Braised Quails in Wild Mushroom Sauce

Sounds good, eh?

These little tasty birds were on offer, and made a nice change from chicken / beef / chicken / beef.

And then I realised that you usually have to baste these birdies and use quite a lot of fat to keep them moist and make them tender.

But I wasn't going to let a little detail like that deter me, and so here is what I did:

For 2 people

4 quails
2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
A small handful of dried wild mushrooms, rehydrated and keep the liquid!
3 tbsp corn flour
1 large glass of cooking wine, in this case Noilly Prat
1 chicken stock cube
8 carrots, cut into batons (optional if you are in PP)

First, brown the quails in a non-stick pan without any fat. Season.

In a casserole which will fit the quails kind of snugly, soften the onions with some water on low heat. Turn up the heat and add the wine. Let it bubble away a bit, then add the garlic, carrots, mushrooms (incl. liquid), stock cube and finally snugly fit the quails into this. Get it to the boil, then leave it on a low-ish simmer for 25-35 minutes (test that the juices are running clear and that you can pretty much tear the leg off easily).

Take the quails out, keep them warm and then add the cornflour mixed with a bit of cold water to the sauce and let it thicken. Season to taste. I added a bit of lemon juice to balance out the sweetness.

Serve and enjoy. And you know what? The birds were tender as can can be! I could not believe it. Ok, when we are done with Dudu, I'll do this again, but brown them in some butter and oil to bring out an even nicer colour.