Q is for Quail, Quince and Quinoa

Q was a difficult one. I have never cooked with Quail or Quince before so I was definitely stepping outside of my comfort range. Quinoa was a must but what could I cook with it. Luckily there was a Toby Puttock recipe in the paper the week before "Q" for a Quinoa salad. I thought this would go well with Roasted Quail. For dessert I delved into the world of Quince, with a Donna Hay Roasted Quince. For starters I had some Maggie Beer Quince paste and Brie cheese with some Quackers.


Roasted Quail with Quinoa Salad
8 quail (cleaned and rinsed)
1 cup fresh mushrooms, chopped
1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
1⁄4 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon seasoning salt
3 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon spring onion, minced
1 teaspoon fresh parsley, minced
cooking spray

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160C.
2. Lightly rub all the quail, inside and out with salt.
3. In a large frypan, over medium heat, melt the butter and saute the mushrooms, breadcrumbs and salt until the mushrooms start to soften. Stuff the quail with this mixture.
4. Using the same frypan, make a roux by pouring in the olive oil and browning the flour in it. Then add the chicken stock, spring onions, red pepper and parsley to the roux. Saute the mix for about 5 minutes, until the onions are tender and sauce is glossy.
5. Next, spray a baking pan or large casserole dish with cooking spray and place the stuffed quail in it. Pour the sauce over the quail.
6. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes, basting 2 or 3 times during the baking process.
7. Serve two quail to a person.

Quinoa Salad

2 heaped tbsp low fat plain greek yoghurt

sea salt and cracked pepper

2 small handfuls of mint leaves, finely chopped

2 pinches of ground cumin

3/4 cup of quinoa

1 bunch of broccolini, ends trimmed and cut into 3cm lengths

1 bunch of asparagus, ends trimmed and cut into 3cm lengths

1 bulb of baby fennel

1 tbs of salted baby capers, rinsed and roughly chopped

1 small handful of dill, chopped

finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

1. Place yoghurt in a bowl and season with S&P.  Add half the chopped mint leaves and mix. Sprinkle with a pinch of cumin, then cover and refrigerate until needed.
2. Toast the quinoa in a heavy based saucepan over medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add 2 cups (500mls) water to pan, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside, covered for 5 minutes to allow the quinoa to absorb any remaining liquid. Transfer to a bowl and place in the fridge to cool.
3. Meanwhile bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and blanch the broccolini and asparagus for 1 minute, then drain and refresh under cold water to stop the cooking process. Set aside until needed.
4. Use a sharp knife to remove the stalks from the fennel bulb. Reserve the fronds and discard the stalks. Cut the fennel in half lengthways, then slice into thin strips and place in a bowl in iced water to keep it fresh and crisp. (Use a mandolin)
5. Remove the cooled quinoa from the fridge. Add the broccolini and asparagus, fennel, capers, dill, lemon zest and juice, remaining mint leaves and a pinch of cumin, reserved fennel fronds and a good drizzle of oil. Mix carefully so you don't bruise the herbs, then season with S&P.
6. Serve the quinoa with a dollop of mint and cumin yoghurt on top.

Roasted Quince (Serves 4-6)
1 lemon, juiced
1.6kg (about 4) quinces
2 cinnamon sticks
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
3 strips orange rind
2 cups (440g) caster sugar
2 cups (500ml) water
store-bought vanilla ice-cream (optional), to serve

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. 
2. Place the lemon juice in a large bowl of cold water. 
3. Peel the quinces and cut each into 6 pieces. Place the quince into the lemon water. 
4. Place the cinnamon sticks, vanilla bean and seeds, orange rind, sugar, water and quince in a large roasting tray. Cover the tray with aluminium foil and cook for 50–60 minutes or until the quince is starting to soften. 
5. Remove the foil, turn the quince and cook, spooning over the syrup occasionally, for a further 30–35 minutes or until the quince is dark red and caramelised. 
6. Serve with vanilla ice-cream, if desired, and drizzle with syrup.

Note: The quince will discolour quickly after the skin is peeled; hence placing in the lemon water until it's needed, helps to stop the discolouration.

A Collective Sigh

This week my challenge was to cook with Quinoa. It wasn't so much a challenge, as a request. I had wanted to cook Quinoa for quite some time, seeing as it seems to be popping up everywhere these days. Quinoa is touted as a 'superfood' and is a grain-like food. It can easily substitute in recipes for cous cous or rice. I found the texture to be softer than cous cous, probably because it swells up, when cooked, a little more like rice. For many people one of the advantages of quinoa is that it is gluten free, and thus far easier to digest. You will definitely pay more for quinoa (around $6 for a box of 3oog at my local Coles), than rice or cous cous, but I think it is worth it for a change every now and then, for a texture part way in between those two.

So what did I cook? First course was a Carrot and Ginger Soup. And then being my first test (and taste) of quinoa, I simply boiled it up and served it as a side with some beautiful Lamb steaks, a lemon and fennel salad, and home-made harissa.

Carrot and Ginger Soup (serves 6)
2 tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 medium potato, peeled, chopped
5 1/2 cups chopped carrots
2 tsp minced fresh ginger (I used heaps more than that)
1 1/2L chicken stock
150mL whipping cream (optional) nutmeg chives salt and pepper

1. As with all soups, melt the butter, then add the onion and celery and cook for about 5 minutes, until softened.
2. Add potato, carrots, ginger and chicken stock. Stir, bring to the boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 mins, until all veges are cooked.
3. Blend/puree/process the soup till it's smooth.
4. Grate fresh nutmeg over the top. Stir. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Add the cream to the soup and stir to combine, or just add a dollop as you serve, topped with chives.

This soup certainly did the trick. I had actually made it a few days earlier, and in a triple batch. We have a tradition at work to share a soup/curry/risotto etc on a Tuesday and I was first cab of the rank. I used a huge nob of ginger from my garden, as I didn't think that only using 2 teaspoons would be anywhere near enough.

Ginger from my garden

Ginger is one of the easiest things to grow yourself. Next time you buy some from the supermarket or fruit shop, snap off a bit and put it in a snaplock bag on your bench until it starts to produce a shoot. Then plonk it in a pot or straight in the ground, and give it a good drink of water. It will do it's think and keep growing and growing. Wait till you see the tall green shoot come up - the taller it is the bigger the ginger underneath I've found. So when you need some ginger, pull it up, snap off what you need, and rebury it. Keep dividing it up and your ginger will just keep re-generating and you'll never have to buy it again.

Thyme Lamb with fennel and parsley quinoa (serves 2)
100g quinoa
2 lamb backstraps (150g - 200g each) - I used lamb sirloin steaks
1 - 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 - 2 tbsp thyme leaves (could use lemon thyme if you can find it)
1 small fennel bulb, trimmed, thinly sliced
1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
olive oil
1 garlic clove
1 lemon - finely grate rind, then juice it
lemon wedges and harissa (to serve)

Lamb sirloin steaks

1. Cook quinoa in pan of boiling water for 12 minutes or until tender. Drain, cover and keep warm.
2. Rub lamb with mustard (use more if you need it), then roll in thyme, salt & pepper. Heat large lightly oiled pan over med-high. Cook lamb for 3 mins each side (med-rare) or to your like. Remove and rest, covered for 5 minutes.
3. Toss fennel with parsley, lemon rind, lemon juice, garlic. Add in quinoa or serve separately.
4. Slice lamb thickly and serve on quinoa and salad, with lemon wedges and harissa (see recipe below)

Neil Perry's Harissa
4 hot red chillies, coarsely chopped with seeds
2 red capsicum, roasted, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
Sea salt and olive oil

1. In a mortar and pestle pound up the chilli, garlic, cumin, coriander and salt. Taste the chilli to check how hot it is! Add a bit of olive oil if you need to, to make a smooth paste.
2. Add in the thinly sliced capsicum and pound till it has broken up and is well combined with the chilli mixture.
3. Serve immediately, or spoon into sterilised jars and cover with some olive oil. Refrigerate.

Thyme lamb with fennel and parsley quinoa

This harissa is one of my stand-by favourites. It is quick and easy, and oh so tasty with lamb, fish, chicken, silverside, any meat really. It is also good as a dip for veges or with some cheese. Many many uses, I think you all should add it to your repertoire.

The whole dish was amazing. The quinoa was surprisingly light and fluffy. I thought it would be a little coarser like cous cous. The harissa had a beautiful hit of chilli and balanced out the lemon and fennel in the salad. The lamb was perfect - so tender, so juicy. If I do say so myself, this was brilliant. I give myself 5 out of 5 wooden spoons!


Lucky me I had the leftovers for lunch, the next day in the form of a quinoa harissa salad. I mixed the remaining quinoa with the remaining harissa, then added a whack of chopped flat leaf parsley. I had some left over silverside, which I chopped up and threw in as well. It was so good. You've just got to love a dinner, that keeps on giving.

Where's the cream?

I’m on holidays at the moment, so I thought a 3 course meal was in order. As I was flipping through the current (April 2012) of the MasterChef magazine I came across these three dishes courtesy of Matt Moran. All in all these three courses worked well together. They were all light and flavoursome in their own special way. It was a good combination of flavours to welcome in the new cooler season of autumn. This is a long post – three courses to get through, you may want to get a coffee or a wine (depending on your time of day) before you start! Enjoy….

First course – Fennel, lemon and orzo soup with aioli toasts (Serves 6)
The soup couldn’t have been easier to make. Sweat off a finely sliced leek with two cloves of chopped garlic. Add finely sliced fennel from two baby bulbs. Cook over medium until fennel is beginning to soften. Meanwhile cook orzo (risoni) for 5 mins in boiling water, it will finish cooking when you add it to the soup. Add the risoni and 1L vegetable stock to the soup and allow to simmer about 10 mins, until fennel is softened. Finally add the juice of a lemon and it’s lemon rind. Season, with salt and pepper, as you go. At first I only added half the lemon juice, and then tasted the soup – it definitely needed the rest. Serve with reserved fennel tops, any left over lemon zest and aioli toast.

For the aioli toast – diagonally slice a fresh baguette and toast under the grill or on a grill pan. For the aioli either buy the best one you can find, or use 1/3 cup egg mayonnaise, add to it 1 crushed clove of garlic, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Stir it up to combine and taste. Don’t add too much lemon juice or it will turn into a sauce and be far too sour. You want enough lemon juice to ‘loosen’ the mayonnaise and to add that little tang to the aioli. Spread the aioli on the toasted bread, and serve with the soup.

This soup was light in colour, texture and flavour. There was the right amount of lemon, to match up with the crunchy aioli toast. A lovely way to start the meal – we had to be careful not to eat too much. There’s more than enough soup in this recipe to feed 6 using these quantities, or add more stock and risoni to feed more hungry mouths.

Second course – Roast duck with lentils, pumpkin and orange (Serves 2)
I have to say straight up that I’m not a massive fan of lentils, but I didn’t let it deter me. This dish also includes Brussels sprouts, which I then found out Andy had never eaten. I tried to describe the flavour, but it’s kind of hard to. In his favour, the sprouts are deconstructed for this dish, so it wasn’t like he was facing a whole bowl of boiled ones!

I started by rinsing then cooking 100g green lentils in boiling water till al dente (15 – 20 mins), then draining them and setting aside. Whilst they were cooking I diced 200g butternut pumpkin, and mixed it with the zest of an orange and a dash of olive oil. This then went on a lined tray into a 200C oven for 20 mins to roast. After scoring the skin of 2 duck breasts, I placed them skin-side down in a cold fry pan, and cooked them over medium heat for about 8 mins, until the skin was golden and crisp, and most of the fat was rendered. The duck breasts then went on a pre-heated oven tray into the oven (once the pumpkin had come out) for about 5 – 6 mins (cooked to medium). They then rested, covered till I was ready to slice and serve.

Meanwhile, leave only about 60mL (1/4 cup) of duck fat in the fry pan and add 1 thinly sliced red onion and 1 crushed garlic clove. Cook over low heat for 10 mins, until lightly caramelised. Trim bases of 125g Brussels sprouts and place in colander in sink. Pour over boiling water to lightly wilt, then refresh in cold water, and drain well. They will then be bright green and looking like mini lettuce cups! Add the juice of the orange you zested earlier and 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar to the onions, simmer and cook for 2 mins until nearly evaporated. Add 60 mL red wine and 60mL chicken consommé (or stock, don’t tell Matt Moran!) and ½ - 1 tablespoon of wholegrain mustard to the onions. Simmer and cook for 8 mins or until syrupy and reduced. Add lentils, pumpkin and Brussels sprouts leaves, simmer for 1 minute to warm through. Slice duck and serve on top of the lentil mixture.

As I said above, whilst not being a lentil fan, this was indeed quite tasty. The deconstructed Brussels sprouts were an interesting flavour, and not at all like Brussels sprouts really. That being said there were too many lentils and not enough pumpkin for my liking. So, next time I’d halve the lentils and double the pumpkin and onion.

Third course – Apple and Polenta Tarts with Apple Caramel
These were easy, quick and delicious. Start with the caramel – 40g butter, 2 tablespoons cloudy apple juice and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, in a small pan. Bring to simmer over medium heat, stir till sugar is dissolved. Peel and core 1 granny smith apple, and thinly slice it. Add the pieces to the caramel once it is simmering, toss to coat and leave for 2 mins, till apple starts to soften. Remove apple and set aside. Put the apple skins in the caramel and turn it off, till it’s time to serve.

Meanwhile, grease the base and sides of 4 x 8cm (3cm-deep) tart pans with removable bases. Line the base too. Beat 50g softened butter and 55g (¼ cup) caster sugar until light and fluffy. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 egg, and beat until combined. Add 55g (1/3 cup) polenta and beat until combined. Sift 75g (½ cup) plain flour, ½ teaspoon baking powder and ¾ teaspoon salt in a bowl, and then add to polenta mixture alternatively with 60mL (¼ cup) cloudy apple juice. Divide amongst pans (they will be half full). Place apple slices, overlapping, in a single line on top of each tart, and press slightly into batter. Bake 20 mins at 180C, until golden. Cool on a wire rack, then remove from pans.

And this is where the title might start to make sense…. Serve with a dollop of cream (or scoop of ice-cream) and drizzle with apple caramel (remove the skin from it before drizzling!). As I was serving this up I naturally went to the fridge to get the cream I had bought, and could not find it! I looked and looked, and finally remembered I’d been cleaning out the fridge earlier in the day and remembered throwing out what I thought was old cream, alas it turned out it was not. Anyway, I didn’t miss the cream on my plate as the apple caramel sauce was more than enough for me. I enjoyed this dessert – it was light, and had a slightly crunch to it because of the polenta. Next time (as well as cream/ice-cream), I was thinking it could maybe do with a hint of cinnamon or cloves or mixed spice. Something to ponder...