Apple Ravioli in Quail sauce

Cooking is a real passion of mine and I love to spend time reading magazines, books or blogs which can provide me with a new inspiration or a combination I did not know. Sure, I do not have much time for it ... but as everybody else I do what I can.

This week Lory has decided to stop (or hopefully suspend) her blog (see here - in italian). I will miss it ... quite some recipes I have done lately show her influence or at least were inspired by her blog or the ingredients she so kindly posted me last year. I will miss checking on her recipe early in the morning (yes ... early like before 7am!) and getting new ideas.

So, today (and I mean it today!) I set out for making one of her recipes as a way to thank her. But I did not manage. I chose for this ravioli recipe, but I could find the Guinea Fowl! Nevertheless, I decided to still use her recipe as a base guideline and do very minor changes in order to use Quails instead. The result was truly excellent (even if quite some work as I like to de-bone myself) to the point we ate almost a double portion!

I would hope Lory would fine this version as tasty as hers ... and in the meantime: thanks Lory, wish you ll the best!

(Leggi la ricetta --- Read the recipe)

Marinated hare with mushrooms

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

Game season is well towards its end and I finally managed to put my hands on a saddle of hare (boned by my butcher, of course). Initially we had something else in mind. Basically a filled saddle like for the rabbit ... but it did not seem a good idea once we got the meat. Therefore, I picked up an old Italian recipe (hare in civet), changed a little bit and came out with this recipe. We liked it so much that we are already considering a repetition. Full hare taste with a bit more depth.

Serves: 2 as a main course
FlexiPoints: 9

Suggested wine: we had a fiano with it. Probably a nice old barolo would do as well.

Ingredients:
- 1 saddle of hare (in two halves)
- 4 thin slices of bacon
- 200g wild mushrooms
- 250g potatoes
- 250g celeriac
- 300ml red wine (possible matured in American oak)
- 20g butter
- 2 dried Bay (Laurel) leaves
- 1 tsp of dried rosemary
- 1 tsp of saffron
- 3 tbsp oil
- 3 garlic cloves
- oil, salt and pepper as needed

How-to:
1. Put the meat in a deep bowl with the wine, saffron, 1 tbsp oil, bay leaves, rosemary, some salt and pepper. Stir and let it marinate for at least 4 hours.
2. Remove the meat from the marinate, roll it lenght-ways and wrap it in the bacon (two slices per half saddle). Grease a baking tin with 1 tbsp of oil and place the meat on it.
3. While the oven is pre-heating, peel and boil the potatoes and celeriac. As soon as ready, make a mash with them using all the butter. Clean and chop the mushrooms in medium pieces. Finely chopped the garlic.
4. Place the meat in a hot oven at 180C for 12' turning it once half way through. In the meantime, saute the garlic and mushrooms in the remaining oil. Once the mushrooms have browned pour in the marinate. Keep cooking until the marinate has not mostly reduced.
5. The meat will be ready before the marinate has fully reduced. While waiting, start composing the dish by making a first little tower with the mash and the hare roll on top. Once the marinate has reduced, distribute the mushrooms around it and the sauce on top of the hare.
6. You might want to drizzle some additional oil on top or use more wine in order to end up with more sauce for the dish. I prefer the former approach.

Poche'-grille' quails with honey & mustard dressing

I will be gone till next week to Italy ... but before leaving I will post the recipe of what we prepared last saturday. The recipe is from Gordon Ramsay's Secret book ... even if as usual I had to slightly change it. First of all, his recipes are always wrong in terms of cooking time. Furthermore, this one (I felt) had a problem with the sauce. Too dry his version. The overall dish is really tasty and the honey works really well with the quail. The Poche-grille technique is also extremely good!

Serves: 2 as main dish or five as a starter
FlexiPoints: 10 or 5

Suggested wines: Champagne works! Of this I am sure. Get a Boulard's Petrea if you can.

Ingredients:
- 5 oven-ready quails
- 10 sprig of thyme
- 5 small sprig of rosemary
- the zest of one lemon (in stripes)
- 6 tbsp of honey
- 2 tbsp of Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp of soy sauce
- 1 tbsp of mustard seeds
- 1 liter of light chicken stock
- 600g new potatoes
- Salt, pepper and oil as needed

How-to:
1. Tie the legs of the quail together. Put them in the chicken stock with the thyme. Bring to boil and simmer for 5'.
2. Remove the birds. Pat them dry and distribute the rosemary and lemon zest among their cavities.
3. Chop the potatoes coarsely. Put them in a metallic oven tray with abundant oil. Season with salt and pepper and bake at 180C for 30'. By then the quails should be ready.
4. Whisk together the honey, soy sauce, mustard, mustard seeds and 3 tbsp of olive oil till uniform. Set aside.
5. Warm-up a cast iron grill (or equivalent). Brush the birds with some oil. Grill the quails for 10'-15' till desired texture. Turn often to avoid the meat to burn and get dry. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Put the birds and the sauce in a warm bowl. Stir well and let marinate for 5'-10'. Untie the birds and remove the stuffing.
7. Serve the quails on top of the potatoes distributing the remaining sauce on top.