Thursday, May 13, 2010

mini pizzas with prosciutto, tarragon & quail eggs


I found some quail eggs at an Asian grocery store, and I had to buy them. So tiny and cute!! I've always wanted to do something with quail eggs. I mean, check out these little toasts that Eric Ripert does, and tell me you are not in love with the adorableness that is quail eggs?!? But what was I gonna do with them? I had them in the fridge for awhile, and was determined to use the tonight.

I seem to be on a pizza kick this week, so I went with that momentum. Ever heard of putting eggs on your pizza? It's not weird... it's normal, and brilliant. Being that I am terrible at planning ahead, I never think to make dough for pizza, and have found that refrigerated dinner roll dough works well for little tiny pizzas in a pinch. Little tiny pizzas? Little tiny eggs? boom.


There is not really a recipe for this, per se, but I will walk you through the process. I stretched and rolled out the refrigerated dinner roll dough balls (frozen works, too... follow directions on thawing and rising and preheating the oven) on a surface coated with some olive oil. Once I had my flat rounds, I spread them with olive oil and grated fresh garlic.

Next I put on some fresh tarragon leaves and shredded Parmesan cheese. Then I took a slice of prosciutto, tore it in half length-wise, and formed it into a circle in the middle of the pizza. The idea is that the prosciutto forms a kind of nest for the egg. Bake this for about 6 minutes, until the crust is firm and starting to brown. Add a quail egg to the center of each pizza (it's helpful to crack each egg into a little bowl first instead of trying to crack the egg onto the pizza) and bake another 5-6 minutes until the egg white is set, but the yolk is still runny.


1 comment:

lalaine said...

I grew up to hard-boiled quail eggs (already cooked, peeled and canned) mixed in soups, stir-fry veggies etc but never tried it fried and in a pizza no less. What a quaint idea. Thanks for the inspiration.