Duck Eggs on the menu

Daisy

After 7 months of patient duck management we have successfully transitioned our beautiful Daisy Demented from bedraggled chook marshal to productive lady of feather in her own right. One of the few things left to bring perfection to our coastal residential idyll was duck eggs and now we have them I can't say how delighted I am.

Daisy was a feather pulling sad young lady when we first got her and now she is a full feathered and decidedly fat waddling charmer with a penetrating and resounding quack and a satirical eye. Our first role for her was free range snail annihilator and slug chaser and now all our kindness is eggily fruitful.

Our first duck egg

Many would have that duck eggs are merely excellent in cake baking, but I would challenge this idea and put forward that they are magnificent in many a recipe where richness, luxury and egginess play their part.

Below you will find recipes where duck eggs are an integral part in pasta, mayonnaise and even celebrated as their own feature ingredient.

So let's celebrate duck eggs!

Duck Egg Pasta

450g Plain flour
4 Large Duck Eggs
1 Tspn of salt
1 Tspn olive oil

duck egg fettuccine

 

Method
Place flour and salt into a bowl, add all eggs and oil and using hands mix well trying not to over work. When it is a nice even ball wrap in glad wrap and place in refrigerator until required (minimum time about 40 minutes). Using a pasta machine make your pasta to your desired shape.

scotched duck egg

Scotched Duck Eggs

Ingredients:
10  duck eggs
600g good-quality pork sausage mince
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp chopped chives
2 tspn thyme leaves
2 cups (300g) plain flour
1 1/4 cups (125g) dried breadcrumbs
1/4 cup (60ml) milk

Method:

Place 8 of the eggs in a pan of cold water, bring to the boil, then simmer over medium heat for 2 minutes. Plunge eggs into a bowl of iced water and set aside.

Place sausage meat, Dijon, herbs and 2 tbsp cold water in a bowl. Season and mix well to combine. Form into 8 patties.

Carefully peel the eggs and gently pat dry. Enclose each egg in a patty, shaping with your hands to ensure the egg is completely covered. Chill for 15 minutes.

Season flour with salt and pepper, then spread on a plate. Spread breadcrumbs on a separate plate. In a bowl, beat milk with the remaining two eggs. Roll the sausage-encased eggs first in the flour, then in the milk mixture, and finally in the breadcrumbs to coat well. Chill again for 15 minutes.
 
Preheat the oven to 170°C.
 
Half-fill a deep-fryer or a large pan with oil and heat to 190°C (a cube of bread will turn golden in 30 seconds when the oil's hot enough). Fry the eggs, in batches, for 2 minutes or until golden. Place eggs on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes until the meat is cooked through.

Serve warm or cold. Perfect for picnics.
 

Duck egg aioli

Duck Egg Aioli

Ingredients:
3 duck egg yolks
1 cup of olive oil, cold pressed extra virgin
1 head of garlic
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of lemon (or lime) juice

Method:
Dip the garlic head in oil and place in a moderate oven for 15-20 minutes or until the garlic flesh is tender and fragrantly roasted. Squeeze the roasted garlic flesh out of the cooled head and mash.

Whisk the egg yolks until the mixture begins to become paler. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil all the while whisking until the mixture thickens and emulsifies as much of the oil as possible. Continue to whisk until quite thick, add the garlic mash and the juice.

Season to taste and serve as a richly delicious dressing or dip. Perfect served with garden fresh steamed globe artichokes as a dip

Gourmet Potato Salad

potato salad

Ingredients:

6 large potatoes, cubed
2 duck eggs
1/2 tspn salt
4 tbsp duck egg aioli (recipe above)
1 green onion, finely sliced
1 handful spinach, shredded
2 sprigs mint, finely shredded
2 sprigs fresh dill, finely shredded
6 nasturtium flowers, petals only
salt and ground pepper to taste

Method:
Boil the cubes of potato in salted water until tender and drain.
Place duck eggs in water to cover and bring to the boil and boil them  for 3 minutes then plunge into cold water to stop the cooking process. Peal and cut into wedges.
Place potato, egg wedges, greens and aioli into a large bowl and combine. sprinkle with nasturtium petals and season.
serve warm as a side or cold as a salad

duck egg scramble

Scrambled Duck Eggs

Ingredients:
4 duck eggs
4 tbsp cream
8 tbsp full cream milk
2 pinch rosemary salt
2 tbsp butter
1 handful spinach, shredded

Method:
whisk the eggs, salt, milk and cream together until well combined. Melt the butter in a pan and add the egg mixture. Stir the coagulating egg  and keep agitating until the scramble is still only just moist and turn off the heat.

Serve on a bed of spinach

Pescaphobe's Kedgeree

Pescaphobe's Kedgeree

Ingredients:

1 smoked hock, cut in half

3 chicken thigh fillets
2 bay leaves
2 cups milk
4 duck eggs
½ cup peas, freshly shelled
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 large red sweet chilli. finely sliced
1 heaped tbsp medium curry powder
1 cup basmati rice, rinsed in cold water and drained
3 tbsp double cream
3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
½ lemon, juiced
freshly ground black pepper

Preparation method:
Place the hock and chicken in a large pan. Pour over 500ml milk, add the bay leaves and bring the water to a gentle simmer. Cook the meats for 15 minutes until it is just done and flakes easily. Drain in a colander set over a bowl, reserving the cooking liquor, and discard the bay leaves.Pour the cooking liquor into a medium saucepan and stir in the rice. Cover with a lid and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the rice very gently for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the rice covered for 3-5 minutes more. By this time it should have absorbed all the liquor.

While the rice is cooking, bring some water to the boil in a medium pan. Add the eggs and cook for eight minutes. Drain them in a sieve under cold running water and when cool enough to handle, peel them carefully and set aside.

Melt the butter with the oil in a large pan and cook the onion and chilli over a low heat for five minutes until well softened, stirring occasionally. Add the curry powder and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Place the cooked rice into the pan and stir into the onions. Add the peas, cream, parsley and a few twists of ground black pepper.

Remove ham from the hock and slice into rough chunks with the chicken and add these to the pan. Gently stir the lemon juice and cook for 1-2 minutes. Cut the eggs into quarters and place them on the rice. Cover the pan with a lid and heat through for 2-3 minutes or until the eggs are warm, then serve.
 
If not serving immediately, Tip the kedgeree into a warm dish and dot with a few cubes of butter. Cover with foil and keep warm in a low oven for up to 20 minutes before serving.

Duck Egg Curry

Duck egg curry

Ingredients:
6 soft boiled duck eggs, pealed
1 large onion, chopped
1 tbsp coconut oil
3 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 inch lemon rind, finely sliced
3 baby fennel roots, chopped
1 tbsp ginger root, chopped
1 inch fresh turmeric, chopped
1 large green chilli, chopped
2 tbsp madras paste
1 cup coconut yoghurt with chia
large pinch salt
6 baby fennel, sliced
1 serve udon noodle
1 large zucchini, spiralised medium
2 large sprigs coriander, chopped

Method:  
Mash the garlic, fennel root, lemon rind, chilli, turmeric, salt and ginger until flavours released, but not quite a paste. Sauté the onion, paste and spice mix off and add the fennel and yoghurt and a splash of water and gently simmer until the veg is tender.
add the eggs and allow to warm through.
cook the udon as directed
add the zucchini to the curry sauce and warm through then serve on the udon

Small Scale Poultry Wrangling

chook run

Long had it been a dream of mine to have my own poultry. I remember in my toddler years, oh so long ago! having bantums in the back yard and the charm and innocence of those years made poultry keeping so attractive to me, it is a very dear memory. Tiny chicks, clucking hens and watching their industry and comedy were something I wished to recreate and make an integral part of the self sufficient grow our own lifestyle so close to our hearts.

Shed partitioning

Our move to this coastal Idyll afforded us the opportunity for fulfilling this particular dream of mine and for 2 years we worked at creating an area for devoting to our poultry ambitions. We took this long due to frequently stopping our endeavour for planting, harvesting, renovating and landscaping as other projects demanded our attention as well as coastal foraging, fishing, swimming, snorkelling, photography, junior life saving activities, driver education and several trips to the big smoke for medical attention not otherwise available to regional dwellers.

laying boxes

Having only a little more than an 1/8th of an acre, which is an average domestic block, we had to make best use of limited space and so we dedicated the whole back fence line to a chook run. Making the run 1 1/2 metres wide seemed reasonable and would discourage the sea eagle population from drop and grab forrays for our ladies of feather. We also thought it prudent to dig the wire surround into the ground to discourage vulpine incursions in case they wandered into our coastal residential area, the wilderness being not so far from where we are we thought better safe than sorry. We took time out to plant out a small food forest in front of the run for more shade and perennial food plantings on a permiculturesque design intention with berry brambles and multi-grafted fruit trees. This food forest would allow free range foraging area for the poultry as they would assist with pest control, turning the soil and manuring as well as have dust baths and quiet hen parties in the privacy of the sheltered treed spaces.

branches become roosts

Digging in posts, tensioning wire, nailing and clipping and securing was all a learning curve for me with a lot of manual labour involved that was heavy and required a kind of precision I had never before asked of myself. We then designed a hen house in the back of an existing shed by dividing it and partitioning making best use of what we had as well as finding a screen door at the local tip shop. Focussing on easy to clean and well ventilated as well as ease of access for both the human carers and the ladies of feather. We then re-purposed an old cupboard into layer boxes which came up remarkably well using the cupboard door as egg collection access external to the roost area but still inside the shed. A couple of donated branches from a pruned fruit tree gave us roosting rungs and a bale of straw, bedding.

shed water storage

The council had earlier in the year fortuitously changed over the green waste bins and gifted the superseded smaller bins to the household and this gave us the great opportunity of a rainwater storage unit to the shed and water on tap for the poultry. Rigging up the self watering system was a plumbing challenge that works perfectly with inline taps and filters and all the bells and whistles a chook could wish for and utilises a resource that had previously run away into a rear neighbours yard.

pallet gate

We also managed to re-purpose some used pallets given to us for free by a local hardware business into an impressive and beautiful gate and so our poultry security was assured. The addition of a shade sail over the shed's poultry door to allow shade  from the afternoon sun, to keep the water dispenser cool and additional sea eagle protection pretty much completed the scene for perfect poultry accommodations.

Free range pond

A donated clamshell sand pit was ideal for a duck pond as well as a great protein delivery system considering the number of frogs that choose to spawn in it despite adversity and a determined duck bill. Additional water was made available at the rear tap by digging in a second hand vanity sink unit found for a bargain price at a builders' recycling centre. A cap on the drain and a plug to hold the water in place was all that was needed to create a duck perfect refreshment centre. Daisy was very impressed with this landscaping addition to her free range area and can frequently be found resting her head next to her sink dozing in contentment.

Isa Brown hen

Christmas 2013 saw us with the delivery of 4 young Isa browns and a Pekin duck named Daisy. I was smitten sideways to finally have a feathered family and the potential of eggs for our menu, both hen and duck. Sadly 2 of our purchased hens started crowing and after advising our supplier we were promised 3 more hens, including another Isa brown and two Australorp hens, and were given the crow boys for culling. We fattened our boys up and they became Roast and Stock a few weeks later and we sat back and waited for the duck and the 5 girls to either lay or crow.

Daisy Duck

The year as seen many a feathered adventure and we now get up to 6 eggs a day, although Daisy as yet to lay we are very happy with our ladies. Daisy has the soul of a regimental sergeant major as she determines the proper place and activity for her hens even down to encouraging the girls to come out and play in the most inclement weather. I honestly think I saw that look on their chooky faces that says "You is one crazy feathered creature!" I seriously think the chooky assessment of the duck's mental facility is accurate ... that wasn't weather for fun ... not even for ducks! The hens divide their time between ignoring their duck bully or humouring her for the sake of a quiet forage. Their social dynamic is to me a source of constant entertainment and I am frequently found on the balcony watching their antics and throwing titbits for their enjoyment.


Further to accommodating our fine feathered family we have made use of our location by foraging for seaweed to top dress our raised garden bed that is in winter fallow. This gives the girls access to micro minerals as well as encourages worms and insects to the surface for the girls to have all sorts of fun catching as they break up the seaweed and turn the garden over for us. Encouraging their natural instincts and behaviours makes for happy birds. Our State environment regulations allow us 20 litres of seaweed each per day which I think is excessive, but once a month for enriching the garden and the lives of our poultry it is worth our effort to make use of local wild produce. We also collected shell grit, which we are allowed 10kg each per day, and re-purposed a used tyre to make a shell grit bed for them. Some pummelling action from my son with the blockbuster rendered the shell-grit into a smaller mesh size and the girls now have access to calcium and a place the scratch in something different.

Mention must be made of our local hardware store who's assistance at times has been beyond the call of customer service, Our young neighbour and friend who has consented to short break small animal wrangling duty and of course my youngest son who has enthusiastically taken on the ongoing care of our extended family proudly announcing their production and cleaning the steps and paths as required.