These quail egg and caviar croustades may look fancy, but are deceptively easy to prepare. Photo courtesy Paramount Caviar.
June 2010 |
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Quail Egg Recipe
Elegant Hors d’Oeuvre: Quail Egg, Caviar & Chervil Croustades
This is Page 3 of eight pages of seafood hors d’oeuvre recipes. Click on the black links below to view the other recipes.
On The Menu:
Quail Egg, Caviar & Chervil Croustades
Croustade is the French culinary term for a crust or pie crust, typically for a savory pie. It can be a mini-tart served as an hors d’oeuvre or another form, but the distinguishing feature is that it has a dish shape, it to be filled.
There are exceptions—an English muffin is referred to as a croustade, when used as the base of a dish along the lines of Eggs Benedict, such as Oeufs en Croustades à la Béarnaise.
The word croûton also means crust—but in the sense of a “hard crust” or the heel of the bread. It’s also a pejorative term for a crusty old codger. In culinary circles, the term refers to crunchy, slices of bread (toasted or fried) that are seasoned (with garlic, for example) and served alongside a soup (or floating atop it), salad or other dish. They’re the round or oval version of the toast points of British and American cuisine.
In America croutons are best known as small cubes of baked bread tossed onto a salad. But for other uses, the size can be as large as the slice of bread. An easy way to remember the difference is: croustade=shell, crouton=bread.
Ingredients
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7 thin slices quality white bread for
croustades
(If you don’t have time to make your own croustades, they are sold at some specialty food stores—see photo)
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2 tablespoons melted butter
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10 quail eggs
(See note on quail eggs in the next
recipe)
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6 tablespoons gourmet mayonnaise*
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3-1/2 ounces black lumpfish caviar
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3-1/2 ounces red lumpfish caviar
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20 sprigs chervil or parsley to garnish
*We like Lemonaise from The Ojai Cook.
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Croustades from SiljansCrispyCup.com, are available at fine retailers and can
occasionally be found on Amazon. |
Preparation
- To make croustades, preheat oven to 400°F.
- Roll out bread slices thinly with a rolling pin. Cut out 3 rounds from each slice using a pastry cutter.
- Line each hole of a mini muffin pan with a bread round. Brush each round with butter. Press an empty muffin pan on top to compact. Bake until golden brown and crisp, 10 minutes. Repeat with remaining bread.
- Croustades may be made up to 3 days in advance. Store in an airtight container at room temperature until ready to use.
- For eggs: Cook quail eggs in pan of boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain and refresh in cold water. Peel and cut in half.
- Spoon mayonnaise into croustades. Place half of a quail egg cut side up on top of mayonnaise. Top with 1/2 teaspoon each black and red caviar. Garnish with herb sprigs and serve at room temperature.
Go To Page 4: Quail Eggs With Caviar
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Recipe courtesy Paramount Caviar. All other materials
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