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Smoked Quail and Mushroom Ragu

I think Tami and I were watching the Food Network one night, a new show was on called Guy Fieri's Tournament of Champions. On the show, 16 chefs competed head to head in a bracket type playoff to see who the best chef was. Guy would spin a wheel to determine what the chefs had to use when cooking their meals. The night we were watching, one of the random ingredients turned out to be Quail and one of the Chef's decided to make a Quail Ragu. I was like, "Tami we have to try that!!". Now, I couldn't tell you how they made their Quail Ragu, but the next weekend, Tami and I were in the kitchen, trying to figure it out by making our own version it.

A few years ago, I got Tami a Kitchen-Aid mixer with the Pasta attachment for Christmas. She loves pasta and fresh pasta is the best and it's easy enough to make if you have the time. She likes whole wheat pasta, because it's healthier, but I like my pasta regular, because it just tastes better. So, what we did here was comprise on this recipe by making the noodle dough half flour and half whole wheat.

Tami absolutely loved this recipe, for me it seemed a little rich, but I was sick the day we made it and couldn't eat much, you know how nothing tastes right when you're sick. The next few days we ate this as leftovers and to me the longer it went the better it got, of course it could have just been that I was getter healthier and my taste for things was returning.

Ingredients

Smoked Quail and Mushroom Ragu

Half Whole Wheat Pasta Noodles

Buttermilk Brine

Instructions

Step #1 Wash Quail and place in gallon size zip lock bag, cover with buttermilk, add 4 tsp of kosher salt and sprinkle in some black pepper. Place in refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Step #2 While the quail is in the refrigerator, place the 6 oz of Baby Bella Mushrooms in a bowl of cool water to soak. This will help infuse the water with a Mushroom flavor, creating a kind of mushroom stock.

Step #3 Remove Quail from refrigerator, rinse and place on a swallow tray on a wire rack to dry. Place back in the refrigerator for one more hour.

Step #4 After one hour, remove quail. Coat then with vegetable oil spray, then salt and pepper both sides. Fill your smoker drip pan with water and get the temperature of the smoker around 225. Smoke the quail using your favorite wood chips, I used pecan, for one hour or until the internal temperature is around 160-165.

Step #5 Once the Quail have reached the desired temperature, remove from smoker and set aside to rest.

Step #6 Remove the mushrooms from water, clean, remove stems and slice.

Step #7 Pour reserved mushroom water through paper towel into a measuring cup, this will help filter out any dirt.

Step #8 Dice shallots and garlic.

Step #9 Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a 10" skillet and set heat to medium. When skillet is hot, add the sage leaves and fry until crispy. Remove to a plate covered with paper towel and set aside. This will be used to garnish our dish later.

Step #10 Add shallots and mushrooms to hot oil and cook for 5 minutes or until the mushrooms are soft and starting to brown on the edges. Season with salt and pepper.

Step #11 Add garlic and cook an additional minute.

Step #12 Add flour, chopped rosemary and thyme, mix well, let cook for another minute.

Step #13 Add Marsala wine and let reduce for a few minutes.

Step #14 Add chicken stock and mushroom water, then let simmer for 30 minutes.

Step #15 Turn heat off, add heavy cream and mix.

Step #16 Shred the quail with your hands and add to sauce, mixing to combine.

Pasta Noodles

Step #1 To make noodles. Add All Purpose flour and Whole Wheat flour to mixing bowl.

Step #2 Create a well in the center of the flour and add eggs and olive oil.

Step #3 With hands, combine flour, eggs and olive oil.

Step #4 Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes with hands until the surface of the dough springs back when pressed in with your finger.

Step #5 Divide the dough into quarters. What you don't use, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for another time.

Step #6 If you don't have a kitchen mixer with a pasta attachment, you can roll your dough flat with a rolling pin, folding the dough back in on itself a few times. Once you get the desired flatness for your dough, you can cut it into noodles with a knife at your desired thickness. Fettuccine (1/4 inch) or Linguine (1/8 inch), would be an idea size, in the pictures we used Linguine.

If you have a mixer with a pasta attachment, follow instructions for making your pasta. We have a Kitchen Aid. We gradually fed our dough through the mixer at the widest setting a few times, before stepping down to lower and lower settings, until we got the thickness we wanted.

Step #7 Once we had a dough rolled, we changed attachments to Linguine attachment and ran our dough through that attachment on a speed of 5 1/2.

Step #8 Once all our noodles were cut, we hung them on a pasta drying rack for a half hour while we waited on our water to boil, but it could have gone straight into boiling water. While this step wasnt necessary, we used the pasta rack to keep the noodles from sticking together.

Step #9 Heat a large stock pot filled with water on high heat until it starts to boil.

Step #10 Add enough salt to the water so that it tastes like sea water. Usually, we use about two heaping palmfuls. Don't try to taste the boiling water, without cooling it down enough not to burn yourself.

Step #11 Add noodles and cook for about 3 minutes, fresh pasta takes considerably less time to cook. If you want to go with store bought pasta, cook per the instructions on the packaging.

Step #12 Drain noodles

Step #13 Add to plate, cover with Quail Ragu, top with Parmigiano-Reggiano and Fried Sage Leaves.

Recipe Card

Smoked Quail and Mushroom Ragu

Written by Jeff Davis Visit : Visit authors website

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Prep Time: 2 hr - Cook Time: 90 mim

Ingredients

Smoked Quail and Mushroom Ragu

4 whole Quail - to be smoked in smoker

6 oz Baby Bella Mushroooms

3 Shallots, diced

4-6 clove(s) of Garlic

1/2 cup(s) Heavy Cream

1/2 cup(s) Marsala Wine

1 cup(s) Mushroom Stock

1 cup(s) Unsalted Chicken Stock

1 tbsp All Purpose Flour

1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, leaves only

6 leaves Sage

Olive Oil

Salt, to taste

Black Pepper

Half Whole Wheat Pasta Noodles

1 1/2 cup(s) All Purpose Flour

1 1/2 cup(s) Whole Wheat Flour

5 Large Eggs

1/2 tsp Sea Salt

Buttermilk Brine

1/2 cup(s) Buttermilk, for brine

1 Ziplock bag

4 tsp Kosher Salt

Sprinkle of Black Pepper

Instructions

Step #1 - Wash Quail and place in gallon size zip lock bag, cover with buttermilk, add 4 tsp of kosher salt and sprinkle in some black pepper. Place in refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Step #2 - While the quail is in the refrigerator, place the 6 oz of Baby Bella Mushrooms in a bowl of cool water to soak. This will help infuse the water with a Mushroom flavor, creating a kind of mushroom stock.

Step #3 - Remove Quail from refrigerator, rinse and place on a swallow tray on a wire rack to dry. Place back in the refrigerator for one more hour.

Step #4 - After one hour, remove quail. Coat then with vegetable oil spray, then salt and pepper both sides. Fill your smoker drip pan with water and get the temperature of the smoker around 225. Smoke the quail using your favorite wood chips, I used pecan, for one hour or until the internal temperature is around 160-165.

Step #5 - Once the Quail have reached the desired temperature, remove from smoker and set aside to rest.

Step #6 - Remove the mushrooms from water, clean, remove stems and slice.

Step #7 - Pour reserved mushroom water through paper towel into a measuring cup, this will help filter out any dirt.

Step #8 - Dice shallots and garlic.

Step #9 - Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a 10" skillet and set heat to medium. When skillet is hot, add the sage leaves and fry until crispy. Remove to a plate covered with paper towel and set aside. This will be used to garnish our dish later.

Step #10 - Add shallots and mushrooms to hot oil and cook for 5 minutes or until the mushrooms are soft and starting to brown on the edges. Season with salt and pepper.

Step #11 - Add garlic and cook an additional minute.

Step #12 - Add flour, chopped rosemary and thyme, mix well, let cook for another minute.

Step #13 - Add Marsala wine and let reduce for a few minutes.

Step #14 - Add chicken stock and mushroom water, then let simmer for 30 minutes.

Step #15 - Turn heat off, add heavy cream and mix.

Step #16 - Shred the quail with your hands and add to sauce, mixing to combine.

Pasta Noodles

Step #1 - To make noodles. Add All Purpose flour and Whole Wheat flour to mixing bowl.

Step #2 - Create a well in the center of the flour and add eggs and olive oil.

Step #3 - With hands, combine flour, eggs and olive oil.

Step #4 - Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes with hands until the surface of the dough springs back when pressed in with your finger.

Step #5 - Divide the dough into quarters. What you don't use, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for another time.

Step #6 - If you don't have a kitchen mixer with a pasta attachment, you can roll your dough flat with a rolling pin, folding the dough back in on itself a few times. Once you get the desired flatness for your dough, you can cut it into noodles with a knife at your desired thickness. Fettuccine (1/4 inch) or Linguine (1/8 inch), would be an idea size, in the pictures we used Linguine. If you have a mixer with a pasta attachment, follow instructions for making your pasta. We have a Kitchen Aid. We gradually fed our dough through the mixer at the widest setting a few times, before stepping down to lower and lower settings, until we got the thickness we wanted.

Step #7 - Once we had a dough rolled, we changed attachments to Linguine attachment and ran our dough through that attachment on a speed of 5 1/2.

Step #8 - Once all our noodles were cut, we hung them on a pasta drying rack for a half hour while we waited on our water to boil, but it could have gone straight into boiling water. While this step wasnt necessary, we used the pasta rack to keep the noodles from sticking together.

Step #9 - Heat a large stock pot filled with water on high heat until it starts to boil.

Step #10 - Add enough salt to the water so that it tastes like sea water. Usually, we use about two heaping palmfuls. Don't try to taste the boiling water, without cooling it down enough not to burn yourself.

Step #11 - Add noodles and cook for about 3 minutes, fresh pasta takes considerably less time to cook. If you want to go with store bought pasta, cook per the instructions on the packaging.

Step #12 - Drain noodles

Step #13 - Add to plate, cover with Quail Ragu, top with Parmigiano-Reggiano and Fried Sage Leaves.

About the Author

Jeff Davis

You may think cooking and recipes don’t have much to do with a website dedicated to hunting dogs ... but really, why do we hunt? Sure, we enjoy watching our dogs work in the field and being outdoors, but ultimately, hunting is about survival and feeding our families. We might as well try to do it well. I'm not a chef and definitely no food authority ... but I do like to eat and enjoy cooking. After searching for people willing to share their recipes on Gundog Central, without much success, I decided to try to do a few on my own, with my wife Tami's help. The recipes I share here are things I like to eat and have made here at home. I've tried to include step-by-step instructions with each meal describing exactly how I did it, but my method may not be best, if you decide to try a recipe posted here, please use whatever technique you think works best, I'm simply sharing how I did it. You'll see a lot of recipes where I've tried to make things from starch, when I could have just used store bought ingredients, simply because I wanted to learn how something was done. My goal is to continually update these recipes as I learn new things and techniques. These are my attempts at creating good, home cooked food, that I would like to eat! If I'm sharing it here, my family and I enjoyed it and I believe you will too.