs and chop into quarters and add to dish of boiled garden peas.

This is a tasty alternative to serving peas with a meal.

6 hard boiled quail eggs.
1 or 2 tomatoes.
Chopped lettuce.
1 piece of bread toasted and cut into squares.

To make the sweet and sour dressing.

2 and a half table spoons of virgin olive oil.
1 clove of garlic chopped up.
Half a table spoon of caster sugar.
1 and a half tablespoons of white wine vinegar.
1 tablespoon of lemon juice.

Method

Hard Boil the quail eggs for 3 minutes and allow to cool before peeling the shell off.
Chop up the lettuce and tomato and place in the salad bowl.
Cut the quail eggs in half and place in the salad bowl.
Toast the bread and then cut into small squares like croutons.
Chop the garlic.
Mix the virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar, lemon juice and caster sugar with the garlic.
Warm lightly in a pan and then drizzle over the salad.

This salad was served with grilled salmon and homemade chips.

This quail egg salad would make a great starter or a tasty accompaniment to a main meal.

The Ready Steady Cook team looked after us brilliantly and Ainsley and the two chefs, Lesley Waters and Aldo Zilli, were very friendly and put my nerves at ease.

The new series is a celebrity series and I feature in the 10 minute, challenge the chefs, part of the show. I got to chat to Ainsley about my challenge and the animals on the farm and then after the cooks had prepared the dishes I got to taste the food, which was delicious.

It was very interesting to see how the show was put together and I got lots of great recipe ideas for using quail eggs.

I’ll let you know when the show is to be aired but at the moment I don’t know when that will be, so watch this space for news about Ready Steady Cook.

After my initial surprise I began to think is someone trying to have a joke with me. I thought it might be a Radio One wind up. Anyway it’s true, they phoned back and they are inviting me to put an application in to be on the show. They asked if I would be interested in taking part in the 10 minute, challenge the chefs with a “quickie bag” of food, as the main part of the show will be a celebrity Ready Steady Cook.

In the quickie bag they would like me to bring my quail or guinea fowl eggs as they found this website and thought that it would be interesting for the chefs to do something with quail or guinea fowl eggs as opposed to ordinary hen eggs.

I am delighted to be asked to apply for the show and will let you know how the Ready Steady Cook filming goes.