In the Hands of a Chef (38 page)
Read In the Hands of a Chef Online
Authors: Jody Adams
Q
uail deserve to be more
popular with home cooks in this country. They’re relatively inexpensive; they’re readily available already boned (except for the legs); they make a dramatic presentation;
and
our children love them. Quail are a great bird for grilling or sautéing, and their succulent dark meat is a rich alternative to the bland white-meat chicken that fills the poultry sections of most supermarkets. It’s always amusing to me to see how long dinner guests can resist using their fingers after they’ve consumed as much of the quail as possible using their knives and forks. They just have to gnaw those remaining morsels off the legs.
MAKES 4 ENTRÉE SERVINGS
2 cups apple cider
1 tablespoon grainy mustard
8 semi-boneless quail
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
½ celery stalk, peeled and cut into
¼-inch dice
1 shallot, minced
4 ounces (½ cup) mascarpone
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
2 teaspoons green peppercorns in brine, rinsed and drained
2 teaspoons prepared horseradish, drained Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
DO AHEAD:
Marinate the quail for at least 2 hours; they can marinate overnight without the taste suffering if it’s more convenient.
1.
Bring the cider to a boil in a medium saucepan. Lower the heat to medium and reduce the cider to
½
cup, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat.
2.
When the cider is cool, stir in the mustard. Toss the quail with the cider reduction in a nonreactive container and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
3.
Heat the olive oil in a small sauté pan over medium heat. Add the celery and shallots. Cook until tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.
4.
Mix the vegetables with the mascarpone, thyme, peppercorns, and horseradish. Season with salt and pepper. The mixture will be quite stiff. Divide it equally into 8 portions and form them into ovals. Place them on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Freeze until semi-solid,
about 2 hours. (They have to be at least semi-solid before you use them, or they’ll melt too fast during cooking; if you want to freeze them for longer, that’s fine.)
5.
When ready to cook, place a frozen cheese oval in the cavity of each quail. Thread a toothpick through the skin on either side of the cavity opening to hold the opening shut, or tie the legs together with butcher’s twine to close the cavity. Sprinkle the quail liberally with salt and pepper.
6.
Heat the vegetable oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the quail breast side down (you may have to cook them in two batches, or use two pans; put the finished birds on a platter in a warm 200°F oven) and cook until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Pay close attention to the pan: The cider reduction has a high sugar content, and if it gets too hot, it will start to burn; lower the heat as necessary. Turn the birds over and cook for an additional 10 minutes. At 10 minutes per side, the birds should be cooked medium. An instant-read digital thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the leg should read 165°F for medium. Cook longer if desired. Don’t worry if some of the melted mascarpone starts to leak out after 15 minutes or so—just drizzle it over the quail before serving. Present the platter of quail at the table.
T
his dish adapts easily to the grill, and if you can use wood chips to smoke the quail while they’re cooking, all the better. The quail are first seared on a hot portion of the grill, then finish cooking in disposable aluminum pie plates on a cooler part of the grate, with the grill cover closed. If you want to omit the mascarpone filling, simply cook the marinated quail on a hot grill for 4 to 6 minutes per side.
1. Prepare a grill with hot and medium cooking areas (see page 265 if you’re unfamiliar with how to do this). A grill is hot when you can’t hold your hand near the grill surface for longer than 2 seconds; it’s medium when you can’t hold your hand there for longer than 4 seconds.
2. Brush the hot part of the grate with oil and set the quail breast side down on it. Leave them just long enough to get a good grill mark, only a minute or two. Transfer the quail to two disposable aluminum pie plates. Close the cover of the grill, reduce the heat (on a gas grill lower the heat to medium; on a charcoal grill, close the vents halfway), and cook for 15 minutes, then check for doneness. (Don’t be concerned if some of the mascarpone runs into the pie plates. Just pour it over the quail before serving.) An instant-read digital thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the leg should register 165°F for medium. If you poke the leg with a skewer and the juices run clear, it’s well-done — of course, the puddle of molten cheese in the pie plate will also be a clue. If the quail need to cook longer, close the top and try again in a few minutes. After you’ve grilled quail a few times, you’ll find you’re able to tell how done it is just by pinching the breast.
Farro is a Mediterranean cereal grain similar to spelt (if that doesn’t mean anything to you, think barley). From prehistoric times through the sixth and seventh centuries it was a staple of both European and Near Eastern Mediterranean peoples, but the appearance of higher-yielding strains of wheat after the fall of the Roman Empire eventually displaced it except as a local specialty in a few isolated areas. It has experienced something of a revival and is now exported to the United States, where chefs find its complex nuttiness and slightly resistant texture a worthwhile addition to their palate of grains. In Italy, it is customary to soak farro overnight before cooking it, but I’ve found the difference between the soaked and unsoaked grain to be so minor it’s not worth the effort.
Use a sharp knife to cut an X in the flat side of each chestnut. Put the chestnuts in a saucepan, cover with salted water, cover, and bring to a boil. Cook for 4 minutes, then turn off the heat. After the pan has cooled for a few minutes, remove a chestnut. Leave the remaining chestnuts in the water; if you remove them all, they’ll become difficult to peel. (This is a good time to use disposable latex gloves—they insulate your fingers against the heat.) Peel away the shell and inner skin of the chestnut, using a paring knife. The chestnuts should be tender. If they are not, don’t try cooking them longer; simply chop coarsely and proceed. They’ll finish cooking in the pan or in the stuffing. A pound of fresh chestnuts yields about 1 cup peeled cooked chestnuts.
S
ave this hearty winter stew
for a weekend getaway with friends. Farro is a Mediterranean grain whose mildly chewy texture and rustic flavor make it a perfect match for the gamy flavor of quail. Don’t let the ingredients list overwhelm you—give everybody a job chopping herbs or vegetables, and soon all the ingredients will be ready. The actual cooking is quite simple and the results are more than worth it. After all, how often do you get to eat anything stuffed with cherries soaked in grappa? When the stunning finished dish of quail sitting atop a steaming mound of aromatic farro and chestnuts arrives, everybody will feel they had a hand in its creation.
MAKES 4 ENTRÉE SERVINGS
MARINADE
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 shallots, minced
¼ cup pure maple syrup
1 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon chopped juniper berries
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
4 semi-boneless quail
4 teaspoons dried cherries, soaked in 2 tablespoons grappa for 30 minutes (optional)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped into ¼-inch dice
1 celery stalk, peeled and chopped into ¼-inch dice
1 small carrot, peeled and chopped into ¼-inch dice
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 cup farro (available in specialty food stores, Italian markets, and some health food stores)
4 cups Chicken Stock (page 31) or high-quality canned low-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
4 bay leaves
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup cooked and peeled chestnuts (page 244), sliced ¼ inch thick
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
¼ pound arugula or other tender, quick-cooking green, such as spinach
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
DO AHEAD:
Marinate the quail 4 to 6 hours in the refrigerator.
1.
To make the marinade, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil with the shallots in a small sauté pan over low heat and cook until the shallots are tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.
2.
Combine the shallots with the remaining marinade ingredients in a large bowl. Add the quail and rub inside and out with the marinade. If using the cherries, put a teaspoon of cherries in the cavity of each bird. Cover and marinate for 4 to 6 hours in the refrigerator.
3.
Sprinkle the quail inside and out with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Sear the quail breast side down until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Turn the birds over and cook for an additional 4 minutes. They should still be rare. Remove the quail to a plate and let cool, then cover and refrigerate.
4.
Meanwhile, wipe any burned bits out of the pan with a paper towel. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil, the onion, celery, and carrot. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until aromatic, only a minute or two.
5.
Add the farro, chicken stock, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, and lemon zest. Season with salt and pepper. Lower the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until the farro is tender, about 35 minutes. It should be quite creamy, like a loose risotto.
6.
While the farro is cooking, heat the butter in a small sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the chestnuts, season with salt and pepper, and cook until golden brown. Add the maple syrup and stir well. Remove from the heat.
7.
Add the glazed chestnuts and arugula to the farro and toss well. Set the quail on top of the farro, cover, and cook until the quail are done, about 10 minutes. An instant-read digital thermometer inserted into the thick part of the thigh should read 160°F for medium-rare. Cook more or less, according to amount of doneness desired.
8.
Transfer the quail to a plate. Spoon the farro onto a platter; remove the bay leaves. Arrange the quail atop the farro, drizzle with balsamic vinegar, and serve.
H
ome cooks who wouldn’t think
twice about roasting chickens, turkeys, and game hens come down with an extreme case of the willies when presented with duck. Their reasoning goes something like this: Duck is swathed in fat; to get the skin to crisp properly, you need to roast the duck at a high temperature; roasting duck at a high temperature causes the fat to smoke. Result: a trashed kitchen, duck with insufficiently crisp skin, and an unpleasant layer of fat that still remains between the skin and the meat. You give up.
This recipe offers a foolproof alternative. The duck is steamed in a roasting pan on top of the stove, which renders much of the fat (without the mess), then pan-roasted in pieces on top of the stove at a relatively low temperature. The skin is crisp, the fat is either removed or rendered, and the meat is juicy and rich. In addition, the recipe offers you several different ways of serving the duck, depending on the number of diners and the amount of time and energy you wish to invest. The simplest approach is just to serve the duck unadorned. Believe me, the taste of the meat and the skin will carry the day. With very little more effort, you can make a spicy duck glaze or a honeyed quince compote. A really fancy occasion will call for both. The directions on page 319 explain how to double this recipe; you can even stretch a single duck to serve 4.
A nonstick or disposable deep roasting pan will significantly reduce or eliminate cleanup after the steaming; a nonstick V-rack is also a cleanup timesaver. You will also need a large cast-iron frying pan or heavy sauté pan (nonstick, if you prefer, but not absolutely necessary), along with a lid.
If you have leftovers, pan-roasted duck will keep for several days. Instead of reheating it, I prefer to treat it like the rare ingredient it is and use it to enhance other dishes. Chopped duck (without the skin) can be added to mushroom risotto during the last addition of broth. While the risotto is cooking, slice the skin into matchsticks and crisp it in a small sauté pan. When the risotto is finished, garnish each portion with a sprinkling of duck cracklings. A little chopped duck meat also adds incredible depth to a simple tomato sauce for pasta. Sauté cup diced pancetta until the fat begins to render, add the chopped duck, and cook for another minute. Add this mixture to a plain tomato sauce and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve over fresh pappardelle.