Ask me about some of my oldest food obsessions, and I’ll have two words for you: duck eggs. I loved these as a youngster growing up in Europe, I love them now, as a busy mom living and working in Chicagoland. What makes duck eggs so special, and how can you best enjoy them? Read on 🙂
Duck eggs are packed with vitamin B12 and selenium, but they are not amenable to tiny appetites: famous for their high fat and cholesterol content, they exhibit an intense yellow yolk color and a rich egg flavor, which makes them a delicious, yet rather decadent treat. I remember eating my first duck egg hard-boiled, with salt and pepper sprinkled on top and crusty bread on the side, and marveling at the depth of egg flavor I was experiencing. It was rather overwhelming, to be honest! The good news is that duck eggs are versatile and can be incorporated into your diet in a variety of ways, hard-boiled or as an ingredient in cakes and custards.
They are great to use in both savory Asian-inspired dishes and desserts, and professional chefs love them all around the world (I recently attended a press conference where The Gage’s Executive Chef Chris Gawronski expressed his appreciation for duck eggs). For this particular recipe, I used duck eggs hard-boiled, thus staying true to my original experience of them. I purchased my eggs from Amish & Healthy Foods on Western Avenue.
As you can see from the picture below, duck eggs are bigger than chicken eggs. Moreover, their shell is thicker, which gives duck eggs a longer shelf life – a great advantage for sure!
I counted one egg per sandwich, and put my eggs in a pan with water. I brought the water to boil, and let the eggs simmer in hot water for 15 minutes. While the eggs were cooking I quickly oven roasted some cubed butternut squash with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, and fresh herbs from the garden.
I let the eggs and butternut squash cool in two separate bowls, and used the extra time to prepare a sandwich filling with sour cream, sweet corn, green onion and salt and pepper. Make sure you use sturdy quality bread for this sandwich – I used multigrain bread from West Town Bakery.
Once the eggs and squash reached an acceptable temperature (by that I mean they were only slightly warm to the touch, and therefore easy to handle), I peeled the eggs, cut them into quarters, and started assembling the sandwich. I spread about 2 tbsp of the sour cream & corn mixture on one side of two slices of bread, making sure the thickness of the filling was the same throughout…
… and then placed the egg quarters and cubed squash on the slice which was going to be at the bottom of the sandwich.
I couldn’t help but marvel at the color of the squash – so pretty and vibrant 🙂
For freshness and crispiness, I added a handful of microgreens, which are slowly but surely becoming a favorite ingredient of mine for sandwiches. They’re flavor-packed, delicate, and so elegant! These were radish microgreens:
I spread the microgreens evenly over the eggs and squash…
… and covered with the other slice of bread with sour cream & corn mixture spread over one side.
Quite an impressive stack, don’t you think? 😉
You can serve this sandwich with fresh seasonal veggies or a simple tomato salad on the side. I ate mine with super sweet tomatoes from another local favorite of mine: Mighty Vine.
This sandwich is impressive looking and fabulously nutritious. The duck egg gives it richness and luxuriousness, which is beautifully counterbalanced by the meaty squash and the fresh crisp microgreens. Once you dig into this sandwich you’ll fall in love with duck eggs – a love affair to last a lifetime, I hope.
Do you use duck eggs in your cooking? Let me know in the comments 🙂
Duck egg sandwich
Ingredients
- 4 duck eggs
- 2 cups butternut squash, cut into cubes
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
- 1/2 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
- 1/2 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup grilled or canned sweet corn
- 1 sprig green onion, cut into thin slices
- 8 slices whole wheat bread
- 1 cup microgreens with stems
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F. Place the squash in a medium size mixing bowl with oil, fresh herbs, and salt and pepper. "Massage" the squash until uniformly covered, and then put in a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Place the pan in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes or until the squash is moist and slightly brown.
- Place eggs in a pan with water. Bring water to boil under medium heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
- While the squash and eggs are cooking/boiling, make the sandwich filling by mixing sour cream, sweet corn, green onion, and salt and pepper in a medium size bowl. Set aside. When cooked, take the squash from the oven and the eggs from the hot water. Set aside to cool in separate bowls.
- Peel the cooled eggs and cut into quarters. Spread about 1 tbsp of sour cream & corn mixture evenly on one slice of bread. Place 4 egg quarters and about 2 tbsp squash on the slice which will be at the bottom of the sandwich. Distribute 1/4 cup microgreens evenly over the eggs and squash. Spread about 1 tbsp of sour cream & corn mixture on another slice of bread. Place this slice on top. Serve the sandwich with fresh seasonal veggies or a simple tomato salad on the side.
- Enjoy!
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