My family is crazy about eggs. We eat all kinds of them. We like the tiny and colorful ones used to decorate sushi rolls. We like chicken eggs, Easter eggs, and Cadbury eggs. We REALLY love quail eggs. They are so yummy and delicate. We put them on top of a lot of dishes, but my favorite is seared scallops. Blake is determined that the reason it is my favorite is because of my OCD. I do have to admit, I really getting a warm and fuzzy feeling inside when I see the fried egg cover the scallop perfectly; not too big and not too small. They just seem to be good matches.
Seared Scallops with Fried Quail Eggs
(Appetizer, but can be Entree if you add more scallops)
Serves 2
Total Price- $2.94
Total Price per Person – $1.47
Average Retail Price- $5.18
Total Savings- $2.24
Seared Scallops and Fried Quail Eggs
Ingredients
-8 medium to large sea scallops
-8 quail eggs
-¼ cup of micro greens
-2 tbsp butter
-Dash of olive oil and vinegar
-Salt/pepper
-Dash of Sriracha
* We melt butter to drizzle on ours*
Scallops
- It is imperative that the scallops are brought to room temperature and patted dry, very dry.
- Then sprinkle the scallops with salt and pepper and any other seasoning you like.
- Put 2 tbsp butter and a dash of olive oil (the olive oil is not for the flavor but to prevent the butter from burning) in a pan and bring to medium to high heat.
- Wait until the pan is extremely hot and add the scallops. Make sure they are at least 2 inches apart so that they sear rather than steam.
- Cook on the first side for 3 minutes. DO NOT MOVE THE SCALLOPS.
- Flip and cook other side for 1-2 minutes.
- You can touch scallops to feel if they are ready. They should be soft enough that they smush in when you push them, but not firm.
Quail Eggs
- Heat a thin layer of oil in a pan to medium-high heat.
- Crack the quail eggs and place them in a very small bowl. Make sure to do this before you crack into the pan to get any shell out. It works well to use a sharp knife and cut a small clean slit into the shell before cracking.
- Place the quail eggs in the oil and cook until all of the white is cooked through without flipping.
- Use a spatula to transfer the quail eggs from the pan to a plate keeping the yolk side up. Place one on top of each scallop.
Fried Quail Eggs
Plating
- Melt some butter to put on the base of the plate.
- Then place the scallops.
- Top each scallop with a fried quail egg yolk side up.
- Toss micro greens in a little oil and vinegar, sprinkle with salt and pepper and use for garnish. If you have Edamame beans, they look pretty on the plate. Drizzle some Sriracha in the butter for a nice touch.
Savings for this meal
Scallops- $18.99 for 4lb. at Costco
Quail Eggs- $2.99/ 18 eggs at Super H Mart
Cook With Coupons 
I LOVE that you put the exact details of how to cook scallops- most of us don’t know those details about “waiting until the get to room temp” and “patting them dry”, “don’t turn them”—- that is SOOOOO helpful. Normally I would be intimidated to try something like this- but with these explicit instructions, I think I can do it. However, I will have to google what Srirachi is.
Thanks for posting this. It looks like it might be healthy and full of protein- 2 things I need. I never see quail eggs around here- I saw them when we were in Brazil. Perhaps they have them in Whole Foods??
I know they don’t have them at our Whole Foods.
Have you ever been to this place in Cary? http://www.grandasiamarket.com/
It looks like it has pretty good deals and great selections on Asian groceries. It looks similar to Super H to me. It may be worth a try. They will have Sriracha, which is a wonderful, HOT Asian chili sauce. It is so good. We put it on everything.