Shrimp and Quail Egg Garden Salad

A delightfully fresh dish for summer, this shrimp and quail egg garden salad make a lovely lunch for two by itself or side dish for a potluck or barbecue. 

Since I was a child, I’ve loved quail eggs. Hardboiled with a spicy mayo dipping sauce, they are the perfect picnic food. But there are also very versatile and an easy, tasty, bite-sized way to add protein to a meal. 

If you are also a fan of quail eggs, you might want to check out a few of my recipes that feature them. 

• Spicy Sweet Soy Eggplant Tofu Quail Egg Stir-fry
• Scotch Quail Eggs
• Malaysian-style Curry Laksa 
• Deviled Quail Egg Shrimp Canapés 

Shrimp and Quail Egg Garden Salad

I happened to have some blood oranges in my fruit drawer so I used them in the salad and the dressing. Substitute regular oranges, mandarins or even tangerines if you don’t. 

Ingredients to serve two for lunch

For the dressing: 

1/4 cup or 60ml olive oil

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1/4 teaspoon mustard powder

Freshly ground black pepper

3 oz or 85g crumbled feta

For the salad:

1/2 heart of romaine

1 heirloom or summer tomato

1 orange

10-12 cold boiled shrimp, peeled, tails intact

10-12 hardboiled quail eggs, peeled and halved

2 green onions, green part only, sliced

Method

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the olive oil, orange juice and vinegar along with the mustard powder and black pepper. 

Add in the crumbled feta and stir. Set aside until ready to serve. Chill if it will be a while.

Wash and spin your lettuce leaves. Trim any hard ends and discard. Rip the rest into bite size pieces and spread them around on your serving plate. Cut the tomato into wedges and add them to the lettuce.

Peel the orange and cut it into bite-sized pieces. 

Scatter them among the tomatoes, along with the shrimp and halved quail eggs. 

Sprinkle on the sliced green onions. Give the dressing another good stir then serve it alongside the salad so each person can dress their own (especially if you think there might be leftovers) or spoon the dressing over the salad and serve.

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 17th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter Q. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the Q recipes below:

• Food Lust People Love: Shrimp and Quail Egg Garden Salad 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Quinoa Idli 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Blueberry Banana Quick Bread 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Sourdough Quinoa Bread 
• A Messy Kitchen: Roasted Cauliflower Quiche 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Nectarine Quinoa Salad 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Shrimp Fajita Quesadillas 
• Magical Ingredients: Queso Dip 
• Culinary Cam: Quince Sharlotka 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Parmesan Potato & Zucchini Crustless Quiche 
• Blogghetti: Ham and Broccoli Quiche

Here are my posts for the 2025 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Roasted Asparagus Soup

B: Blistered Sugar Snap Peas

C. Jersey Royal Chicken Chorizo Traybake 

D. Small Batch Dried Apricot Jam 

E. Whipped Espresso Cream 

F. Fish Sauce Roasted Chicken 

G. Extra Herby Gremolata 

H. Smoked Herring Spread 

I.  Fresh Cherry Ice Cream 

J. Small Batch Strawberry Jam 

K. Kiwi Tomato Feta Salad 

L. Lobster Butter 

M. Milk-Roasted Chicken 

N. Nocciolata Swirl Meringues 

O. Jersey Octopus Ceviche 

P. Easy Pastina Soup 

Q. Shrimp and Quail Egg Garden Salad – this post! 

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Easy Pastina Soup

This Easy Pastina Soup is comfort food for when you are under the weather and need something delicious, rich and nourishing, made with chicken stock and vegetables, and, of course, tiny pasta aka pastina.

It's been quite a while so I can’t remember if it was me or someone else in my immediate family that was feeling under the weather, in fact, it might have even been my neighbor. But I was texting with a dear friend and she sent me the recipe she said she always makes when her family is sick. 

I had all of the ingredients so I made it right away. It was sooo good that it became one of my favorite go-to soup recipes whenever we are feeling poorly as well. The soup is rich and full of vegetables and flavor, a true delight with the tiny pasta aka pastina.

Easy Pastina Soup

This soup is very forgiving so I haven’t given exact weights for the vegetables. Aside from the garlic, the amounts of the other veggies should be more or less similar but if you have a little more carrot and a little less celery, don’t stress over it. That said, the one onion in my pantry was tiny, so I also used a shallot to make up the difference. 

Ingredients 

10 1/2 cups or 2 1/2 liters chicken stock

1 yellow onion

3 celery ribs

3 carrots

4 garlic cloves

salt as needed

freshly ground black pepper

1 cup or 200g pastina, drained (any small pasta shape, such as orzo, little stars, or tiny macaroni noodles – macaroni will weigh less, being hollow)

Parmesan or Pecorino Romano to serve

Method

Peel and chop your carrots and onion. Peel and slice your garlic. Chop the celery ribs. 

Add the stock to a large pot and heat over high heat. Add the onion, celery, carrots and garlic. Bring the contents to a boil.

Once the broth is boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and semi cover the pot with a lid. 

Cook for 45-60 minutes or until the veggies are all super soft and the quantity of liquid has reduced. Taste for seasoning and adjust with some salt, if needed. 

If you have a hand blender, remove the pot from the stove and puree all of the vegetables directly in the pot.

If you don’t, use a slotted spoon to transfer the veggies to a blender, along with a couple of ladles full of broth. Blend until the mixture is smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Return the blended mixture back to the pot of broth and stir. 

Give the whole pot a few generous grinds of black pepper. 

Meanwhile, in another pot, boil the pastina in salted water. Drain and return to the pot to keep warm. 

To serve, add a generous serving spoonful of the cooked pastina to the bottom of a bowl then ladle the soup on top. 

Sprinkle with some grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano. (I totally forgot this step for the photos!)

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 16th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter P. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the P recipes below:

• Food Lust People Love: Easy Pastina Soup
• Sneha’s Recipe: Grilled Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Peas and Pepper Pasta Salad
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Pasta and Pea Soup
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Pineapple Salad
• Blogghetti: Easy Pumpkin Pie Crescent Rolls
• A Messy Kitchen: Maple Pecan Fudge
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Pasta with Preserved Lemon
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Peach Crumble Pound Cake (Cake Mix Recipe)
• Culinary Cam: Brunede Kartofler (Danish Caramel Potatoes)
• Magical Ingredients: Pepper and Cheese Dip
  
  
  
  

Here are my posts for the 2025 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Roasted Asparagus Soup

B: Blistered Sugar Snap Peas

C. Jersey Royal Chicken Chorizo Traybake 

D. Small Batch Dried Apricot Jam 

E. Whipped Espresso Cream 

F. Fish Sauce Roasted Chicken 

G. Extra Herby Gremolata 

H. Smoked Herring Spread 

I.  Fresh Cherry Ice Cream 

J. Small Batch Strawberry Jam 

K. Kiwi Tomato Feta Salad 

L. Lobster Butter 

M. Milk-Roasted Chicken 

N. Nocciolata Swirl Meringues 

O. Jersey Octopus Ceviche 

P. Easy Pastina Soup – this post! 

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Vanilla Bean No Churn Ice Cream with Fresh Strawberry Sauce

Creamy and sweet, this vanilla bean no churn ice cream is so easy and delicious! Since it’s strawberry season, add some fresh strawberry sauce. So good! 

Years and years ago, we were living in a small oilfield town in Brazil, about three hours up the coast from Rio de Janeiro. Shopping was a challenge but I managed to find most things we loved or I figured out how to make them myself. (Looking at you, bagels, for one!) 

Ice cream was readily available but it was ridiculously expensive so I asked my sister to bring me an ice cream maker the next time she visited. This was before the days of fancy ice cream makers you just plugged in. The one she brought was a modern electric version of the old hand-cranked kind that needed rock salt. 

I was so excited when she and the machine arrived! My bubble was burst when I discovered that rock salt was hard to come by and the cost of cream was the reason ice cream was so expensive! It would cost me more to make my own than to buy the overpriced supermarket stuff. Deep sigh. 

It was the very early days of the internet so I didn’t know about no churn ice cream. Now I’m delighted by the plethora of no churn recipes and I live where cream is affordable. Good times! 

Vanilla Bean No Churn Ice Cream with Fresh Strawberry Sauce

Can you serve this ice cream plain or with another sauce? Absolutely! I include the fresh strawberry sauce recipe because it complements the sweet ice cream beautifully but it’s also lovely for strawberry shortcake. Maybe it should get its own post for that. 

Ingredients

For the vanilla bean ice cream:

I vanilla bean

1 can (14 oz or 397g) sweetened condensed milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups or 480ml heavy cream

For the strawberry sauce:

14oz or 397g fresh strawberries

⅓ cup or 66g sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

Split and use a spoon to scrape the tiny bits from inside your vanilla bean.

Add them to the condensed milk in a mixing bowl allong with the vanilla extract and stir well.  

Whip the cream until stiff peaks form. 

Gently fold the condensed milk into the whipped cream. 

Line a loaf pan with cling film and spoon the mixture into it. Put a spoon or two in each corner first so you can straighten out the cling film.

Then pour the rest in and smooth the top. 

Cover loosely with more cling film then freeze your vanilla bean ice cream in the loaf pan for at least 6 hours.

To make the strawberry topping, hull the strawberries. 

Rinse the strawberries well with cool water and spin them dry. 

Cut the large ones in quarters, the medium ones in half and leave any smaller ones whole. Please don't skip this step. Strawberries have little hairs (called styles) that need to be cleaned off, not to mention the potential chemicals that might have been used.

Combine the strawberries and sugar in a medium pot. 

Cook over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves, stirring often. This takes just a few minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, vanilla extract and cornstarch.

Pour the mixture over the strawberries and stir well.

Bring to a boil once over medium-high heat, then reduce to medium heat and simmer sauce until berries are soft and juices have thickened slightly, about 5 minutes for a chunky topping. 

Decant to a bowl and refrigerate, covered with cling film, until ready to serve.

When the vanilla bean ice cream is sufficiently frozen, remove the pan from the freezer. 

Use the cling film lining to remove the ice cream from the pan to a cutting board. Warm your knife in hot water and cut slices of the ice cream to serve. 

Top each slice of ice cream with chilled fresh strawberry sauce. Rewrap any leftover ice cream and pop it back in the freezer. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay. I’m hosting and today we are celebrating National Ice Cream Month! Check out all the ice cream recipes we are sharing below.

• Eggless Homemade Butterscotch Ice Cream from Sneha's Recipe
• Healthy Chocolate Shake from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Low Sugar Strawberry No Churn Ice Cream from Our Good Life
• Milk Chocolate Ice Cream from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• No Churn Oreo Ice Cream from Cook with Renu
• Orange Creamsicle No Churn Ice Cream from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Vanilla Bean No Churn Ice Cream with Fresh Strawberry Sauce from Food Lust People Love

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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with Fresh Strawberry Sauce

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Jersey Octopus Ceviche

Made with octopus caught in Channel Islands waters, this tender Jersey Octopus Ceviche is the perfect tart and spicy dish for a bright hot summer day. 

If you read my grilled octopus post a couple of weeks ago, you’ll know that our favorite eight-legged sea creatures have become quite a menace for folks in these islands that capture crabs and lobsters to sell as their livelihood. An octopus can easily get inside the cages and eat the entire catch! 

So, as suggested by our local newspaper, we are trying to eat more octopus! It’s great in a risotto but frankly, we just love it grilled with a squeeze of lemon.

I actually made this ceviche with leftover grilled octopus from that previous recipe but you can use cooked octopus bought vacuum-packed in a grocery store. If you are stateside or live in the UK, Costco carries it as well in the refrigerated section near the meat counter.

Jersey Octopus Ceviche

My three limes were fat and juicy so they yielded about 1/2 cup or 120ml of juice, which nicely covered the sliced onions and chopped chili pepper. Use more if your limes aren’t as productive, juice-wise. This recipe serves two generously.

Ingredients

1/2 medium purple onion

1 red chili pepper

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

3 limes (or more if your limes aren’t juicy)

small bunch cilantro plus extra for garnish, if desired

7 oz or 200g cooked octopus

Method

Peel and finely slice the onion, finely chop the chili pepper and cut the octopus in bite-sized pieces. 

Put the onion, chili pepper and salt in a bowl that will eventually hold all of your ingredients. Cover and refrigerate the octopus. 

Pick the hard stems off of the cilantro and discard them. Tender stems are fine. 

Rinse the cilantro with cool water and spin to dry. Don’t skip this crucial step. No one wants grit in their ceviche. 

Chop it finely and set aside. 

Juice the limes into a separate bowl and discard any seeds.

Pour the juice into the onion bowl. Give it a little stir then cover and leave to macerate until you are about half an hour from serving. If it’s longer than a couple of hours, you can refrigerate the mixture. 

About half an hour before serving, stir the octopus and cilantro into the onion bowl, making sure the octopus is well coated with the marinade. 

Set aside to marinate for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir again to serve and garnish with a little more cilantro, if desired. 

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 15th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter O. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the O recipes below:

• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Cranberry Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Orange Chocolate Cake 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Orzo with Parmesan and Basil 
• Food Lust People Love: Jersey Octopus Ceviche 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Overnight Oats 
• Blogghetti: Easy White Chocolate Covered Oreos 
• A Messy Kitchen: Citrus Marinated Chicken 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Orange Avocado Salad 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Sheet Pan Italian Olive Oil Summer Vegetables
• Culinary Cam: Octopus: Takoyaki, a Japanese Snack Food
• Magical Ingredients: Onion Oaxaca Dip

Here are my posts for the 2025 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Roasted Asparagus Soup

B: Blistered Sugar Snap Peas

C. Jersey Royal Chicken Chorizo Traybake 

D. Small Batch Dried Apricot Jam 

E. Whipped Espresso Cream 

F. Fish Sauce Roasted Chicken 

G. Extra Herby Gremolata 

H. Smoked Herring Spread 

I.  Fresh Cherry Ice Cream 

J. Small Batch Strawberry Jam 

K. Kiwi Tomato Feta Salad 

L. Lobster Butter 

M. Milk-Roasted Chicken 

N. Nocciolata Swirl Meringues 

O. Jersey Octopus Ceviche – this post! 

Pin this Jersey Octopus Ceviche!

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