For 4 Persons
Ingredients:
- 8 whole quails
- 5 shallots
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 400 g champignons (mushrooms that you normally get from your local supermarket)
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- ½ bunch of sage
- 2 tsp salt or to taste
- 2 tsp black pepper ground or to taste
- 2 slices of thick sliced white bread
- 4 tbsp duck liver paté
- 16 rashers of bacon
- 8 bay leaves
- 3 tbsp truffle oil (this is a bit hard to get stuff but it’s well worth it)
- 4 tbsp maple syrup
- 16 cocktail sticks
Method of cooking:
Chop the shallots and the mushrooms into fine pieces. Also chop the sage finely and crush the garlic cloves. Soak the bread slices in warm water, then strain and squeeze the water out of them. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and add the onions and the mushroom. Simmer on medium heat for about 5-6 minutes.
Take it off the hob, wait until cools down, then place it in a bowl, add the garlic, sage, the bread, the duck liver paté, half the salt, half the black pepper and mix it all well. Use the remaining salt and pepper to rub it onto the quail’s surface inside and out, then stuff the quails with the prepared stuffing. Stick a bay leaf to the breast area and wrap each quail with 2 rashers of bacon fixing them in place with cocktail sticks (make sure the bay leaves stay in place underneath the bacon).
Spread the truffle oil onto the quails and place them into an oven pan (It’s a good idea to slush the oven pan with a little butter to prevent initial sticking). When the quails are in the oven pan pour the maple syrup over the lot. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius and bake for about 20 minutes. When done you can bisect the quails if you want but you can also serve them whole to keep the stuffing inside.
This quail dish is not a simple one to make but the result is well worth the effort. Best served with mashed potatoes and any fruit in light syrup.
