Cherries to Cheer

So for the last week or so, I have to admit that I've felt completely unoriginal and unmotivated in the kitchen. I'm not sure if its the stress of school that's hitting me early this quarter or what precisely, but it seems as if for the last week Daniel and I have had other commitments or obligations so that we haven't been able to cook, or when we could we were having camera issues, or when it was my turn I opted for something unoriginal and un-blog worthy. Finally though, I was able to break out of my cooking apathy with this bright pizza.

 

Daniel had visited his favorite Asian grocery store earlier in the week and had brought home some quail eggs for us to try. Lack of motivation however, meant that they were not used right away, so I had to come up with something to do with them. For some reason, breakfast food always makes me feel better. I don't know why exactly, because I'm not a huge fan of big breakfast, but there is something extremely comforting about a simple omelet for breakfast. Unfortunately, it would take a lot of quail eggs to make an omelet for us, so I had to go another route, leading to this lovely creation, a quail egg pizza with a cherry ginger balsamic sauce, goat cheese, and of course, bacon.  

Once I decided on this, I wasn't sure quite what to do with the eggs. I opted to try for a very light over easy egg to place on the pizza before going into the oven. This was somewhat difficult because I'm not an expert egg cook, and they are quite tiny. Suffice to say of the dozen, a few eggs ended up somewhat scrambled and maybe not so lightly cooked in the process. I do think lightly cooked is the way to go, since there was one or two eggs on the pizza that were a little more than over-easy going onto the pizza, and they did come out a little on the tough side. I may try in the future breaking them on the pizza once all the other toppings are on and have cooked a minute so the pizza is hot, but we will see.

The sauce I put together had a very mild cherry flavor, but complimented the salted egg and goat cheese quite well. Although I've heard its unhealthy to use food to brighten your mood, I have to say that this pizza was a nice mix of comforting flavors and bright cheery colors that it just might do the trick. Enjoy!

 

 Cheery Quail Egg & Cherry Pizza

Pizza Dough, recipe available here or use your own.

For the sauce:

1/2 Bag of Frozen Cherries

1/2 Tsp Ginger

1 Tbsp Sugar

1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
Salt & Pepper to taste
Toppings:

1/4-1/2 Cup Crumbled Goat Cheese

1/4-1/2 Cup Crumbled Bacon

8-10 Quail Eggs lightly cooked over easy and well seasoned (be sure to salt them well!!!)

1. Place pizza stone in oven and preheat to 475. 

2. Prepare dough as needed and place on corn meal coated pizza peel. While dough is resting, prepare eggs and bacon. 

3. Prepare the sauce by placing cherries and sugar in heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring often. Once skin begins to give, press with spoon to rupture cherries. Add balsamic and ginger stirring quickly. Reduce to low heat and reduce liquid until reaching desired consistency. Salt & pepper to taste. 

4. Assemble pizza by spooning liquid onto dough and spreading thin. Gently add lightly cooked quail eggs, cheese, and bacon. Corn meal pizza stone carefully and add pizza to oven. Cook for approx 8 minutes until crust is golden brown. Enjoy!