In the summer, I always just walk outside and let the garden dictate what dinner will be. I love the constant dialogue with the plants, and the tension between my desire to efficiently dispatch them all at ideal times and the realities of their own schedules. As a result, I often try to make good use of the not-yet-ready in the form of sprouts and baby greens, combined with a few thinks at their perfect peak, and something else that’s past its prime. These days? I just open the freezer. Interesting it ain’t, but easy it assuredly is. And on nights such as last, when I’m not feeling super-inspired, a package of four semi-boneless quail can make the difference between a pasta phone-in and a real meal.
Lack of garden notwithstanding, I love winter vegetables; lately leeks, fennel, celery and a variety of roots have been bringing me much pleasure in a variety of forms from crunchy raw salads to superlative soups. This time around, inspired by the guanciale in the meat drawer, I decided to combine them all in a braise of sorts. I got the guanciale excited in a hot pan, then added the fennel, leeks, and celery to soften and color a bit, then added a big double handful of shredded kale and tossed it all together, adding garlic, sake, and a bit of water, then covering the pan and moving it to the low burner.
Up front, I had a couple sweet potatoes cut up and steaming, and the pot with the oil from frying the lamb chops on Saturday heating up. Next to the stove, I had seasoned the quail and then dredged them in some medium-coarse cornmeal. Once the oil was hot, I dropped them in one by one and cooked them to about medium. Quail should always be a little pink in the middle or they dry out and lose their wonderful succulence. I crisped up a bit more guanciale and maitake mushrooms in a separate pan and hit them with a bit of soy sauce and vinegar when they were done.
And that was it, although I did quarter the crispy quail for a nicer presentation. Spuds, greens, birds, mushrooms. If I’d been a little more motivated, some strategically deployed gravy would have been an excellent addition, but by using their steaming water to thin the sweet potatoes I had gotten them to a puddingy consistency that was well-suited to swabbing with quartered quail. To drink, a bottle of my current favorite cheap red: the 2006 Plan Pegau. For $13.50 with the case discount, it’s hard to beat this fluent synthesis of fruit and earth that the Southern Rhône does so well.
You always seem to have quail on hand. How is that?
I enjoyed what you wrote about the “tension between my desire to efficiently dispatch them all at ideal times and the realities of their own schedules. ” Very well put. And then, at least in our neck of the woods, is this time of year when I have fresh potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash and then my frozen and canned things as well as fresh greens from the unheated greenhouse. It’s a marvelous “problem!”
Quail is on the menu for Valentine Days. I’ve got them in the freezer right now. I haven’t decided if I’m going to stuff & roast them or do the quail two ways (braise the legs & saute the breasts). Oh, decisions, decisions…
Julia: I know a guy.
Yolanda: I have frozen and canned, but no greenhouse. Maybe next year.
Janet: Either way you’ll be happy. I stuffed some recently with a chestnut-mushroom mixture and it was excellent.