Pheasant Eggs on Sausage Toast – a Very Special Treat

Pheasant eggs you say. Where on earth did you find pheasant eggs? Actually we started out looking for banty eggs, which are tiny eggs laid from a Bantam chicken. Here in the mountains we buy organic eggs or in some areas what are called “yard eggs” from a local vendor. We were visiting with her one day about eggs and she mentioned that occasionally she gets tiny banty eggs and asked if we would like some. Of course we replied, save some for us the next time you have them. I was intrigued with using the tiny eggs in a recipe and we talked about ideas on the way home. As luck would have it, every time we asked about the banty eggs she said the chickens were molting right now and she didn’t have any. (If the word molting and the laying habits of hens when they lose their feathers are as new to you as they are to me, here’s more information.)

After that, we just put the idea of small eggs on the back burner until we were at our local farmer’s market a couple of weeks ago. My husband Meakin was visiting with a vendor who sells produce, eggs, and flowers and on a lark he asked if he happed to have any banty eggs. Much to our surprise he did, but apologetically said that he had only one. But, he added, he also had four pheasant eggs. Bingo, we finally found some tiny eggs.

As you can see by this picture, banty eggs (or bantam eggs as they are also called) are smaller than a large hen egg and pheasant eggs are even smaller than the banty.

The pheasant eggs are khaki-colored and quite pretty. Compared to a hen egg, pheasant eggs and banty eggs have a higher yolk-to-white ratio, thus producing a richer flavor.

If you would like to see what a pheasant looks like, here’s a link along with some tips on cooking their eggs.

This recipe is what I call a “small plate” meal. It also makes a lovely appetizer to pass on a tray at a party. If you can’t find pheasant or banty (bantam) eggs, quail eggs will work very well also.

If you do use tiny eggs, use them in a way that shows them off and puts them on center stage. They make a great conversation piece at get-togethers. But please promise me - no scrambled eggs. They are much too special to use as ordinary eggs.

I hope you enjoy this unusual and attractive treat. If you have used any kind of tiny eggs in recipes, please share your experiences with us.

Join me next time as we visit our Saturday Farmer’s Market that’s typical of a North Carolina mountain town to see what’s offered by local farmers and craftsmen of our region.

Pheasant Eggs on Sausage Toast
Adapted from The Tapas Cookbook – serves 6 as part of a tapas meal

12 slices French bread, cut on the diagonal, about ¼” thick, toasted
24 slices ready-to-eat smoked sausage or Spanish chorizo, cut into thin pieces on the diagonal to fit the toasts, and browned on both sides in a skillet
Olive oil
12 pheasant eggs (or banty or quail eggs)
Smoked sweet Spanish paprika, also called Pimention de la Vera (or substitute mild Hungarian paprika)
Crunchy sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat a thin layer of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Break the eggs into the skillet and cook, spooning the fat over the yolks, until the whites are set and the yolks are cooked to your liking sunny side up. Remove the cooked eggs from the skillet and drain on paper towels. Top each piece of toast with browned pieces of sausage. Immediately transfer the eggs to the sausage-topped toasts and dust with paprika. Sprinkle with crunchy salt and lots of freshly ground pepper. Serve at once.

This recipe is being linked to Foodie Friday at Rattlebridge Farms, Miz Helen’s Country Kitchen Full Plate Thursday, Foodie Friday at Simple Recipes, Foodtastic Friday at Not Your Ordinary Recipes, Seasonal Sunday at The Tablescaper, Southern Sundays at Slice of Southern, and On the Menu Monday at Stone Gable.

Have a great weekend everyone. And keep your eyes out for tiny eggs.

Wild Mushroom Toasts with Eggs Recipe

Eggs are probably the original convenience food. According to Sara Foster of Foster’s Market fame in the Durham/Chapel Hill area of North Carolina, “When it comes to convenience food, you can’t do much better than eggs; they’re nourishing, they cook in minutes, and they’ll keep in your refrigerator for weeks." I totally agree. Eggs are so versatile and you can add just about anything savory to eggs and they’ll be delicious.

We’re the kind of people who can eat eggs morning, noon, or night. How about you? Do you think eggs are only for breakfast? If you do, I hope this recipe for wild mushroom toasts topped with eggs will convince you otherwise. This is adapted from Sara Foster’s delightful cookbook Casual Cooking, More Fresh Simple Recipes from Foster’s Market. The book has an entire chapter titled “Anytime Eggs,” and features such recipes as individual prosciutto, spinach, and egg “pies,” and smoked salmon toasts with poached eggs and Dijon dill sauce, which we had for dinner recently and it was so good we ate them before we got a chance to take a picture.  

The recipe calls for assorted wild fresh mushrooms. I bought a box of assorted mushrooms at the market, but next time I might try to choose my own mushrooms. The box I bought had a couple of exotic mushrooms, but the majority were baby bellas.

I didn’t have my wonderful egg poacher here that I so love, so we did what I call “soft fry” the eggs. They’re a cross between fried eggs and poached eggs. To “soft fry” the eggs, break them in a skillet with hot fat just as you would for fried eggs and, after a couple of minutes, add a little water and cover the eggs with a lid for the remainder of the cooking time. This method is much easier than poaching eggs and they turn out prettier than fried eggs in my opinion.

Enjoy eggs “anytime” as Sara Foster recommends.

Wild Mushroom Toasts with Eggs
Adapted from Sara Foster’s Casual Cooking

Serves: 4
Level: Easy

2 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for brushing the bread
4 ounces assorted wild fresh mushrooms, trimmed and sliced if needed
1 shallot, peeled and minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped minced chives, plus more for garnish
4 1-inch-thick slices of crusty, rustic-style bread
4 large eggs

Heat the butter with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring often, until the mushrooms are golden brown and soft. Add the shallot and sauté about a minute more, until the shallot has softened. Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir in the chives. Remove the mushrooms from the heat and keep warm.

Preheat the broiler. Brush one side of each bread slice lightly with olive oil. Place the bread under the broiler for about 1 minute per side to toast lightly. Set aside while you cook the eggs.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Crack eggs into pan and cook 2 minutes. Add one tablespoon of water, cover with a lid and cook an additional 2 minutes until whites are set, then remove the skillet from the heat. Remove the eggs with a slotted spatula and place one egg on each toast. Top the eggs with the mushrooms and chives. Season with additional salt and freshly ground black pepper if desired and serve warm.

Now for the winner of the give-away. The question I posed on my last post with the French Bistros photos – “Do you wish you had gone to culinary school?” yielded a lot of interesting answers and I enjoyed reading each and every one of them. Many of you, in fact more than half, said you had dreamed of going to culinary school.  Some of you actually have attended culinary school and I really admire you. Others said they were dreaming of winning a contest that would whisk them off to the bistros of Provence to enjoy the food. Moi aussi. How about this charming bistro in Arles, Le Café La Nuit, which supposedly was the bistro that inspired Vincent van Gogh’s painting Café de Soir.

Le Cafe La Nuit in Arles, France

It’s wonderful to be able to dream, isn’t it? Where would we be if we didn’t dream? Walt Disney said “All of our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” Walt was right about my dream of culinary school. I didn’t have the courage to pursue it. But there are others in the world that do have the courage to pursue their dreams. Of course I’m referring to the people in the Middle East and their dreams of freedom. It’s a very dangerous but exciting time in parts of the world today.

I wish that each of you could receive a copy of this fun read - Under the Table, Saucy Tales from Culinary School. It’s Katherine Darling’s memoir of adventures in the student kitchens of the legendary French Culinary Institute in New York City. However, there is only one winner and the winner is Ally from Sweet & Savory.  Ally’s name was drawn the old fashioned way, from a hat, and she too has dreamed of going to culinary school. Ally just delivered an adorable baby girl so you might want to drop by her blog and say congratulations on the new addition to her family. Ally, if you’ll contact me with your mailing address I’ll get the book off to you. Keep dreaming everyone.

For those of you that wished me well with our move in to our condo that is being renovated from head to toe, we're in but not quite settled. In any renovation, especially a major one, there are glitches. I'll have pictures when we're complete.

A perfect late night snack and a winner in the CSN giveaway

First of all I want to thank each of you for the incredible response to my blog's 2nd birthday/anniversary. I am touched by your generosity and kindness in your well wishes. I also wish to thank CSN for hosting the fabulous giveaway.


We have a winner in the $75 giveaway from CSN and it is Lea Ann of Mangos Chili and Z. Congratulations. I know you’ll enjoy spending the $75 at CSN. I know I would. Please send me your email address to me at samhoffer (at) gmail (dot) com so CSN can contact you.

More congratulations are in order for Lea Ann. Her recipe for Scallop Sandwich appetizer is one of the winners of the Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook contest and it is published in their gorgeous new book book – Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook. Why don’t you run on over to Mangos Chili and Z to tell her congratulations. Look around while you are there. She is amazing photographer as well as a fabulous cook.

I have really enjoyed reading your comments on whether you have stools in your kitchen or not. It was divided pretty much 50 -50 on those of you who used stools like I do and those of you who don’t. Some of you like people to visit with you while you cook as I do and others don’t. Our winner Lea Ann left the following comment. “I love stools in the kitchen. My mom always had a couple when I was growing up. Usually my aunt and I would sit there and pester her while she cooked. :-)”

Speaking of visiting with people in the kitchen while you cook, my friend Susan of The Schnitzel and the Trout left a comment that brought back memories. Susan said, “I do not like anyone in my kitchen because I get so involved in conversation that I forget what I am doing.” Susan, you have no idea how right you are and it’s happened to me. Read on…..

Visiting with people while you cook almost turned into a disaster for me when I was the Mississippi finalist in the 40th National Chicken Cooking Contest. It was one of the big three contests and the oldest of its kind. In other words, the National Chicken Cooking Contest was a big deal and the cash prize in 2009 was $50,000. Sadly, because of economic conditions, the contest has been suspended.

As Mississippi’s contestant I was awarded an all expense paid trip to the competition where participants are introduced to the press and audience as the state winner. With a banner draped over your chest, you walked out feeling very much like "Miss America". Everyone had their very own kitchen. A flag was provided that each contestant could raise or lower, indicating whether they were available for conversation and questions while preparing their dish.

My dish was Chicken Breasts stuffed with Goat Cheese, Sun-dried Tomatoes and Rosemary. Goat cheese in 1993 was a fairly exotic ingredient. Many people stopped by my booth with questions. As you know I like to visit in the kitchen, so I eagerly answered their questions until I glanced down at my watch and realized I had talked away valuable time and I was running out of time to prepare my dish twice - one for the judges to sample and the other for display. I quickly changed my flag and got to work. In other words, I realized that I might not finish on time which would ruin my chances to win. Thankfully I did finish, but Susan, you are so right. You can definitely get involved in conversation while cooking and forget what you’re doing and the results for me could have been disastrous.

I still love goat cheese and use it often. This sandwich would make a great late night after the theater snack or a lovely light lunch. Goat cheese has become increasingly popular. For this dish I can see flavoring the goat cheese with many combinations such as sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil, assorted fresh herbs and garlic, black olive tapenade, or crushed pink peppercorns and herbs de Provence. The combinations for mild creamy goat cheese are almost endless.

Open-faced sandwiches with goat cheese and fried eggs
A perfect late night after the theater snack or a light lunch
Adapted from Cooking Light – serves 4


1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil + 1 teaspoon
1 ½ teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 cup organic spring mix lettuce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 slices five grain bread or other hardy bread
4 large eggs
4 oz soft goat cheese
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

Combine 1 tablespoon olive oil, lime juice, a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground pepper in a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake well. Toss the mixture with the organic baby lettuce mix and set aside.

Toast the bread until your desired degree of doneness.

Heat the remaining teaspoon of olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Crack eggs into pan and cook 2 minutes. Add one tablespoon of water, cover and cook an additional 2 minutes until whites are set and remove from the heat.

Spread the toast with equal portions of the goat cheese, then the dressed spring lettuce mix, and top with a fried egg. Sprinkle the eggs with chopped fresh thyme, a pinch of sea salt, and some freshly ground black pepper. Serve a little extra sea salt alongside for those who like a bit more salt and crunch.

A French Valentine’s Day Bistro Lunch featuring Eggs in Coquetiers all the way from Paris

I was the lucky person to receive these little black French coquetiers, French egg cups, from Laura at Laura’s Paris Cooking Notebook. Laura found them at the Christmas Market in the Champs Elysees and she mailed them to me all the way from Paris. Laura says in Paris, “black is very trendy in the French arts de la table (everything related to the table, tablecloths, decorations, chinaware, glassware, silverware ...) and these have a Paris touch with the Eiffel Tower in white.”

Thank you so much Laura. I’ve been saving these darling little egg cups for a special occasion and that occasion has come. It’s Valentine’s Day on Sunday, so why not prepare your valentine a French bistro lunch of Oeufs a la coque avec mouillettes, or soft boiled eggs with toasted fingers of bread, and a frisee salad with lardons or a simple green salad of curly endive with bacon gently dressed with an olive oil vinaigrette that you've seen on my blog several times.

I adapted the eggs and bread fingers recipe from Clotilde Dusoulier’s cookbook, Chocolate & Zucchini, in which she writes about her daily adventures in a Parisian kitchen. The toast fingers are normally spread with a little butter, but I mixed some goat cheese with sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil. Clotilde also used goat cheese but mixed hers with artichokes, which also sounds delicious, so be sure to check out her recipe.

Soft Boiled Eggs with fingers of bread

Oeufs à la coque avec mouillettes

Adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini by Clotilde Dusoulier

Four extra large, high quality brown eggs

4 of 5 sun-dried tomatoes, depending on their size

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

1 4-ounce log of soft goat cheese

French baguette

Bring the eggs to room temperature to avoid the shells cracking as you lower them into the simmering water. Put the eggs in saucepan with enough water to cover. Remove the eggs and bring the water to a gentle boil. With a slotted spoon carefully put the eggs back in the water. When the water returns to a boil, turn the heat to low and allow the eggs to simmer gently for four minutes. Do not overcook or you’ll end up with hardboiled eggs.

While the eggs are cooking, chop four or five sun-dried tomatoes (the dried ones not packed in oil) that you’ve previously plumped in hot water to soften. If you are using the ones packed in oil, you can skip the plumping step. Mash the goat cheese with a fork and add the tomatoes and basil and mix together to make a smooth paste.

Slice the baguette lengthwise as if you were making a sandwich and toast it. Spread the toast with the goat cheese mixture and cut into fingers thin enough to be easily inserted in the soft boiled egg.

Drain the eggs and put them in egg cups. Serve with the toast fingers. Serves four as a light main course. (Instructions for how to properly eat the eggs is below.) Excellent with a frisee salad with lardons.

Here are Clotidle’s suggestions on the proper French way to eat a soft boiled egg with toast fingers:

Tap the pointy end of the egg gently with a knife all around so you can slice off its hat. Remove the hat and season the egg and the hat with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Scoop out the inside of the hat with a spoon and eat that first. Take one mouillette, or toast finger, and dip it in the egg, and eat the egg coated end. Repeat until you’ve eaten all of the bread. Use your spoon to eat the remainder of the egg. When you’re finished, drop the hat into the empty shell for good luck.

To make your valentine’s lunch complete, grab a fresh baguette and some flowers and a nice cadeau, French for gift, and you’ll be set.

I’ve received a couple of awards and would like to say thank you to Laura of Laura’s Paris Cooking Notebook for the Kreativ Blog award and to Mama Bird at Mama Bird’s Nest and Sophie of Sophie's Food Files for the Honest Scrap award. I’m honored and pleased. You are all special ladies and I hope you have an exceptionally great Valentine’s Day. Also I want to thank two of my blogging friends, Christo of ChezWhat and Danielle of Cooking for My Piece of Mind, for generously sharing their knowledge of blogging. They both have helped me make my blog better. A big French merci beaucoup to you both.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone,

Sam

A trip through the Nantahala Gorge on our way to visit friends and have lunch at Zink American Kitchen, a popular uptown eatery in Charlotte, NC

Last week old friends that we’d met when they were cruising on their sailboat in the islands near our home in Abaco invited us to visit them in Charlotte, NC. As we left our home in western North Carolina, the fog was just lifting in the mountains of Cherokee County.

Traveling about thirty minutes east on Highway 19/74, we entered into the Nantahala National Forest. The highway is a serpentine, narrow two-lane road that was once part of the Native American Indian Trail of Tears and winds it way beside the Nantahala River. The river begins high in the mountains and then flows through the Nantahala Gorge, which is narrow and steep. The word Nantahala comes from the Cherokee Indians and means land of the noonday sun. In some areas along the gorge, the sun reaches the ground only when it’s directly overhead. The Nantahala is one of the most popular rivers in the world for whitewater rafting and kayaking.

We arrived in Charlotte around lunch time. Charlotte is a vibrant, cosmopolitan city and a banking capital with the home offices of Bank of American and Wachovia as well as the hub for Continental Airlines. Our friends live in the city so they suggested we walk to Zink American Kitchen, a popular uptown restaurant. As we entered the restaurant we couldn’t help but be impressed with the thirty foot long zinc bar and the deep crimson décor. They told us on the walk over that the chef likes to take traditional American comfort food and reinvent it.

I knew I was at home when I picked up their extensive menu and noticed that they had a Grits Bar. They offer two grits selections as side dishes, or grits du jour as the French would say. I’m from the deep south, so how was I to pass up today’s grits with pimento cheese and ham? It was pure heaven for this little southern girl.

Inspired by Greg at Sippity Sup who does fabulous job with his different food series, such as tomato mania and burgers, I decided right then and there that I would do a series on grits.

My (current) favorite grits recipe comes from Southern Living magazine. It’s a Cheddar Cheese Grits Casserole that always gathers rave reviews. We recently served it for breakfast along with herbed scrambled eggs on wheat toast when we were visiting our family in Florida. Our nephew’s five year old daughter said when she returned to the kitchen with her empty plate, “that’s the best breakfast I’ve ever had.”


I cooked my grits in a soufflé dish, but Southern Living used an 11 x 7 casserole which would allow you to cut squares for serving. Sometimes I add fresh herbs, such as parsley and basil, to the grits mixture for flavor and color. I highly recommend letting the grits sit for a  few minutes after you take them out of the oven before serving. Their texture seems to improve.


Join me next time as I prepare one of my very favorite dishes – Shrimp and Grits.