Un nid bien douillet – oeufs de caille en nid de vitelotte et saumon fumé, sauce ciboulette sur verdures melangées au citron

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Quail eggs…have you ever seen something cuter? They’re very popular in France to add to any appetizer but unfortunately they are not available everywhere in the US. Whole Foods and Sigona market sell them, but those are the only grocery stores where I have seen them on the shelves. Whole Foods sell ostrich eggs for about $30 each but I bet you can feed 4 or 5 people with one of those eggs.

Those adorable quail eggs found a nest in the middle of a potato, they fit perfectly in it, they’re just waiting to be savored with a bit of salmon and fromage blanc touch. I like to use fromage blanc, instead of heavy cream or sour cream, it’s a lot lighter and does not taste sour. If you cannot find fromage blanc, you could substitute it with greek yogurt either the plain one or the 2%. Fromage blanc is a dairy French specialty which has the texture of something in between greek yogurt and sour cream. Very smooth, creamy and velvety. 

For the mixed greens you can use any leafy greens, such as spinach, collard greens, etc…

Ingredients for 4 as appetizers

  • 4 medium size purple potatoes or any other potato
  • 8 quail eggs
  • 2 large slices of smoked sockeye salmon
  • 1/2 lb mixed greens
  • zest of one lemon
  • juice of one lemon
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 2 tbs fromage blanc or Greek yogurt
  • 1 tbs chopped chives
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 tsp rice vinegar 
  • salt and pepper

Preparation

Wash the potatoes. Pat dry and cut them in half lentghwise, the largest surface should be the one cut in half so that the quail egg would fit in each hole.

Drizzle olive oil and vinegar, add salt and pepper and broil at low heat. Cook until the potatoes are tender but browned on the outside.

In the meantime, bring water to a boil, add salt and cook greens for about 10 minutes. Drain.

Wash lemon and remove zest. Cook lemon zest in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and pat dry. Chop in smaller pieces. 

In a mixing bowl and lemon juice (keep one tsp to add to fromage blanc), olive oil, lemon zest, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add to the cooked greens.

When potatoes are cooked, remove from the oven and break a quail egg in the middle of the hole, sprinkle with salt and pepper and place back in oven for 3 minutes. Do not overcook the eggs, the yolks need to remain liquid.

Mix fromage blanc with chives, 1 tps lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Cut salmon in strips. Place on top of eggs, and add 1/2 tsp of fromage blanc mixture.

Serve two potato halves on top of 1 tbs of greens.