Potato Salad with Pesto & Quail Eggs

One of my local grocery stores had quail eggs the last time I was there, which I thought were so cool, so of course I bought some.  (BTW, in my town alone there are at least 3 well-stocked grocery stores!! Within 1-3 kilometers from my house!  It's awesome.  Italian food... everywhere.)  They sat in my fridge for a while before I decided to finally use them.  I just didn't know what to do with them! Browsing the internet, I somehow came across this recipe.

This is a British recipe, and it's in grams.  I just used my food scale, and didn't bother to convert anything.  I'll leave the grams as-is. Owning a food scale is a really good idea for any kitchen!  :) The recipe calls for a British potato called Jersey Royal, but I believe those are hard to get outside of England, so I used a local, waxy yellow potato that worked well.  I enjoyed this recipe while still warm. Refrigerated, it was good, but the flavors mellowed out.  So enjoy this freshly-made if you can.  Oh, I also cut the recipe in half because my kids don't like potato salad.  

See how tiny quail eggs are?  They are SO small.  That's my three-year old's small hand next to the container of quail eggs.  He was quite fascinated by them.  If you can't get quail eggs, use regular eggs; they taste the same to me.

Potato Salad with Pesto & Quail Eggs
adapted from The Guardian 
I cut this in half, and it still seemed to make a lot

15-18 quail eggs
800g yellow potatoes, cleaned but not scrubbed/peeled
20g basil leaves
20g parsley leaves, plus extra for garnishing
60g Parmesan, grated
60g pine nuts or walnuts
2 cloves garlic, crushed
200ml olive oil
150g frozen petit pois, thawed on counter (petite green peas)
½ tsp white-wine vinegar
Salt and pepper

1.  Put the eggs in a saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to a boil: simmer for 30 seconds (semi-soft) to two minutes (hard-boiled), according to taste. Refresh in cold water and peel.

2.  Cook the potatoes for 15-20 minutes until soft but not falling apart. Meanwhile, put the basil, parsley, Parmesan, pine nuts and garlic in a food processor and blitz to a paste. Add the oil and pulse until you have a runny pesto.

3.  As soon as they are cool enough to handle, cut the potatoes in bite-size chunks (they will absorb more flavour when hot) and toss with the pesto, peas, and vinegar. Mix well, even crush the potatoes slightly, so all the flavours mix. Taste and adjust the seasoning, being generous with the pepper. Cut the eggs in half and fold into the salad. Garnish with parsley.

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