Modern Recipes

Scrambled quail eggs with mini cocktail sausages and deep fried potato skins If you are in the UK and you think of sausages, egg and chips, you will not probably conjure up in your mind an image much like the one above! You are more likely of course to think of chips, bangers and a fried egg. While this dish is very different, it is essentially however still sausages, egg and chips. It came about in the first instance when I was thinking of a way to cook the remaining quail eggs I had from my recent gift pack (see an earlier post). I wanted to cook them in a way I had never cooked quail eggs before, so I decided to try them scrambled. Probably the main reason why we wouldn't automatically think of scrambling quail eggs is because they are of course so small. I used eight of them in this dish and the resultant scrambled egg quantity probably wasn't even as much as would be provided by two chicken eggs. As the eggs are so small, I decided to use small cocktail sausages to serve w...

Scottish salmon poached in cider is served with hard boiled quail eggs salad Poaching is definitely my favourite way of cooking salmon. It is important, however, not to let the poaching liquid boil. The way I poach it is by adding the salmon to the cool liquid and seasonings, bringing it up to only the slightest signs of a simmer before turning the heat off to let the salmon cook to juicy, succulent perfection as the liquid cools. The seasonings you add to the liquid with the salmon are of course endlessly variable but this combination works - I believe - especially well. Fresh Scottish salmon fillet Ingredients (Serves One) 1 fresh salmon fillet, skin on 1 small carrot, washed, topped and roughly chopped 1/2 small red onion, peeled and roughly chopped 1 bay leaf 1/2 teaspoon dried dill Salt 1/2 pint cider 1 pint cold water 4 fresh quail eggs 2 generous handfuls mixed salad leaves of choice Fresh cress to garnish Salmon poaching flavourings Directions Lay the salmon fillet skin side do...

Smoked venison, smoked mussels and quails eggs from Loch Fyne Oysters I've personally visited the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar many times over more years than I care to recall. This is usually when I am fishing Loch Fyne or quite literally passing right by it on my way to fish somewhere further up the West Coast of Scotland. Yesterday, however, it was family members of mine who were in the area and they very kindly brought me a small goodie bag containing some of the wonderful produce the fairly recently refurbished shop has to offer. What you see above is some smoked venison from the Rannoch Smokery in Pitlochry, Perthshire, some Loch Fyne smoked mussels and some wonderful little quail eggs which are farmed on the tiny island of Gigha. I have tried all of these products many times before and love them very much but I will be dreaming up some new ways of serving them and will share a few examples over the coming days of what I decide to create. The Loch Fyne Oyster Bar, July 2011 The Oys...