Recipe for pasta with poached quail eggs
A simple, decorative, and flavorful dish consisting of homemade pasta with gremolata and poached quail eggs.
The dish can be enjoyed on its own or served with a piece of meat or fish as an accompaniment.
Ingredients
- 200 gram Wheat Flour
- 2 pcs. Egg
- 1 bunch Broad leaf parsley
- 1 pcs. Lemon Zest
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 15 gram Parmesan freshly grated
- 8 pcs. Quail Eggs
- Vinegar for poaching the eggs
Instructions
- -
Pasta:
- Pour the flour onto the kitchen counter and make a well in the center.
- Crack the eggs into the well and gently whisk them together with a fork. With one hand, push some of the flour into the eggs while whisking the egg and flour mixture with the other hand.
- When you can no longer whisk any more flour into the eggs with the fork, use your hands to bring the dough together.
- Once the dough is formed, knead it thoroughly with your hands. Use the heel of your hand to fold the dough over itself until it has a smooth surface when stretched. This may take some time, but it’s worth the effort.
- Let the dough rest for 30 minutes at room temperature, wrapped in a bag or plastic wrap.
- After the dough has rested, roll it out on a well-floured surface. Use plenty of flour - more than you think you need.
- Roll the dough as thinly as possible with a rolling pin.
- When the dough cannot get any thinner, try rolling it up on your flour-dusted rolling pin. Roll the rolling pin a few times over the counter while applying gentle pressure.
- Unroll the dough from the rolling pin. Give it another roll with the rolling pin if you want it thinner.
- Cut the dough into pasta strips of the desired size.
- Optionally, hang the pasta to dry on a pasta drying rack (or you can use a cleaned broom handle placed over two chairs).
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. When the water boils, add the pasta.
- Cook the pasta for 4 minutes and drain it.
Gremolata:
- Rinse the parsley thoroughly and let it drain.
- Chop the parsley finely.
- Peel the garlic cloves and chop them very finely.
- Wash and zest the lemon.
- Combine parsley, lemon zest, and finely chopped garlic in a bowl.
- Mix freshly grated Parmesan cheese into the gremolata.
Poached Quail Eggs:
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of vinegar.
- Crack the eggs into separate ramekins/small bowls.
- Create a whirlpool in the water with a spoon and gently slide the eggs into the water one at a time.
- Poach the eggs for 1 minute.
- Then transfer them to a bowl of cold water (preferably ice water) to stop the cooking immediately.
Serving:
- Toss the freshly cooked pasta with the gremolata and plate the portions.
- Top each portion with two quail eggs and sprinkle plenty of freshly ground pepper over each.
- Serve immediately!
Notes
The dish benefits from a crunchy contrast and can be served with a topping of, for instance, roasted pine nuts, crispy bacon pieces, or croutons.