John Cesters Poultry & Game Meat

Venison & Game Meat Melbourne

Spiced Quail with
 Chocolate Gravy

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Everyone loves it – who says CHOCOLATE can’t be apart of a main dish at dinner time or lunch?

(serves 4)

Ingredients 9f25fda1-3876-45b9-91d5-1a95b952d878
1 tbsp. coriander
1 tsp. cumin seeds
5 allspice berries
3 tbsp. smoked paprika
1 tbsp. benne seeds
1 large clove garlic
½ tsp. salt
¼ cup canola or other neutral oil
¼ cup orange juice
4 quail, semi-boneless
2 to 4 large peanuts

Chocolate Gravy
4 tbsp. cocoa powder
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1¼ cups whole milk
2½ tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
¹⁄³ tsp. cayenne
2 tbsp. butter

Preparation
Toast coriander, cumin seeds, and allspice berries in a sauté pan until fragrant. Cool two or three minutes, then grind in a spice grinder until powdery. Place ground spices in a small mixing bowl and add paprika and benne seeds. Mix well.

Chop garlic, sprinkle with salt, and mash into a paste using the side of a knife. Add garlic, canola oil, and orange juice to the spices and mix thoroughly.

Snip wing tips off quail. Pour rub over quail, turning to coat.

Marinate at least one hour but no longer than six hours.

Prepare a medium-hot grill and cook each bird for seven to nine minutes, turning once, until medium-rare.

Gravy preparation
Combine first six ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over medium until thickened, whisking often to reduce lumps. Remove from heat and stir in butter. (The sauce can be reserved while the quail cooks. Just loosen with a few tablespoons of water as you reheat it.)

To serve, pool a bit of gravy on a plate, top with a quail, drizzle with chocolate gravy, and then, using a micro plane, shave peanuts over each bird.

We hope you and your families have a Happy Easter, don’t eat too much chocolate! – From the team at John Cester’s Poultry & Game.

QUAIL LARB TACOS WITH GRILLED PINEAPPLE SALSA

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You’ll need

15 gm (3cm piece) galangal, sliced1112GT-taco-recipes-quail-larb-628
2 tsp white glutinous rice
16 deboned quail, finely chopped 
5 golden shallots, thinly sliced
60 ml (¼ cup) lime juice, or to taste
60 ml (¼ cup) fish sauce, or to taste
½ cup (firmly packed) coriander, finely chopped, plus extra leaves to serve
¼ cup (firmly packed) mint, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp crushed light palm sugar, or to taste
½ tsp roasted dried chilli flakes, or to taste 
White corn tortillas
– 250 gm (1¾ cups)
– white masa flour (see note) 
Barbecued pineapple salsa
500 gm pineapple (about ½ pineapple), thickly sliced
½ Spanish onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup coarsely chopped coriander
Juice of 2 limes
2 tsp olive oil

Method

  • For white corn tortillas, combine flour, 340ml hot water and a large pinch of salt in a bowl and mix with your hands until a soft dough forms. Cover closely with plastic wrap and set aside to rest (15 minutes). Divide dough into 35gm pieces and roll into balls. Line a tortilla press with two squares of baking paper, then, working with one ball at a time, press gently but firmly in press to form a thin disc. Set aside on baking paper and cover with a tea towel.
  • Dry-roast galangal in a small frying pan over high heat until fragrant and toasted (4-6 minutes), transfer to a mortar and pestle, pound until finely ground, transfer to a bowl and set aside. Add rice to pan and cook, shaking occasionally, until roasted (3-5 minutes), transfer to mortar and pestle, pound until finely ground and set aside.
  • Heat a wok over high heat, add quail and 60ml water and stir continuously until cooked through (3-4 minutes). Remove wok from heat, add ground galangal, ground rice and remaining ingredients (except extra coriander), toss to coat quail, adjust seasoning to taste and set aside.
  • For barbecued pineapple salsa, preheat a char-grill pan over high heat, add pineapple in batches and char-grill until golden (1-2 minutes each side). Dice and transfer to a bowl. Add remaining ingredients, season to taste and set aside.
  • Preheat a cast-iron frying pan over medium-high heat, add tortillas one at a time and cook, turning once, until bubbles appear on the surface and base browns (30-45 seconds each side). Wrap in a cloth napkin to steam, soften and keep warm.
  • Serve warm tortillas topped with quail, barbecued pineapple salsa and extra coriander.

(Gourmet Traveller, 2010)

Fettuccine with Quail Sauce

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Making the Dish

What You’ll Need
2 quail, rinsed and patted dry 
3 tbsp, olive oil
1 half sweet onion, very finely chopped
1/2 rib celery, very finely chopped
1/2 carrot, very finely chopped
1 sage leaf and 1 sprig’s worth of rosemary leaves, very finely chopped together
1 tbsp fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup white wine
1 can whole peeled plum tomatoes
1/4 cup freshly grated pecorino romano cheese
1/2 lb fettuccine (or, if you want to be fancy, fresh tagliatelle)

In a large wide saucepan that can contain all the quail in one layer, start heating up the olive oil over medium high heat. Once the oil is nice and hot, add the quail and brown them on all sides – about 2 -3 minutes per side. Once browned, remove hem from the pan.

In the same pan, add in the onion, celery carrot, sage and rosemary, and cook until the vegetables are softened, about 6 – 7 minutes.

Once the veggies have softened, add the quail back to the pan. Add a touch of salt and pepper, and gently stir together. You don’t want the quail to rip or tear, but you do want to get them covered up in the veggie infused oils. Turn them a few times as they start to take on a nice golden color.

After about 4 minutes, add your wine and bring it to a gentle boil for about 45 seconds. Add in about a 1/4 cup worth of the tomato juice from the can of tomatoes and let it return to a boil. Then, turn the heat down to low. Move the pan back and forth so that the quail are as submerged into the liquid as possible. Cover the pan, and cook on low heat for about 20 minutes.

While the quail are simmering in the tomato sauce, remove 3 – 5 tomatoes (your preference!) from the can and roughly chop them up. When the quail have cooked for 20 minutes, add the cup up tomato to the pan and fold them into the sauce, again stirring gently so as not to tear the quail.

Add in the tablespoon of ground black pepper, stir to incorporate, and then cover the pan with the lid slightly ajar and cook for another 25 minutes. Check the pan throughout this process and if the cooking juices are drying up, add in a tablespoon of the tomato juice.

By now, the quail should be fall off the bone tender. Remove the quail from the sauce. Start cooking your fettuccine in salted water – cook it until 1 minutes shy of the package directions, then get to work on the quail. Using two forks, pull the meat away from any bones and get it into nice chunks. Be sure that no bones remain in the meat. For presentation’s sake, you can keep the drumsticks whole and place them on top of the dish at the end.

With the meat separated and pulled, add it back into the pan of sauce and stir it in. You should have a nice thick, ragu of tomatoes and quail.

Add the fettuccine to the quail sauce mixture and add in the grated pecorino romano. Ladle a small amount of the pasta water over the pecorino to get it melted, and toss the entire concoction over medium heat until all of the juice is absorbed in the pasta – about two minutes.

Serve on warmed plates, the drumstick placed nicely on top, garnished with extra pecorino if you desire!

(Herbie Likes Spaghetti, 2013)

Roasted Quail with Miso Sweet corn Puree and Blackberry Vinaigrette

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Recipe by: Sara Oteri – Masterchef Contestant

Serves: 4

Ingredients

Sweet corn Puree:

2 tbsp butter

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

3 corn cobs

200ml chicken stock

1 tbsp miso paste

Quail:

4 whole quail

1 tsp coriander seeds, toasted and crushed

salt and pepper, to taste

Corn Kernels:

1 corn cob

Blackberry Vinaigrette:

150g blackberries

2 tbsp  red wine vinegar

1 tsp caster sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C

To make the sweet corn puree, place butter in a saucepan and set over medium heat to melt. Add shallot and garlic and cook until translucent. Cut corn from cobs and add to saucepan.

Fry for 5 minutes, add stock and miso paste and cook until tender. Transfer to a blender and process until smooth. Pass through a sieve and set aside, keeping warm.

To prepare the quail, remove legs, preserving breasts on the crown. Remove the wings at the joint. Place grapeseed oil in a frypan and set over high heat. Season legs and breasts with coriander seeds, salt, and pepper and fry breasts in frypan until well coloured, about 3 minutes on each breast. Add legs and cook for 1 minute until golden.

Transfer frypan to the oven and cook for 4 minutes, until legs are cooked through. Remove legs and set aside. Return pan to oven to cook breasts for a further 3-4 minutes until cooked through.

Remove from oven, remove from pan and set aside, covered, to rest.Return quail frypan to high heat. Add corn cob and cook until golden on all sides. Remove corn cob from pan and cut kernels off.
Set kernels aside.

To make the blackberry vinegar, add blackberries to the frypan and toss to coat in quail cooking oil. Add red wine vinegar and sugar and toss until sugar has dissolved.To serve, place some corn puree on the serving plates.

Carve quail breasts from the crown and add to the plates, with the legs. Add corn kernels and drizzle with blackberry vinaigrette

(Masterchef.com.au, 2013)

Quail And Smoked Sausage Christmas Gumbo

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This is a great way to enjoy quail. The gumbo can be served either with a whole quail in each bowl or with the meat removed from the bones and shredded. Either way, it is delicious!

INGREDIENTS

  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup bleached all-purpose flourQuail and Smoked Sausage Christmas Gumbo
  • 2 cups chopped yellow onions
  • 1 cup seeded and chopped green bell peppers
  • 1/2 cup chopped celery
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 8 quails
  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 10 cups Chicken Stock
  • 450 g smoked sausage, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
  • 1/2 cup chopped green onions (scallions), green parts only
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

DIRECTIONS

  • Combine the oil and flour in a large nonstick saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the roux mixture is dark brown, the color of chocolate, 30 to 35 minutes.
  • Add the onions, peppers, celery, salt, cayenne, and bay leaves. Cook the vegetables, stirring often, until they are soft and tender, about 10 minutes.
  • In a medium size saute pan, brown the quail on all sides. Add the quail and the garlic to the pot. Add the stock and sausage. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer, uncovered, until the quail are very tender, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
  • Skim off any fat that rises to the surface of the gumbo and discard. Remove the bay leaves. Stir in the green onions and parsley. Serve immediately with steamed white rice.

(Emerils.com, 2012)