Cracking ideas

Mark Hix goes on an Easter egg hunt with a twist, searching out rarer (non-chocolate) varieties, to create delicious seasonal treats

Eggs have always been a symbolic Easter treat. It's just that over the years they've turned into the chocolate rather than the freshly laid variety.

But what I can't resist at this time of year is – no, not chocolate eggs – playing around in the kitchen mixing and matching seasonal produce with all the sorts of poultry eggs now available. I end up organising my own type of pre-Easter hunt, trying to track down the more unusual eggs. Last month I heard whisper of goose eggs on the market and hassled all my suppliers to find some for me. They were still proving elusive when I stumbled across them at Appleby's in my favourite London market, Borough.

I was like a kid on a chocolate binge, trying the eggs out every which way. Pan-fried with duck's livers, black pudding and lardons seemed like a sort of eggy version of the famous Landaise salad from south-west France. Equally satisfying would be the addition of St George's mushrooms, which are about to appear any time now (that's why they're so-named, after the saint whose day falls on Wednesday, 23 April) with wild garlic leaves.

Anything you can do with a duck's egg, can be recreated easily with that of a goose or hen, although goose eggs have a much stronger flavour.

Dwarfed by these gigantic beauties from the goose and duck, the dear little quail's eggs aren't used to their max. They have comparatively less taste, but they're so quaint, and I do like taking Scotch quail's eggs on fishing-day picnics and packed lunches. If you are feeling adventurous you can miniaturise eggs Benedict or fry them on a mini-corned beef hash. Even us grown-ups deserve our share of Barbie cooking.

Poaching the little things can be a bit of a bugger, though. At least, that's what I thought until I was shown a revolutionary method. I'm sorry I can't remember who taught me this brilliant tip. You simply crack the eggs into a bowl filled with 3-4cm of vinegar and leave them for a few minutes while a pan of water boils. Then tip the bowl with the vinegar and eggs into the boiling water. After one minute remove them carefully with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl of cold water to stop them cooking any more. When you need them, just reheat in boiling water.

So much for mini eggs. Now for the serious, no-yolking matter of gulls' eggs. My mates in Dorset, where gulls are vermin, think I'm completely bonkers when I tell them we are selling gulls' eggs in the restaurants. They think I need more help when they find out we charge £3.50-plus for each for them. Gentlemen's clubs like Boodles and Whites, and occasionally, very traditional restaurants offer gulls' eggs. In London, apart from us at The Ivy and J Sheekey, St John in Smithfield and Rules serve them. If you want to indulge in this wonderfully traditional British seasonal treat, sit at an oyster bar like Sweetings in the City and they will put a basket of freshly boiled eggs in front of you, and charge you accordingly when you have had enough.

Flavour-wise, these highly prized delicacies have a luxurious, faintly fishy taste. They must be cooked to perfection, which is for seven minutes and no more. Otherwise the taste and elusive texture of the yolk is lost. Because they are so rare, for years in the restaurants, every time the gulls' egg season arrived, we seemed to have forgotten the cooking time. It has now sunk in.

Why are they such a luxury? They are gathered on salt marshes and estuaries and those of you who live by the sea will know how vicious gulls can be, so there is an element of danger involved in gathering them. Few people have a licence to remove the eggs of the black-headed gull or to sell them. They can only be collected in certain places and at restricted times, no later than 9.30am, say. And the very short season lasts from now until 15 May.

Gulls' eggs with celery salt

Here I am giving the recipe for boiling an egg. Odder still, I'm telling you how to serve ready-boiled eggs, as that's how gulls' eggs are generally sold. If you can find them at all. For these are no ordinary eggs. You will need to ask a game-dealer or fishmonger to get gulls' eggs for you, and be prepared for them to be expensive, and I mean expensive. Expect to pay for each egg what you would normally pay for two dozen of the best free-range.

In central London, Allen & Co in Mayfair (020-7499 5831) sells them; and in the City, so does RS Ashby in Leadenhall Market (020-7626 3871) which supplies City restaurants with them, also cooked. Portwine in Earlham Street, Covent Garden (020-7836 2353) can supply them raw if you order in advance. I'm not so hot on the rest of the country, but if you have a good butcher or game dealer, ask and they may be able to source some for you.

To cook, place the eggs in cold salted water, bring them to the boil and simmer gently for 7 minutes. Then refresh them in cold water.

Serve them either from a big bowl sitting on a nest of cut mustard cress, with some little pots of celery salt and good mayonnaise, or lay one peeled and one in its shell on each plate, on the cress.

Quail and watercress salad

Serves 4

Apart from stuffing and roasting, we tend to scratch our heads and wonder what else to do with quails. Matching the meat with the eggs makes an attractive starter or light main course for a dinner party. Watercress is a perfect small salad leaf that deserves a fate better than being thrown on to steaks and grills as a garnish in posh hotels. With other leaves, or on its own, it makes an interesting alternative to the ubiquitous rocket. Add asparagus or any other spring vegetable to this salad if you wish.

4 quails
12 quails' eggs, cooked and peeled
180g watercress, stalks removed and the leaves washed and dried
20g mâche or baby red chard leaves
A few chives, cut into 4-5cm lengths
for the dressing
1tbsp sherry vinegar
4tbsp walnut oil
1/2tsp caster sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 245°C/475°F/gas mark 9. Rub the quails with butter and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast them for 10 minutes in a roasting tray then leave them to rest on a plate. Meanwhile make the dressing. Whisk the vinegar, walnut oil and sugar together and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Pick the leaves down a bit if they are too big, toss them in the dressing and arrange on four plates. Remove the breasts from the quail and cut each one into three. Arrange the quail breasts in among the watercress leaves with the quails' eggs. Add the legs for people to eat with their fingers if you like the idea. Scatter with chives. f

Otherwise, save the legs, with the rest of the bones, and use for a soup or stock. For the former, add onion and carrot and leek and a few sprigs of thyme, cover with chicken stock and simmer for 45 minutes. Garnish with the flaked leg meat, chopped tarragon and spring vegetables.

Fried goose eggs with St George's mushrooms and black pudding

Serves 4

St George's mushrooms are the first British mushrooms to pop up. Their arrival time depends on our temperamental weather, but they should be available in specialist shops at the moment. They have a firm meaty texture similar to that of a flat-cap mushroom without the black spores under the cap. Open cup mushrooms or quartered field mushrooms can be used instead.

250-300g St George's mushrooms or flat mushrooms
60g butter
4 goose eggs
Olive oil or duck fat for frying
1tbsp chopped wild garlic leaves (optional)
12 x 1cm thick slices of good quality black pudding

Melt the butter in a heavy, or non-stick, frying pan, add the mushrooms, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and gently sauté them on a medium heat for 5-7 minutes until cooked. Add the wild garlic, remove from the heat and keep warm in a low oven. Meanwhile fry the black pudding for a minute on each side and put in the oven with the mushrooms.

Melt a little olive oil or goose fat in the pan – it must be a good, non-stick one – and crack in the goose eggs one at a time (they are big). If you have more than one pan it helps. Place three slices of black pudding in the egg white before it sets and continue to cook the eggs on a low heat for 3-4 minutes or longer if you get squeamish at the thought of those overwhelming yolks. Remove the eggs with a fish slice or slide them out straight on to plates and spoon the mushrooms around. This is very filling. If you're having it for brunch it'll do you until dinner.

Moccachino brûlé

Serves 4

You've probably had one of these chocolatey coffees, or at least seen it on the menu in one of the coffee chains. This is the solid, eggy version in honour of Easter's favourite ingredients.

for the brûlé

4 egg yolks
75g caster sugar
100g good quality dark chocolate, chopped, or chocolate buttons
250ml milk
250ml double cream
10g ground coffee
20g cocoa powder

for the pastry cream brûlé topping

75ml milk
15g caster sugar
1 small egg yolk
1tsp (5g) cornflour
1tsp (5g) flour
125ml double cream, semi-whipped
4dsp demerara sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 150°C/300°F/gas mark 2.

Make the brûlé first. Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar. In a saucepan mix the cream, milk, cocoa powder and the coffee, and bring to the boil, then add the chocolate and stir until dissolved. Add this to the egg mixture and stir well. Pour it through a fine strainer, to remove the coffee grounds, and then into large coffee or teacups, or tough glasses such as Duralex, to halfway up the sides.

Stand the cups in a bain-marie – a deep roasting tin part-filled with hot water would be good for this – and cover them with a sheet of foil. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until they are firm. If you're using small cups, 30 minutes will be enough. Remove the cups from the bain-marie and allow them to cool.

Now prepare the pastry cream. Bring the milk to the boil. Mix together the sugar and egg yolk then stir in the flour and cornflour. Pour the boiling milk on to the egg mixture and whisk together. Return the mixture to the pan and cook over a low heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly until it thickens. Pour it quickly into the blender and process until it is very smooth. Transfer the mixture into a bowl and cover with a sheet of clingfilm actually on the pastry cream to prevent it forming a skin. When it is cold, fold in the semi-whipped cream.

Spoon the pastry cream mixture, about 2cm thick, on to each brûlé, using the back of the spoon to smooth it. Sprinkle a thin layer of brown sugar on each, then caramelise with a blowtorch or by placing them under a hot grill for a few minutes. Stand the cups on their saucers with a teaspoon and serve.