25 October 2008

STT: Quail Breasts with wild ferns


QUAIL BREASTS WITH WILD FERNS

Two Malaysian wild ferns, paku and midin, have in recent years made their appearances on restaurant menus. The shoots of these jungle ferns are crisp and fresh. Quail, though classified as game, is the daintiest of meats, pleasing in taste and colour. In combining the wild ferns with the game fowl, an exotic east-meets-west dish is created.
Ingredients
10 quail breasts
salt
ground black pepper
4 teaspoons cooking oil
20gm butter
2 shallots, chopped
80gm abalone mushrooms, sliced
100gm paku
100gm midin
50gm tomato, diced
1 teaspoon green peppercorns
raspberry vinegar

Method
1. Cut out the quail breasts. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
2. Heat 2 teaspoons of cooking oil and 10gm of butter. Pan-fry the quail breasts until medium rare.
3. Heat remaining cooking oil and butter and saute the shallots lightly. Add the mushrooms. ferns, tomato cubes and green peppercorns and fry for a few minutes. Sprinkle with raspberry vinegar. Remove from heat.
4. Place the ferns in the centre of plates with the quail breasts on top and pour sauce around.

QUAIL SAUCE
Quail bones
50gm onion, diced
20gm tomato, diced
50gm carrot, diced
30gm leek, diced
1&1/2 litres chicken stock
bay leaf
juniper berries
thyme

Method
1. Fry the quail bones in a hot pan until brown. Add the diced vegetables and fry further.
2. Add the chicken stock. Boil, skim and add herbs.
3. Cover and cook slowly for 2-3 hours until sauce is reduced to one-third.
4. Strain and keep warm.