Settling into a full-time work-from-home lifestyle has done weird things to people. Some love it. Some hate it. Some only wear stretchy pants. Some wear no pants at all. Some cook more (ahem). Some … buy pets. Lots of pets.
After getting not only a COVID puppy and a COVID kitten (and then a post-COVID kitten to keep the COVID kitten company), I made an impulse purchase influenced by a TikTok video a friend sent me. The woman in the video showed how quiet and small quail are, how they produce eggs and are easy to care for, and how if your house or neighborhood is not appropriate for keeping chickens, they are a good alternative.
I have always wanted chickens, but I live in a part of Fort Worth with small 1940s houses on tiny lots. Keeping chickens seems like a daunting task in our small yard, and since quail are not let out of the run or cage at all, raising them is more practical. They do fly, a lesson I learned the hard way when Loretta Hen bum-rushed me and escaped, leaving me with four of my original five hens. The timing couldn’t have been better, with the price of regular eggs skyrocketing, our 20-28 quail eggs per week have been an unexpected windfall.
Our setup is less cage and more of a bird-spa/condo/townhouse situation. They get fresh herbs almost daily thanks to our garden, heaping helpings of bird snacks like cracked corn and meal worms, and really anything else a domesticated bird could dream of. Carrot peelings are their favorite but they also peck away at fresh arugula, sweet potato peels, and other fresh veggie pieces (a handy way to dispose of kitchen scraps).
Crystal Quail, Quailor Swift, Britney Jean Spears and Sandy remain, faithfully providing us with an egg each most days. The eggs are easy to use – they are creamy and delicious. And they are only 1/3 the size of a regular egg. We scramble or fry them, we eat them on bagels for breakfast, we eat them over-easy on hamburgers, we feed some to our blue heeler puppy. I’ve used them when I’m out of regular eggs in cakes and cookies. Even the kids want in on the backyard bird action, trying the speckled eggs they gather every evening boiled and fried. And we still find ourselves with a giant bowl of ever-replenishing food straight from the back porch. So, we’ve gotten creative. Here are a few of the ways we use the eggs (the ones we don’t give away).
We are big ramen lovers and have continuously worked to perfect our ramen soup with bok choi. It’s common to add a boiled egg to a dish like this, and a couple of tiny boiled quail eggs are even better. Here’s our super simple recipe:
Ingredients (makes four to six servings):
3-4 packages ramen noodles (depending on how noodle-dense you like your soup, I use four packages to make six servings). Use whatever flavor you like, I find the chicken flavor to be the most versatile.
8 cups of broth, chicken or beef (you can use homemade or boxed).
1 large onion
6-10 cloves of garlic
One small head of bok choi
About 2-3 cups chopped rotisserie chicken, cooked shrimp, roast beef, or whatever meat you prefer. I used shrimp in this recipe.
Chopped cilantro, to garnish.
Kimchi, to serve on top (optional).
1-2 quail eggs for each serving, boiled and peeled
Boil your quail eggs, about 2.5 minutes for soft boiled or 4 minutes for hard boiled. I prefer them soft boiled, but to each their own.
In a large pot, boil the broth. Add the chopped onion and garlic and bring to a boil for about 10 minutes. Cook your noodles separately about 30 seconds less than the directions on the package say – you want them just slightly less than fully cooked. Strain them and set aside. Add the package seasonings (I use about 1/2 package less than I have to cut some of the saltiness). Keeping the broth at a low simmer, add the bok choi and simmer another 10 minutes. Divide the broth and bok choi into four to six bowls depending on how large you want the servings. Add noodles and top them with portions of the meat you choose. Sprinkle with cilantro, top with kimchi, then delicately add the boiled quail egg to sit on top.
If you’ve been reading my past columns, you know I love a great cocktail. Egg whites are common additions to any mixologist’s playbook but I rarely use them because they are sometimes too big for one drink. But a quail egg or two makes the perfect amount of light and creamy foam atop a brandy drink. Here’s one I’ve been loving:
Makes 3
6 oz cognac or Armagnac (brandy will also do in a pinch)
3 oz Grand Marnier
Juice of three lemons (fresh)
2 oz Maraschino cherry juice
3 quail egg whites (one regular egg white if you are fresh out of quail eggs)
Cherries to garnish
Put all ingredients except the egg whites in a shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously for about 10 seconds. Add the egg whites and shake again, this time for at least 30 seconds, until the shaker is extremely cold. Strain the drink over large cocktail ice cubes in three glasses. There is a how-to video on my Instagram page @ModernHippieKitchen.
Making something from this column? Or just cooking up something fun? Tag us in your photos on Instagram @FWBusinessPress and @ModernHippieKitchen! Visit me for more recipes and kitchen tips at ModernHippieKitchen.com.
About the cook
Once upon a time, shortly after graduating from TCU, Sarah McClellan-Brandt paid the rent by working as a reporter for the Fort Worth Business Press. Today she’s a social media specialist for a North Texas hospital system and in her spare time shares recipes and cooking tips with devoted followers of her Modern Hippie Kitchen blog,