Warm salad with quail, little gem and pistachio
Sometimes an experience like a special sunset, a painting in a museum or a dish in a restaurant stays with you. This was the case with the warm quail, little gem and pistachio salad I had at Los 5 Sentidos tapas bar in Las Palmas. The dish had a lot of flavor and, according to the chef, was easy to prepare. He gave me some guidelines so that I could make the salad myself at home.
What is quail?
Quail is a small brownish bird related to the partridge. Quails are migratory birds that winter in Africa and southern Europe. In the spring they return to more northerly regions. Wild quails used to be hunted for eating. This was not without risk, as the birds sometimes eat poisonous seeds while migrating. Some of these seeds contain a neurotoxin to which the quail are insensitive. For humans, however, eating such poisoned quail is fatal.
The quail in the supermarket are Japanese quail. It is a very different kind of quail that has been bred for centuries for its fine flavor and beautiful, tasty eggs.
Cooking quail
Quail are small, delicate birds that do not take much time to cook. The easiest way to prepare quail is to first brown the bird on each side in a frying pan. Then place the quail in a hot oven for 15 minutes. For extra flavor and juiciness, wrap a strip of smoked bacon around the quail.
Quail are also often boned and stuffed. The stuffing usually consists of ground meat and mushrooms, but during the Christmas holidays it may also contain truffles and duck liver. Now that's a real celebration!
In this dish, the fillets and thighs are prepared separately. Ask your butcher to separate the quails but keep the carcasses. You can also do it yourself.
To separate a quail yourself, follow these steps
First, trim the quail:
- Remove the neck completely.
- Cut off the wing tips.
- Cut off the top of the legs. To do this, place a knife on the bone and tap hard.
Now cut the quail into 4 pieces:
- Lay the quail on its back.
- Pull the thigh and cut open the skin.
- Dislocate the thigh and cut further open along the sot-l'y-laisse.
- Completely free the thigh from the carcass.
- Do the same with the other thigh.
- Cut the skin along the breastbone and scrape away the meat with the tip of the knife.
- Cut the wishbone and completely remove the fillet with the upper part of the wing.
- Do the same with the other side
Recipe: Warm salad with quail, little gem and pistachio
In this recipe, I use advieh to season the quail. Advieh is a Persian spice mix consisting of cumin, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and rose petals. Advieh has a warm and floral aroma. It is a versatile spice blend that goes well with poultry, rice dishes and lamb.
Little gem is a miniature lettuce that resembles romaine but is as tender as a head of lettuce. You can separate the leaves for a nice mixed salad. You can also serve tartar or hummus in the leaves.
This recipe serves 4.
Ingredients for the quails
- 4 quails, each cut into 4 pieces as above
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 tablespoon clarified butter
- 1 teaspoon advieh
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 50 ml chicken stock
Other ingredients:
- 6 little gems
- 50 ml plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 50 g chopped raw pistachios
- Pepper and salt
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Step 1: prepare the quail
Preheat the oven to 185°C.
Mix the olive oil with the clarified butter and stir in the spices. Using a kitchen brush, coat the quail pieces completely with the seasoned blend. Line a baking dish with parchment paper.
Heat a non-stick frying pan and brown the quail thighs on both sides. Place the pieces on the pan and roast in the oven for 15 minutes.
In the same pan, cook the quail fillets. Fry them first on the skin side for 4 minutes. Turn them over and cook for another 3 minutes. Remove the fillets and leave to rest. Deglaze the pan with chicken stock and cook for 2 minutes.
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Step 2: grill the little gems
Cut the little gems lengthwise into 4 pieces and brush with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Grill the lettuce pieces on a plancha or fry them in a non-stick pan. Season with salt and pepper.
Mix the chopped pistachios with 50 ml of olive oil and the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.
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Step 3: Serve
Arrange 6 pieces of little gems and 4 pieces of quail on each plate. Pour a spoonful of the jus over the quail. Finish with the pistachio vinaigrette.
![SG Salad Quail Gem Pistachio 4]()
