Cast Iron Quail with Apple Dressing and Rosemary Roasted Potatoes
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Anyone ever watched Game of Thrones on HBO? It's a medieval type show about Kings, Dragons and treachery for the throne and rule of the kingdom. The TV series is based on a series of books called the "Song of Fire and Ice" by author George R R Martin. I had already read all the books, at least the ones that have been published to date, long before this show aired and loved them. I was excited to see they were doing a show for it and I'm not really one to get too engrossed in TV shows. Other than the last couple of seasons being a disappointment, I'd still recommend it to anyone. I had read all of J R R Tolkien's books, the Hobbit, then the Lord of the Rings in middle school as a kid ... . Those are my favorite books of all time and they really cemented my interest in reading books in this fantasy setting.
I don't consider myself someone who watches a lot of TV, but for this show ... I would setup a projector in the backyard and watch it on the back of the house on a huge 20 foot by 30-foot screen, it was like being at the movie theater. I would have a few friends over and I'd prepare these huge Medieval style feast to eat during the show to really get into the atmosphere. I was brewing my own beer at the time and had kegs of beer in the garage to enjoy with our meal, which we would drink out of huge wooden flagons. While some the meals ended up being several courses, often times comprised of meats like Elk, Buffalo, Lamb, Beef, Hog, Rabbit, Quail, Chicken, Duck, Crabs, Lobster, Shrimp, Salmon and Trout, the first few meals were fairly small in comparison. One of the very first meals was a few Cornish Game Hens stuffed with Apples and Cranberries then cooked in a cast iron skillet with new potatoes. This dish is a nod to that very first themed meal. That meal is really what got me started cooking more and more. I'm not a chef, it's just something I enjoy doing. All the recipes I post on the site are just how I did it, the methods I use may not be "by the book" or the traditional way of doing things, but each meal is a lesson.
My wife and I will sometimes do other theme meals now and again for other TV Shows, like Shark Week! Or Lord of the Rings. One year for the NFL playoffs, we created meals from each city that made the playoffs to eat during the games. On days were there were two games, we'd combine the cities meals together, kind of a fusion dish, other times we'd cook one games meal for breakfast and the other games meal for dinner.
Ingredients
Quail Brine
Apple Stuffing
Apple Glaze
Cast Iron Quail
Instructions
Step #1 Make brine by combining water, 4 tablespoons of Kosher Salt, Juniper Berries, Peppercorn, Cloves and Bay Leaf in a pot, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes. Then turn off heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
Step #2 In a gallon sized zip lock bag, add the quail and cover with cooled brine mixture. Place in the refrigerator for a few hours.
Step #3 Remove from Quail from brine and pat dry. Place back in the refrigerator for one additional hour, to help dry the skin of the bird.
Step #4 Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Step #5 Next start on your stuffing. Break up the Italian bread up into small piece and place on a baking sheet.
Step #6 Once the oven has preheated. Place baking sheet with bread in the oven and bake for about 12 minutes. The bread piece should become crusty and hard.
Step #7 While the bread is in the oven, dice Onion and Celery. Remove the core from the Apples and dice them up with the skin on.
Step #8 It a large skillet. Add 3 tablespoons of Olive Oil and set heat on medium high. Add Sage leaves to the hot oil and cook until crisp. Remove to a plate covered with paper towels. We'll use this as a garnish to finish our dish.
Step #9 Add diced up Onions and Celery to hot skillet. Sprinkle in salt and pepper. Let cook for 6 to 8 minutes.
Step #10 Add the diced Apples and sprinkle in the Ground Sage. Sprinkle this layer with additional salt. Cook for an additional 3 to 4 minutes.
Step #11 Once the bread comes out of the oven, dump it into a large bowl that you'll use to combine all the ingredients. Add the cook Onions, Celery and Apples. Add Raisins, Salt and Pepper. Pour in Chicken Stock and incorporate all the ingredients with your hands.
Step #12 Preheat the oven to 375.
Step #13 Pour the bread mixture out into a well-greased, 9 x 13 glass baking dish.
Step #14 Place in hot oven to cook for about 45-50 minutes
Step #15 Remove from oven and garnish with top of the stuffing with fried Sage Leaves.
Step #16 Preheat the oven to 475.
Step #17 To make Apple Glaze. Combine Apple Juice, Apple Jelly, Champagne Vinegar, Ground Sage and Salt, bring to a boil, then reduce. Allow to simmer until reduced.
Step #18 Use the Apple stuffing to stuff your Quail. Use butchers' twine, tie the legs.
Step #19 Quarter the New Potatoes. The smaller size will ensure they cook in the same amount of time as the Quail.
Step #20 In a mixing bowl, add quartered Potatoes, and drizzle in 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil. Add Salt and Pepper. Add one tablespoon of chopped Rosemary leaves. Toss all the ingredients to evenly coat Potatoes.
Step #21 Place a cast iron skillet on the stove top and set heat to medium high. Add one tablespoon of butter and allow to melt.
Step #22 Season the Quail generously with Salt and Pepper and place breast side down in hot skillet. Allow the breast meat to brown for a few minutes before flipping the birds over on their backs.
Step #23 Remove from heat and surround birds with your rosemary coated new potatoes. Brush the breast and legs of the birds generously with the Apple Glaze, then place the skillet in the hot oven. In my picture I have Rosemary leaves in the pan, you probably want to leave those out as theyll dry out in the oven.
Step #24 Allow to cook for ten minutes, then remove skillet from oven and brush more glaze on the birds. Place back in the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes. Until the breast meat reaches a temperature of around 160.
Step #25 Remove the skillet from the oven and brush some more glaze on the birds. Set the broil to HI and place the birds back in the oven to brown the tops for just a few minutes. Be sure to keep a close eye on the Quail, you don't want them to burn under the broiler.
Recipe Card
Cast Iron Quail with Apple Dressing and Rosemary Roasted Potatoes
Ingredients
Quail Brine
Apple Stuffing
Apple Glaze
Cast Iron Quail
Instructions
About the Author
Jeff Davis
Visit authors websiteYou 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.
