Experiment: Teeny Tiny Deviled Quail Eggs!

Like many people, I love miniaturized versions of things.  "What is this, a center for ants?" as Derek Zoolander would say.  So I came up with a random idea... Deviled eggs "for ants".

Standard chicken egg for scale

So teeny!

They're as big as his thumb

I'll go through the process in case anyone is curious about the method I used!  It was a fun project and they tasted great.  I'm a huge fan of deviled eggs and these turned out much better than I expected.

Quail eggs!

I picked up a pack of 15 quail eggs for ~$3 at the local Asian market.  A bit pricey for so little egg-matter, but the novelty of it was so worth it to me.

Surprisingly easy to peel!

I did some research on how long to cook quail eggs so that the yolks are set (but still yellow) and how to avoid a rubbery white.  I compared recipes and settled on bringing the eggs to a boil in salted room temperature water with 2 T of white vinegar mixed in.  Once boiling, turned down to medium and cooked for 5 minutes.  Make sure to put them in a bath of ice water once done so they stop cooking!

After cooling the eggs for 5 minutes, I gathered the courage to peel.  It was surprisingly easy!  Apparently the vinegar breaks down some of the calcium in the shell, so you can almost just pinch the shell and start peeling.

Carefully sliced open.  Big yolks!

The yolks are quite large in comparison to the white, so I tried to slice them with the yolk as centered as possible to avoid tearing (you can see a bit of the yolk through the white in areas).  Very pleased with the texture and color of the yolk!

Mixing up filling, same as regular sized eggs!

Hands down, the most difficult part was scooping out the yolks!  They're so small and difficult to handle.  But with some patience I got them out with minimal white tearing.

Mash the yolks up with a fork before adding your favorite deviled egg ingredients.  I go with mayo, mustard, hot sauce, salt, pepper, garlic, and cayenne.  Relish and Worcestershire sauce go great too.

Egg whites ready for filling in small sandwich bag

After mixing up your filling and tasting for seasoning, plop it into a sandwich bag and snip off the tip.  Pipe filling in and dust the tops with paprika or cayenne.  So tiny!!

Also, COMPLETELY unrelated, but I cooked the couple quail eggs remaining "sunny side up".  It cooks quickly but was delicious on some ramen.  Here's a picture!

One bite worth of fried egg

DEVILED QUAIL EGGS

Ingredients:

~12 quail eggs

2 T white vinegar

4 cups water + pinch of salt

1 T mayonnaise

1 t yellow or spicy brown mustard

Pinch of salt, pepper, garlic, cayenne to taste

Paprika or cayenne to garnish

Method:

Place quail eggs in salted room temperature water, mixed with white vinegar

Set temperature to "HIGH" and boil water

Once boiling, lower temperature to "MEDIUM" and cook 5 minutes

Remove eggs from water and place in ice bath

After 5 minutes of cooling, peel eggs and slice in half

Remove yolks and smash with fork or hands

Add mayo, mustard, and spices to mixture

Stuff mixture into plastic baggie, snip off corner

Pipe into egg whites and top with paprika or cayenne

DONE!

Stuffed Crust Pizza

I have very fond memories of my family ordering delivery "Stuft-Crust" pizza when I was growing up.  I was a SUPER picky eater and the cheesy faux-mozzarella crust was my prize; it was the best part of the pizza, hands down.  Making pizza is a lot of fun so I thought I would experiment making my own cheese stuffed crust pizza.

Greasy, cheesy nostalgia

Only a little cheese leakage but still, do as I say, not as I do- Freeze that cheese!

I normally try and make things from "scratch" but since this was an experiment, I bought pre-made bagged pizza dough and used string cheese for the filling.  Fresh mozzarella or even cheddar would probably be much better, but I kind of wanted the slightly artificial, highly processed taste from my childhood "Stuft Crust" experiences.  It worked out well!

Yep, string cheese.  Don't judge me!

An important tip to avoid cheese leaking out from the crust is to pop the string cheese in the freezer for at least 15 minutes before getting ready to bake.  I didn't do this step and had a bit of ooze.  Oh well!  Lesson learned.

Fold the crust alllll the way around the frozen cheese to avoid leaks

It's normally a BIG no-no for me to roll out pizza dough.  I read that somewhere, I think- to always stretch it by hand.  But in this case, I wanted enough coverage to completely cover the cheese while still having lots of surface area for toppings.  Plop the string cheese around the edge and wrap them completely with the outer dough, making SURE to tuck the excess dough under the cheese for full coverage!

Topped and ready to bake

Top your pizza and place in a very hot oven, preferably with a preheated baking stone.  Done!

CHEESE STUFFED CRUST PIZZA

Ingredients:

1 lb pizza dough (I used bagged fresh dough found in deli section)

Pinch of corn meal

7-10 mozzarella sting cheese snacks, depending on how thin you roll the crust

Sauce and toppings of your choice

Method:

Put string cheese in freezer ~15 minutes

Preheat oven to 450* F, with pizza stone on bottom rack

Sprinkle parchment paper with a little cornmeal

Roll out pizza dough to large circle

Line outer edge with very cold string cheese

Roll excess dough over and fully around each stick

Season, sauce, and top pizza with your favorite toppings

Place parchment paper with pizza on bottom rack of oven, bake ~12 minutes

Move pizza stone to center rack, bake another ~10 minutes

Done!

Havana Night: Cuban "Medianoche" Sandwiches and Mojitos

Pepe and I have been missing the beach lately and decided to dedicate a night to Cuba.  Full disclosure, we are not even remotely Cuban and the night consisted of Netflix and listening to Harry Belafonte (who isn't even Cuban)...  Everything turned out well but I'm sure nothing was very authentic!  I unfortunately forgot to get plantains; fried up slices of those gigantic banana-things would have been awesome on the side.

Dat cheese ooze

Minty fresh!

CUBAN MEDIANOCHE SANDWICHES

Ingredients:

Mayonaise

Yellow mustard

Sliced deli ham

Swiss cheese

Dill Pickle sandwich slices

Cuban bread or hoagie roll

Method:

Slather rolls with mayo and mustard to taste

Layer a few slices of ham and a couple slices of cheese on bread

Load up the sandwich with pickles (you want pickle in every bite!)

Grill on lightly greased panini press or skillet on medium heat until cheese is oozy and bread is golden

Slice and eat, preferably with fried plantains and an icy mojito!

MOJITOS
Ingredients:

Shot of white rum

Juice of half a lime

1 T granulated sugar

Several mint leaves

~4 oz club soda, more/less to taste

Lime slice to garnish

Method:

Muddle mint leaves (I used about 4 per cocktail) in granulated sugar and lime juice

Add shot of rum, still until sugar is completely dissolved

Add ice and club soda, stir, and garnish with lime slice

Cheers!

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Finished product~

OK, first legitimate recipe, yay!  Hubs and I love spicy food, and enjoyed buffalo chicken pizzas at Buffalo Brothers for the first couple years of dating. However,  it's much cheaper to make at home and tastes great!

First of all, if you want to be O.G. about it, you gotta use Frank's Red Hot sauce.  It's the original hot sauce used in Buffalo, New York for the first "hot wings" made.  It's a great sauce and very versatile (awesome on eggs!)  Also, we are blue cheese fans.  Blue cheese is my FAVORITE kind of cheese, and I was a cheesemonger, so I've eaten way more cheese than I'd like to admit.  But I do understand that it's not for everyone, and so ranch can easily be substituted for this pizza, so no worries!

Sometimes I make my own pizza dough, but most of the time I don't.  That's a recipe for another day.  For this, I used the bagged pizza dough found in the deli section of my grocery store.  The Pillsbury stuff in a can is fine too, but I prefer the texture of the bagged stuff!

Whatever butters your biscuit!

For the chicken, I used bone-in thighs because they were cheap.  But use whatever you'd like as long as you soak it in that sweet sweet Franks.

Before hitting the hot oven

Aw yes, cheesy goodness

RECIPE

Ingredients:

1 ball of pizza dough

2 cups diced chicken, mixed with 1/2 cup Frank's Red Hot

1/4 cup Frank's Red Hot sauce, for drizzling on top of pizza

3/4 cup chunky blue cheese dressing OR ranch dressing

2 cups mozzarella cheese

3 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese

1/4 cup diced green onions

1 teaspoon cornmeal

Salt, garlic, and cayenne to taste

Method:

Preheat oven to 450* F, with pizza stone heating on bottom rack

~If no pizza stone, that's fine!  Just add 2 minutes to bottom rack cooking time and use a cookie sheet!~

Sprinkle a piece of parchment paper with corn meal

Stretch dough ball into desired pizza shape, coating the bottom with the cornmeal

Sprinkle dough with tiny pinch of salt, garlic, and cayenne pepper

Use the bottom of a spoon to spread dressing on the pizza as a base/sauce

Evenly distribute mozzarella on top

Place Frank's soaked chicken pieces all over

Sprinkle crumbled blue cheese over top of pizza

Drizzle Frank's Red Hot evenly over pizza

Put parchment paper with the pizza on the heated pizza stone, bottom of oven rack

Cook 5 minutes

Move pizza stone to center rack, cook 7 minutes or until golden brown crust and bubbling cheese

Remove and sprinkle with diced green onions

Cut pizza (just on parchment, never on the stone)

DONE!

Easiest Roasted Corn

Hi everyone!  Since this is the first "recipe" (if you can even call it that) I figured I would make it short and sweet!  We like to make corn but boiling it is kind of a pain and because we live in an apartment, grilling isn't possible unfortunately!

Everyone loves roast corn- It's simple, delicious, and an easy side dish!  This method of roasting simplifies cooking this starchy "yellow devil" even more.  OK, so I took an anthropology class.

Keeping the corn in its husk as it cooks steams it and keeps it nice and juicy with minimal effort!

...

RECIPE

Ingredients:
Corn, as many as you like or can fit in the oven
Butter
Spices (I use Cajun seasoning, kosher salt, and pepper)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350* F
Place corn cobs, whole and un-husked, directly onto oven rack
Cook 35 minutes
Remove from oven, let cool a few minutes
Husk the corn, leaving on the layers to use as a "handle"
Rub with butter and sprinkle with spices
DONE!