All Easy Recipes. Cook all that you can cook. Quail With Orange - Liqueur Sauce
(Quail Pontalba)
 
What You Need:            (To Serve: 6)
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  • 6 four-ounce oven-ready quail
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • ½ cup flour
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 1½ cups dry white wine
  • 3 oranges
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch combined with ½ cup curacao or other orange-flavored liqueur
  • ½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts

    • How To Cook:
    1. Pat the quail completely dry, inside and out, with paper towels and season their cavities and skin with the salt and pepper. Truss the birds neatly, then roll one at a time in the flour to coat it lightly, and vigorously shake off the excess flour.

    2. In a heavy 10- to 12-inch skillet, melt the butter with the oil over moderate heat. When the foam begins to subside, brown the birds, turning them frequently with tongs and regulating the heat so that they color richly and evenly on all sides without burning. As they brown, transfer the quail to a plate.

    3. Pour the wine into the fat remaining in the skillet and bring to a boil over high heat, meanwhile scraping in the brown particles that cling to the bottom and sides of the pan.

    4. Return the quail and the liquid that has accumulated around them to the skillet and baste the birds well with the wine. Reduce the heat to low, cover tightly, and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until a drumstick feels soft when prodded gently with a finger.

    5. Meanwhile, using a small sharp knife or swivel-bladed vegetable parer, remove the peel from the oranges without cutting into the bitter white pith underneath.

    6. Cut the peel into strips about 1½ inches long and ¼ inch wide; drop the strips into enough boiling water to immerse them completely and boil briskly, uncovered, for 1 or 2 minutes. Drain the strips of blanched peel in a sieve and spread them on paper towels to dry.

    7. With a small, very sharp knife, use short sawing motions to cut all the white pith and membrane from two of the oranges. (Set the third orange aside for another use.)

    8. To section the two oranges, cut along each side of each membrane division to the core of the orange. As each orange section is freed, carefully lift it out and place it on paper towels to drain.

    9. When the quail have cooked for their allotted time, transfer them to a heated platter and drape foil over them to keep them warm while you prepare the sauce.

    10. Stirring constantly with a wire whisk, pour the cornstarch-and-liqueur mixture gradually into the liquid remaining in the skillet and cook over moderate heat until the sauce thickens lightly and is smooth.

    11. Stir in the reserved orange peel, the orange sections and the walnuts, and cook for a minute or so to heat them through. Taste the sauce for seasoning, ladle it over the quail and serve at once.
    		 
    		 
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