Braised Quail

Had four quail in the freezer and decided today was the day.

Thawed them out and trussed up the legs + salt & pepper.

Diced a big onion and made lardons from 4 strips of bacon.

 

Heat up some butter and olive oil.

 

Start browning the little birds.

 

Meanwhile prep some mushrooms - recipe calls for wild but I had these on hand, so I used them instead.

Remove quail, reduce heat, add bacon, cook until crisp.

 

Remove bacon, add onion and 1 TBS flour.

 

Cook while stirring 3-5 minutes.

Deglaze with wine. Recipe called for white wine, I had red open so that is what I used.

 

Return birds to pan.

At this point the recipe called for veal stock. Uh, I don't have any, but I did have some leftover gravy from when I made hassenpfeffer in the freezer, so I used that. I added a cup or so of chicken stock.

 

Some pale fellas inthe hot tub!

Cover them up and simmer for 20 minutes. Meanwhile start the wild rice and have an appetizer!

 

mmm Fresh bread and quality anchovies

After 20 minutes, uncover, remove quail from pan and add chopped mushrooms. Cook until sauce is reduced and mushrooms are cooked - about 7 minutes.

 

 Add fowl back to pan. Add handful of chopped parsely, and heat through.

 

Braised Quail with mushroom gravy on wild rice.

 

All in all it was  pretty good, I wouldn't bother with the quail in the future, I'd use cornish hens.

Enjoy!