Never having cooked quail before, as they are rarely available round my area, I was delighted to spot them in Cavistons in Glasthule, where I visited this morning. In case you dont know them, Cavistons is a family run business, with some of the best fresh produce that you can get in all of Dublin - great fish and meat, wonderful cheeses and fresh vegetables, and a fine array of artisan foods. However, back to the quail! While not cheap food, you could do them as a starter, thus only serving one per person - that way it would work out at €3.50 each, which isnt an outrageous price by any means. Two for a main course is about a nice generous amount!
I love the way that Ho Sen (Vietnamese restaurant in Temple Bar) do them, so we set out to recreate them along the same lines. Our marinade was created from garlic,
ginger, lemongrass, lime leaves, lime juice, chillies, schezuan peppers, sesame oil and peanut oil and a little honey. We left that to sit for a while mixed through the partly boned quails (we allowed two per person as a main course). With part-boned quail, it is much easier to cook them, as you have a fairly even surface to cook, rather than trying to roast the whole bird.
ginger, lemongrass, lime leaves, lime juice, chillies, schezuan peppers, sesame oil and peanut oil and a little honey. We left that to sit for a while mixed through the partly boned quails (we allowed two per person as a main course). With part-boned quail, it is much easier to cook them, as you have a fairly even surface to cook, rather than trying to roast the whole bird.I checked with a few online recipes as to how long they need to be cooked properly (I dont know if they fall into the chicken category of 'must be fully cooked' or the duck category of ' anyway you want to cook from rare to well-done'). I still dont know, but concluded that when in doubt, make sure the food is safe to eat, so I erred on the side of caution and went with the option of 5 minutes on each side, rather than one of the options which was a total of 5 minutes!
After leaving the marinade on the quail for about 20 minutes, I cooked them by browning them on each side for about 2 minutes each side, then putting them into a preheated oven for about 5 minutes, then for the last minute, doing them on dual grill and oven setting. They turned out brilliantly! Succulent, yet crispy-skinned, and the flavours from the marinade came through beautifully without overpowering the quail taste. We served them with wok-fried veggies and some brown rice and had them with some really nice Australian Chardonnay - the Stonier Reserve 2004, which is a far cry from the still-lingering image of over-oaked Aussie Chard!If anyone would like the recipe in full, get in touch with us and I'll send on the details to you! You can send the mail to info@thetastingroom.ie
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1 comment:
Sounds like it's a bit expensive for a day to day food but definitely would be something out of the ordinary for a special occasion. I am no expert, but I suspect that they should be cooked similar to game such as pheasant.
Don't quote me on that, I don't want to end up with my face blurred like the guy in the barbecue safety ad.
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