Roast quail with lime and black pepper

The marinade for this was inspired by a potato chip, of all things. Turns out, lime and pepper go just as well together as lemon and pepper do. This is a very simple, mild-flavoured marinade. You get a hint of lime, but mostly you can taste the quail flesh for what it is.

1 quail, wings and neck removed
2 limes, juiced with a single wedge retained
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt



Place the quail in a bowl. Grind some black pepper and sea salt all over it. Rub some into the cavity, too. Squeeze lime juice all over the bird. Turn it breast down, so the breasts--where most of the meat is--are soaking in the lime juice. Cover with cling film and keep in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C. Place the quail on a lightly oiled baking tray and roast for 20 minutes.

Chinese five spice quail with a honey-soy glaze

The recipe below is enough to season a single quail.

Ingredients:

1 quail, wings and neck removed
3 cloves
2 star anise pods
1 cinnamon stick, snapped into shards
1 tbs whole Sichuan peppercorns
1/2 tsp ginger powder
2 tbs honey
1 tsp soy sauce

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C.



Using a mortar and pestle, grind up two of the cloves, one of the star anise pods, the Sichuan peppercorns, the ginger powder and all but one of the cinnamon shards. Rub this spice mix all over the quail. Stuff the cavity with the remaining clove, star anise pod and cinnamon shard. Place quail on a lightly oiled oven tray and roast for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine honey and soy sauce. Remove quail from the oven and baste generously in with the honey-soy glaze, before returning to the oven for a further ten minutes. Serve with steamed rice.

Quail Kiev

There are those who don't enjoy quail, claiming that eating quail is a bit like eating matchsticks. It's so small and bony, offering too little meat for them to feel that quail is worth the price butchers and poultry stores charge for it. I'm not one of those people. I adore quail. Grilled or stewed, roasted or deep-fried, I regard it as one of the most wonderful birds.

This dish was, of course, inspired by the popular Chicken Kiev--a flattened chicken breast which is rolled, filled with a garlic and herb butter and then coated in a batter. Typically, Kiev is deep-fried. My Kiev is roasted and, of course, uses quail in place of chicken.

I've allowed three quail per diner, but by all means, reduce that figure to two if you are worried your diners don't have such a large appetite.

Ingredients:

3 quail
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used tempura bread crumbs, but you could make your own bread crumbs by blitzing some stale, but good quality bread in a food processor)
3 tbs fresh dill leaves
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
sea salt, to taste
olive oil

Pre-heat oven to 180*C.

Prepare the butter filling by playing the butter, dill leaves and garlic cloves in a food processor. Add a generous pinch of salt and a good grind of pepper before blitzing. Set the butter filling aside while you prepare the quail.



Wash quail inside and out under running water and pat dry. Using your chef's knife, remove the neck and the wings. Stuff cavity with the butter mixture. Be careful not to overfill--you're going to have to close the cavity in a minute and you don't want the stuff oozing out.



To close the cavity, carefully tie a length of kitchen string around the end of one of the legs. Then, gently pull both legs back so they're resting on the stumps where the wings used to be. Notice that the cavity is now closed, except for a small gap. Don't worry too much about that. Bind the tips of the legs together with the string.



Season the bread crumbs with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Coat the quail in the beaten egg and then dredge through the bread crumbs, ensuring the whole quail is covered. Place the quail in a lightly greased oven tray. Ensure that the side with the gap is facing up, otherwise the butter filling will leak out during cooking.



Roast for 20-25 minutes or until quail is cooked through.