This week's French Garden recipe

People who know me would tell you that it's hard to tell which I like more: gardening or cooking. I'd say it depends on which I'm doing at the moment. Anyway, French cooking and French gardening go hand in hand. For me, cooking is an on-going adventure. Join me here on my culinary explorations, where I share with you both my old favorites as well as new inspirations. It's my fondest wish that these recipes serve as a springboard for your own new creations.

05/25/2008
Grilled quail with apricot-rosemary sauce

Ingredients:

4 quail
2 t. black peppercorns
1 T. sea salt
1 small sprig rosemary, chopped

Sauce:

4 c. strong, homemade poultry broth, reduced to about 1 cup
1 c. dry white wine
1 c. apricot-honey compote (see recipe under Desserts), sieved
1 sprig rosemary
pinch salt

Basting mixture:

1 c. dry white wine
2 T. light honey (such as rosemary or lavender)
2 t. duck fat or olive oil

The day before, or at least 6 hours before, grind the salt, peppercorns, and chopped rosemary in a mortar.  Sprinkle the quail all over with this mixture, wrap and refrigerate.  Bring to room temperature 1 1/2 hours before serving.

For the sauce, reduce the wine to about 1/4 cup.  Add the reduced poultry broth, the sieved apricot compote, the salt, and rosemary sprig, bring to a simmer.  Turn off the heat and allow the rosemary to infuse.  Taste and adjust sweetness with honey if necessary.

For the basting mixture, reduce the wine by half, add the duck fat or olive oil and honey, bring to a boil, remove from heat.

1 1/2 to 2 hours before serving, start a hardwood fire.  Or use charcoal or light your gas grill at the appropriate time.  The quails need to grill for about half an hour.  When the fire is very hot but the flames have mostly died down, start grilling the quail.  Turn them about every 5 minutes.  After 10 minutes grilling time, begin basting them.  They'll be done after half an hour, when the skin is deep golden brown.

To serve, pour a pool of the apricot sauce into heated plates.  Cut each quail in half with poultry shears and arrange attractively on the sauce.  Garnish with a rosemary sprig if desired.  Serve with a viognier type white wine.

This is the perfect way to kick off summer grilling!  If you can't find quail, use cornish hens or squab.  If using these larger birds, cut them in "crapaudine" before grilling:  cut out their backbones (use them to enrich the sauce) and placing them skin side up, flatten them by pressing down on the breast with your hand.  Use force if necessary.  Tuck the wingtips up over the breasts.

Share

Try some of our past French garden recipes:

Appetizers and small dishes

Basics

Beef, pork, lamb, and veal