Braised Quail Recipes

BRAISED QUAIL WITH VEGETABLES & GRAVY

Steps:

• 1. Fry bacon until crisp in a cast iron skillet. Render out all of the fat and save bacon for another use.
• 2. While bacon is frying combine the salt, pepper and flour together in a bowl. Sprinkle each quail liberally with Cavender's seasoning, dredge in the flour mixture, shake off excess and brown each bird well in the bacon grease. Set quail aside on paper towels.
• 3. Allow the bacon grease to cool slightly; then whisk in an equal portion of flour, stirring constantly over medium heat until the roux is browned the color of peanut butter; add salt, pepper and soup, stirring until incorporated; now add an equal portion of milk, whisking vigorously until all of the lumps are gone. If the gravy is too thick, thin with the white wine a tablespoon at a time, and fully incorporate. Taste for seasonings and pour into a container, keeping it warm.
• 4. Pour olive oil into a #12 cast iron Dutch Oven (outdoors) or a large round French Oven like Le Creuset (indoors) and heat oil over medium heat. Add the next 4 ingredients and sweat vegetables about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• 5. Add quail to the pot. Mix together the chicken stock and next 4 ingredients, pouring over the quail and vegetables. Bring to a boil, COVER, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
• 6. Stir mixture and add the white wine and mushrooms. RE-COVER and simmer for an additional 30 minutes.
• 7. While the quail are braising, cook basmati rice, bake a batch of your favorite biscuits, and make sure the gravy is hot.
• 8. Serve two quail per person on top of the rice, and spoon the mushroom gravy on the hot bisuits. A green salad or balsamic green beans will complete this hearty meal.

BRAISED QUAILS WITH WILD MUSHROOMS

Steps:

• Season the quails with salt, and pepper. Melt half the butter with a drop of oil in a heavy casserole, and brown the quails on all sides over medium-high heat. Cook's Note: you could also use lard. Remove the quail from the pan, and set aside. Add the bacon to the pan, brown it, and remove. Finally, fry the onion until golden, adding more fat to the pan beforehand, if needed.
• Stir the flour into the onions, and cook 1 minute. Deglaze the pan with the wine, stirring up the good bits on the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Return the onions, bacon and quails to the pot. Pour over the stock, cover, and simmer until the quails are just cooked through, about 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat the remaining butter (a little more if you like) and cook each type of mushroom separate, as the various types cook differently. Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper as you go, then, at the end, toss them all together with the chopped parsley.
• When the quails are done, remove them from the cooking liquid and keep them warm while you boil the juices, uncovered, to reduce to thin sauce consistency. Add the mushrooms to the sauce. Tilt into a serving dish, set the quails on top, and serve.

BRAISED QUAIL WITH WHITE WINE

Steps:

• Wipe the quail dry with paper towels and set aside.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Using a frying pan that can go into the oven and on top of the stove (preferably cast iron) soften the shallot in the butter. Add shallots to a bowl with the mushrooms, breadcrumbs, parsley, tarragon, salt and pepper. Mix well and moisten with a little of the white wine. Stuff the mixture into the bird cavities.
• Heat the oil in the skillet. Add the stuffed quail, breast down and brown lightly. Add the remaining wine and the garlic cloves. Cover and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Turn the quail breast up, turn up the heat to 400 and continue cooking for five to 10 minutes or until the quail are cooked.
• Remove the quail to a heated platter. Bring the sauce in the skillet to a boil over high heat and reduce by about a third. Remove the garlic cloves and season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour the sauce over the quail, sprinkle with almonds and serve.

BUTTER-BRAISED QUAIL WITH CARROTS AND SOY

Steps:

• Put butter in a large casserole over medium heat; when foam subsides, add quail and raise heat to medium high. Brown quickly on each side, for a total of about 5 minutes. Stir in carrots, then turn heat to medium-low and cover.
• Cook until both birds and carrots are tender, 15 to 20 minutes, turning birds once or twice during that time. Remove cover and put birds and carrots on a platter; keep warm.
• Turn heat to low for a minute, add wine to pan juices and turn heat to high; cook, stirring, until wine is reduced by about half, just a minute or 2. Turn off heat; stir in soy sauce. Spoon sauce over birds and serve immediately.

LESLIE REVSIN'S BRAISED QUAIL WITH JUNIPER, BAYBERRY AND POMEGRANATES

Steps:

• In the cavity of the quail put a little salt, a bayberry or quartered bay leaf (reserving the remaining leaves for later), and a quarter of a clove of garlic. Truss the quail.
• In a bowl large enough to hold all 12 quail combine half a teaspoon salt, juniper berries and whole white peppercorns. Crush the whole coriander seeds with a mortar and pestle and add. Add the brandy. Toss the quail in this mixture, cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a casserole large enough to hold the quail, brown the carrot, onion, celery and leek in threequarters of a tablespoon of duck fat or oil and butter mixture. Remove the vegetables and set aside. Add the remaining fat and carefully brown the quail a few at a time.
• Return the vegetables to the pan. Add the wine and stock. Bring to a boil and skim off any impurities that may rise to the surface. Add three bayberry or one bay leaf, thyme and rosemary and cover tightly. Cook for 45 minutes. The quail are done when they are very soft. Test with a fork or thin skewer. If they are not cooked long enough they will be stringy.
• Meanwhile, brown four tablespoons of butter without burning and brown the breadcrumbs in the butter. Set aside.
• Remove the birds from pan. Strain the cooking juices into a saucepan and reduce to 1 1/2 cups. Season with freshly ground pepper and salt if needed. Stir in remaining two tablespoons of cold butter. Pour the sauce over the birds and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
• Garnish the plate with branches of juniper and peeled chokes of pomegranates, lacing them in and among the birds and sprinkle with extra bay leaves.

BRAISED QUAIL

Steps:

• Clean the quail and pat dry.
• Place a slice of pancetta, a sage and rosemary sprig, and a sliver of garlic.
• Heat the oil in a large, lidded frying pan and brown the quail all over quickly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add extra rosemary and sage leaves and the white wine.
• Put the lid on, turn the heat down to low and cook very slowly adding more wine and chicken stock as needed. Cook until well done.
• Serve with polenta and a salad of radiccio or rocket if you want to.