Quail on kale

Quail is a nice change from chicken and turkey, with lovely, slightly gamey flavours that are enhanced by a little red wine and fresh herbs. It’s also a chance to dress up the plate a little, a visual as well as culinary feast. For this recipe I use quail breasts and legs – boned quail is also great but a little fiddly as it needs to be stuffed and roasted so takes a bit more time and definitely requires an oven. While I do the legs in the oven normally, it is also possible to cook them in a frying pan, so this recipe can be used for those with limited kitchens. Note that cooking the legs in a frying pan will be quicker than in the oven, so make sure you think about timing, so everything is ready together.

Fun to make it look nice!

Serves: 3-4 as a main course, add a side of rice or potatoes as preferred

Time to prepare/cook: 10 minutes to prepare ingredients, 15-20 minutes to cook

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Ingredients

• 200-300g quail breasts – normally about 10 breasts

• 200-300g quail legs – normally again about 10 legs

• 100ml red wine

• 1-2 teaspoons herbes de provence

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage, rosemary and parsley

• 200g fresh kale

• 1 teaspoon crushed garlic

• 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil for cooking

• Salt and pepper

• Pots & pans needed: 2 frying pans or 1 frying pan and 1 baking dish (depending on whether you cook the legs in the oven or on the hob), saucepan, chopping board

Method

• Wash the kale, remove spines and chop roughly

• Wash the herbs and chop roughly; crush the garlic if needed

• Fill a saucepan half full of water and set it to boil – once it is boiling add the kale and boil for 3-5 minutes until slightly wilted; drain and set aside

• Whether using hob or oven, add a little olive oil to one frying pan and arrange the quail breasts in this, scattering a little herbes de provence over the top of each

• If you have an oven for the legs: Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C, add a little oil to a baking dish and place the quail legs, skin side up, ensuring they are slightly greased all over, and add a couple of turns of salt over the top of the legs to help them crisp. Once the oven is heated, cook the quail legs for approximately 15 minutes until the skin is golden brown and crispy

• If using a 2-ring hob only for everything: cook the kale first and set aside then add a little olive oil to one frying pan and arrange the quail legs in that, turning them to ensure they are greased all over and adding a couple of turns of salt over the skin

Now to cook the quail!

• Turn on a medium heat for one/both frying pans to 6 (on a scale of 1 to 9) and once the pan(s) are heated up (oil will sizzle a little), cook the breasts/legs for 4 minutes on one side, checking that they are browning slightly but not getting burnt on the underside

• For the legs, turn them over after 4 minutes (skin side down now) and cook for a further 4-5 minutes until golden brown all over

• For the breasts, turn them over (herb side down) after the first 4 minutes and cook for a further 2 minutes, then add the red wine and fresh herbs to the pan – this will sizzle and steam, helping keep the meat moist – then cook for a further 2-4 minutes until the red wine has mainly evaporated

• Set the quail breasts aside and quickly add the kale and garlic to that pan (keeping the hob on) and toss for 1-2 minutes until hot

• Plate up! Place a small heap of kale on each plate, arrange the quail breasts on top and the quail legs around them, plus any additional side dishes