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Savory Quail and Wild Rice Casserole

Looking for something new and healthy to do with your Quail, that doesn't involve wrapping them in bacon or deep frying them? Admittedly, I do love bacon and southern fried Quail is one of my all time favorites, but I already eat too much of that stuff. This recipe was actually inspired by leftovers and pantry item we had at home and not because I needed to find less fried food to eat. I'd purchased some mushrooms and peppers for another recipe and didn't use them all. I didn't want them to go to waste or let them go bad, so I wanted to find something to do with them. This is one of the recipes I came up with. It's Quail and Wild Rice Casserole.

We already had a fair amount of rice in the pantry, as this was one of the items we stocked up on during the pandemic, mainly because of it's long shelf life. Plus Tami loves rice ... and pasta, she'd have them with every meal if she could. I labeled this recipe as a casserole, but a casserole is supposed to be a one dish meal. I didnt technically cook this in one pot, but you could. Because of the long cook time of wild rice, which needs about an hour to cook, I wanted to start cooking my other ingredients before the Wild Rice was done. With about 15 minutes to go, I started the other ingredients in another pot. You could cook the Wild Rice in a Dutch oven, then move it to another container for storage once it's done and then start cooking the other ingredients in the same pot.

My step son absolutely loved this! In fact, I had to make it twice within a week. It has since been requested for a future family gathering. Personally, Im glad that he requested it again, because I gave me an opportunity to try this recipe another way and allowed me to tweak the process a little.

Ingredients

Instructions

Mushroom stock

Step #1 Clean the mushrooms. Then add 8 oz of Mushrooms to 5 cups of water and leave to soak for a few hours. Remove Mushrooms from water, dry them with paper towels then place a wire rack to dry. Keep stock to cook rice.

Step #2 Place a few paper towels in colander and then place that over top of another small bowl. Slowly pour Mushroom stock through colander and paper towels to filter out any particles.

Wild Rice

Step #1 Add 1 1/2 cup of Wild Rice to saucepan. Pour in 2 1/2 cups of Mushroom stock. Sprinkle a generous amount of salt, then drizzle in 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil. Bring to a boil, on medium high heat, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 50-60 minutes.

Casserole

Step #1 Remove breast meat from quail. Cut each breast in half. Every quail should produce 4 small pieces of meat.

Step #2 Prepare all other ingredients by washing and dicing onion, garlic, mushrooms and peppers, removing leaves from thyme springs and chopping spinach.

Step #3 Add 2 tablespoons of butter to large Dutch ovens and allow to melt on medium high heat. Add diced Onions, sprinkle with some salt and cook until translucent about 5 - 7 minutes.

Step #4 Add 8 oz of chopped mushrooms and cook for an additional 5-8 minutes. Until mushrooms are soft and all the water has been released from them and evaporated for the pot.

Step #5 Add diced garlic and fresh thyme leaves. Sprinkle in poultry seasoning and more salt, cook for an additional minute.

Step #6 Add Quail breast and 1/4 cup of white wine.

Step #7 Add long grain rice to pot.

Step #8 Pour in 2 cups of Mushrooms stock, stirring to combine. Cook, with the lid on, 15 to 20 minutes, or until all liquid is absorbed by rice and quail is done. Resist the urge to lift the lid.

Step #9 While rice and quail cook, Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Step #10 Start Béchamel sauce by adding 1 1/2 cup of milk to measuring glass. Place in microwave for one and half minutes. Or you can add milk to small saucepan on low heat. Milk doesn't need to boil, just needs to be warm. Add 3 tablespoons butter to a different saucepan on medium heat and pinch of salt. Allow to melt, then add 3 tablespoons of all purpose flour

Step #11 Add 1 1/2 cup warm milk, stirring the whole time, until sauce starts to thicken, then remove from heat.

Step #12 Add cooked Wild Rice to Quail and long grain mixture.

Step #13 Add chopped spinach, stirring again to combine

Step #14 Add the sauce you made to Quail and long grain mixture, stirring to combine all the ingredients.

Step #15 Sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese and Fresh Thyme leaves.

Step #16 Sprinkle with some additional poultry seasoning, a little salt and Thyme sprigs.

Step #17 Place in oven and cook for 15-20 minutes.

Step #18 When done, serve in bowl and garnish with Fresh Parsley and diced sweet peppers or spicy habaneros.

Recipe Card

Savory Quail and Wild Rice Casserole

Written by Jeff Davis Visit : Visit authors website

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Prep Time: 30 mins - Cook Time: 1.5 hours

Ingredients

12-16 Quail Breast

8 oz Baby Bella or White Mushrooms, chopped

1 Large Yellow Onion, diced

6 clove(s) Garlic, chopped

6 oz Spinach, chopped

2 cup(s) Mushroom Stock, see instructions

1 1/2 cup(s) Wild Rice

1 cup(s) Long Grain Rice

1/4 cup(s) White Wine, like Sauvignon Blanc

2 tbsp Unsalted Butter

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1 1/2 tsp Poultry seasoning

1-2 Sweet or Spicy peppers, diced

1 Bunch Fresh Parsley, Chopped

1 Bunch of Fresh Thyme Sprigs

Parmesan Cheese

Salt

Pepper

Instructions

Mushroom stock

Step #1 - Clean the mushrooms. Then add 8 oz of Mushrooms to 5 cups of water and leave to soak for a few hours. Remove Mushrooms from water, dry them with paper towels then place a wire rack to dry. Keep stock to cook rice.

Step #2 - Place a few paper towels in colander and then place that over top of another small bowl. Slowly pour Mushroom stock through colander and paper towels to filter out any particles.

Wild Rice

Step #1 - Add 1 1/2 cup of Wild Rice to saucepan. Pour in 2 1/2 cups of Mushroom stock. Sprinkle a generous amount of salt, then drizzle in 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil. Bring to a boil, on medium high heat, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 50-60 minutes.

Casserole

Step #1 - Remove breast meat from quail. Cut each breast in half. Every quail should produce 4 small pieces of meat.

Step #2 - Prepare all other ingredients by washing and dicing onion, garlic, mushrooms and peppers, removing leaves from thyme springs and chopping spinach.

Step #3 - Add 2 tablespoons of butter to large Dutch ovens and allow to melt on medium high heat. Add diced Onions, sprinkle with some salt and cook until translucent about 5 - 7 minutes.

Step #4 - Add 8 oz of chopped mushrooms and cook for an additional 5-8 minutes. Until mushrooms are soft and all the water has been released from them and evaporated for the pot.

Step #5 - Add diced garlic and fresh thyme leaves. Sprinkle in poultry seasoning and more salt, cook for an additional minute.

Step #6 - Add Quail breast and 1/4 cup of white wine.

Step #7 - Add long grain rice to pot.

Step #8 - Pour in 2 cups of Mushrooms stock, stirring to combine. Cook, with the lid on, 15 to 20 minutes, or until all liquid is absorbed by rice and quail is done. Resist the urge to lift the lid.

Step #9 - While rice and quail cook, Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Step #10 - Start Béchamel sauce by adding 1 1/2 cup of milk to measuring glass. Place in microwave for one and half minutes. Or you can add milk to small saucepan on low heat. Milk doesn't need to boil, just needs to be warm. Add 3 tablespoons butter to a different saucepan on medium heat and pinch of salt. Allow to melt, then add 3 tablespoons of all purpose flour

Step #11 - Add 1 1/2 cup warm milk, stirring the whole time, until sauce starts to thicken, then remove from heat.

Step #12 - Add cooked Wild Rice to Quail and long grain mixture.

Step #13 - Add chopped spinach, stirring again to combine

Step #14 - Add the sauce you made to Quail and long grain mixture, stirring to combine all the ingredients.

Step #15 - Sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese and Fresh Thyme leaves.

Step #16 - Sprinkle with some additional poultry seasoning, a little salt and Thyme sprigs.

Step #17 - Place in oven and cook for 15-20 minutes.

Step #18 - When done, serve in bowl and garnish with Fresh Parsley and diced sweet peppers or spicy habaneros.

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.