Special days require dishes where we challenge ourselves a little more and look for something surprising and unusual. For Easter dinner this year we wanted something more culinary than the standard chicken, meat roulade and eggs. But what if we go a little smaller.
That brought us to the quail. Which we have never had on the barbecue before, and which technique do you apply to this so-called ‘delicacy’ and how does it taste with our Peri Peri herbs and Fireherbs? Quail is not prepared very often by home cooks, which is a shame because this small pheasant species is quick to prepare and has a lot of taste.
We are curious about your opinion about the quail, but we thought it would be nice to be a little less rude with the barbecue for the happy Easter. Quail turns out to be a fairly refined and light dish for an Easter dinner appetizer.
Read here step by step how we prepare, season and cook the dish.
YOU CAN’T GO WRONG. BE THE MASTER.
Ingredients for 2 persons
- 2 quails of 200 grams
- Not Just BBQ Peri Peri Rub
- vegetable oil
- 2 stalks of chicory
For the filling:
- 1 spring onion
- 1/2 Apple
- 2 Old white sandwiches
- 1 Small garlic clove
- Handful of raisins
- Not Just BBQ Italian Grinder
For the potato dough:
- 2 Potatoes crumbly
- 1 Egg
- 50 grams self-raising flour
- Little almond milk
- Grated cheese to taste
- Not Just BBQ Spicy Chip Shaker
Necessities
- Kamado barbecue, we use a table model @Monolith
- Coal, Not Just BBQ Firestarters, etc. for creating the BBQ
- Not Just BBQ Fire herbs
- Aluminium foil
- Knife, fork
- Cutting board
- Barbecue tongs
- Gloves
- Metallic twine or butcher’s twine
- Not Just BBQ Butcher Paper
Preparation method
>> Watch our video with this recipe here <<
1. Remove the two quails from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature. The quail is a species of pheasant and the smallest game bird you can consume. The head of the quail remains attached to the carcass, so that you really know for sure that you have the right bird, and has already been cleaned inside. Check to be sure that all the entrails have really been removed. Remove the head with regular scissors, cut the neck just above the shoulder. Set the quails aside for a while, covered.
Tip: if there are still too many feathers left on the quail, lightly sear the outside of the quail with a hand burner or lightly sear them over the barbecue fire. Not too long!
2. Fire up your BBQ. We used our own Firestarters of course, they are so easy. Today we want to keep the heat of the barbecue as low as possible, so keep the coals low. And because we prepare small-sized meat, we don’t need a lot of coal.
3. Let the BBQ rise slightly to a maximum of 150 degrees Celsius. Shut off the air supply if it gets too hot.
4. Once the fire is gone and the coals are smoldering, add a small handful of Fire Herbs directly on top of and between the coals.
5. Prick the potatoes with a fork and wrap in aluminum foil. Place them evenly between the fire and smoldering coals. They can get quite hot.
6. Take the two slices of bread and toast them briefly over the glowing coals. Then close the barbecue as soon as possible so that the potatoes stew well. They need at least fifteen minutes, but that depends on the size of the potato, so check yourself every now and then, but little can go wrong because they are well packed.
7. Meanwhile, cut the apple, spring onion and garlic as small as possible. Also cut the bread, without the crusts, into small pieces.
8. Combine all dry ingredients. Cut parsley on top and season extra with the Italian Grinder. Especially the rosemary, oregano and the little salt and black pepper in this spice mix work perfectly with the sweetness of the apple and raisins. Shake it well.
9. Generously fill the quail with the dry stuffing. Push it in well.
10. Lightly grease the birds with vegetable oil and the Peri Peri Rub. Massage it well with your hands. The spices have the fresh sea salt and the brown sugar slightly caramelizes the meat. The light touch of the chilli pepper gives it a little kick. Not too much, because it should not dominate the wild taste.
11. Wrap the quails in the Butcherpaper. Wind a butcher’s twine or iron twine around it and tie tightly.
12. Remove the baked potatoes from the coals. Scrape them empty and beat this together with the egg, a good splash of almond milk, grated cheese and self-raising flour into a fairly thick dough.
13. Place the wrapped quails a little high for a few minutes, but immediately ON the coals. Turn regularly. The coals should not be too hot, leave the barbecue open.
14. Meanwhile, cut the chicory lengthwise, sprinkle with a little oil and the Not Just BBQ Peri Peri Rub.
15. Remove the quail from the coals and place it together with the chicory on indirect cooking for about 10 minutes. Close the BBQ and keep the BBQ temperature around 150 degrees Celsius.
16. Fill the holes in the poffertjes pan with the potato dough. Place the pan on the barbecue as soon as the chicory and quail are cooked for 10 minutes. The poffertjes only need 8 minutes in total. Halfway through, turn with a fork, so that you have light, golden brown fried poffertjes on both sides.
tip: don’t have a poffertjes pan? Make small, not too thick pancakes on a heat-resistant pan.
17. Cut breast fillets off the quails and remove the 2 legs. Also use a bit of the filling, which is wonderfully warm, sweet, spicy and fragrant.
18. Present your dish. The best thing is to put a little bit of chicory on a poffertje with pieces of quail and a little bit of filling. This way you have a delicious culinary snack. No extra sauce is needed, the filling is juicy and fresh. Tasty!
