OK my vegetarian friends, avert your eyes! I was craving quails for some time, so I’ve got a pack of 6 last week when I was out grocery shopping. I love them little birds, their size makes them easy to cook but that same small size also makes them rather easy to overcook and become dry, stringy and taste some what “cardboardy”. An instant read digital thermometer, if you have it, does make the task much, much easier. So, I marinated them quails and roasted them, taking some ideas from NYT Cooking and Jamie Oliver. While this is slightly more elaborate than the simple one pan dish I drew inspiration from, it is actually not that much worse time-wise. And definitely worth it.
That wasn’t really a marinade… more like a rub of sorts. I massaged some minced garlic inside of the quails and rubbed them on the outside with a teaspoon of harissa paste, salt and a bit of olive oil. I did this a couple of hours before cooking, but you can do it overnight. Just bring them back to room temperature before cooking. That’s an important detail for cooking them properly. If they are cold, by the time the inside reaches the required temperature, the outsides are overcooked, if not burned outright.
I gathered some red and regular onions plus the white part of some leeks I haven’t got around to cook as planned last week and were languishing in the fridge, crying for attention. They were cut into wedges (the onions) and one inch-ish chunks (the leeks). Sprinkled them with salt, pepper, dabbed a bit of olive oil over and sent them in a 10 minute roasting trip thru the oven at 375F.
Done! That little bit of charring and softening was exactly what I was after. I carefully removed them from the pan and set them aside for the time being.
After thoroughly washing it from all that grit which tends to accumulate in them, the green part of the leeks was sliced a little thinner, tossed with salt, pepper, dried rosemary, a bit of balsamic vinegar and olive oil and made into a bed on which the quails were put in, breast down along some thyme. I roasted them in the oven like that for around 8 minutes until they got some browning going and the meat temperature, checked in the breast and thigh near the bone read around 135F.
Once the backs were nicely browned, I flipped them breast side up and basted them with the leftover “marinade”. I added the leeks and onions softened on the first step along with some red grapes and put it back in the oven for another 12 minutes-ish, checking the birds temperature, around 8 min in. Watched them like a hawk (you knew that was coming didn’t you) as they could burn up really easy.
And here they are, done and resting. I took them out when the temperature in the breast reached about 145F. The temperature will still “equalize” with the hotter outside to around 155F or so while resting. If you go any higher, the breast will overcook. Besides when you poke the breast to check, you can see the if juices are running clear or not. It is unlikely you will see blood but if you do, just keep them in the oven a couple more minutes. I enjoyed them with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Could not ask for anything better.
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