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London Unattached - Mid-Life London Living

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You are here: Home / Recipes / Warm salad of asparagus and quail eggs with fennel pollen.

Warm salad of asparagus and quail eggs with fennel pollen.

May 20, 2018 by Fiona Maclean 8 Comments

Last Updated on June 3, 2019

Quail eggs, asparagus and fennel feast:

I have some quail eggs left from making kedgeree.  And, I managed to find some English asparagus this week, though it did look a little sad!  So, rather than just steaming it, I wanted to make something different, since this summer the asparagus is such a rarity.

The Wild Fennel Pollen has been sent to me to try by Global Harvest.  When it first arrived I opened the pot and sniffed (as you do) and tasted just a tiny bit.  It’s like nothing else I’ve ever tried…tiny flavour explosions of sunshine with just a slight taste of aniseed.  I will, of course, be experimenting some more and trying it in other dishes.  Apparently, it is particularly popular in Italy and used there a lot with fish and cheese.

This recipe is so simple but worked very well.  Pairing egg and asparagus is not new but the addition of a light lemony dressing and just a little bit of fennel pollen has made it very special.  Eat it as a warm salad – if you do better than me at cooking the eggs, you should have warm runny egg yolk mixing in with the asparagus!  If you don’t have quail eggs, you could use chopped chicken eggs, just try to leave some gooeyness in the yolks rather than hard-boiling.

5 from 1 vote
dish of asparagus with quail eggs and fennel pollen dressing
Print
Asparagus with Quails Eggs and Fennel Pollen
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
5 mins
Total Time
10 mins
 
Warm asparagus and quail egg salad. A quick and simple dish made special with a little wild fennel pollen
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: British
Keyword: asparagus, fennel, pollen, quail eggs, salad
Servings: 1
Calories: 120 kcal
Author: Fiona Maclean
Ingredients
  • 1 bunch English Asparagus trimmed and washed
  • 3 Quail Eggs
  • 1 Lemon juiced
  • 100 ml Extra virgin olive oil
  • Fennel Pollen
Instructions
  1. Trim the asparagus. If they have woody ends you may also need to scrape and turn them
  2. Steam the asparagus in a large pan of boiling salted water and drain
  3. Make a light lemon dressing by mixing lemon juice and olive oil into an emulsion. You want about 1/5 the amount of lemon juice to oil, so one whole lemon will make too much dressing for one person, but it keeps well in the fridge
  4. Soft boil the quail eggs. This should take 2mins 30 secs, and as you can see from the photo mine are slightly overdone. But, it doesn't really matter so long as you have a softish yolk and firm white.
  5. Make up the salad by dressing the asparagus with the lemon and oil and then placing the eggs on top. Garnish with a pinch of fennel pollen.

If like me, your asparagus is a bit woody, then after you’ve trimmed off the worst, turn the ends…use a sharp vegetable knife or peeler and just peel off the top woody layer.  And, if you don’t happen to have fennel pollen, try a little lemon zest instead.

dish of asparagus with quail eggs and fennel pollen dressing
 

 

Filed Under: 5:2 Diet Recipes, Lunch, Recipes, side dish, Vegetarian Tagged With: asparagus, quail eggs

Comments

  1. Fiona Maclean says

    June 3, 2019 at 10:02 am

    delicious at this time of year

    Reply
  2. SJF Bilton says

    June 1, 2012 at 6:39 am

    I’ve never used fennel pollen but will definitely give it a go now. Great recipe!

    Reply
    • Fiona Maclean says

      June 2, 2012 at 10:04 pm

      It’s lovely stuff – works well with fish too

      Reply
  3. Stacy says

    May 28, 2012 at 9:08 am

    Now I am going to be on the hunt for fennel pollen! This looks lovely!

    Reply
    • Fiona Maclean says

      May 28, 2012 at 9:31 am

      thanks:) strongly recommend the fennel pollen, makes me feel everso foodie!!!

      Reply
  4. Working London Mummy says

    May 22, 2012 at 11:11 pm

    very nice recipe. I love asparagus like this. In Belgium I have had it with hard boiled chopped egg. a great pairing. Not tried fennel pollen before. Sounds interesting!

    Reply
  5. Dominic Franks says

    May 21, 2012 at 10:48 am

    am intrigued by the fennel pollen sounds amazing… looks delightful!

    Reply
    • london_unattached says

      May 21, 2012 at 10:55 am

      it’s really rather wonderful stuff.  I was sent a sample of that and of some dill pollen too and am a convert.  Just need to cook some more now

      Reply

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