Second recipe from the food from books series and this one was very fun to make! The recipe is inspired from the Shadow & Bone book by Leigh Bardugo. In chapter 7, our main character Alina is having dinner and she mentions the food reminds her of where she grew up, she then says “roasted quails with honey, sweet pea porridge and figs”. I do not like figs, so I just sticked to the quails and peas. This was super nice to do because it had been a long time I did not eat quails and coming up with this roasted honey quails recipe was super interesting.
Ingredients to prepare these roasted honey quails
So this is a two step recipe, there are the ingredients for the quails then the ingredients for the pea purée.
Roasted honey quails + veggies
- 4 quails (1 per person)
- 2-3 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp say sauce
- Herbs: tbsp herbes de provence, 1 tbsp rosemary, 1 tbsp paprika, 1 tbsp thyme
- Salt & pepper
- Tiny bit of olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 carrots
- 1 onion
Pea purée
- 4 cups (roughly 1 cup of peas per person basically)
- Chili flakes
- Salt & pepper
- Olive oil
- A tiny bit of water to make it creamier
Questions
How long should I cook my quails?
Quails are usually cooked in very short time, but they need high temperature. If you are baking/Roasting them, you should cook them at at least 225ºC. I roasted mine for 20 minutes (they were quite big) at 230ºC. Depending on the size, you’ll need to cook them a bit less. Anything between 18 to 25 minutes should be good.
Something that’s good to remember: Quails are better and more moist if they are *slightly* undercooked. If they aren’t, then the juices will dry up and you will get tough meat. Obviously this is your own choice, but I think it’s a good reminder.
Where to get quails?
If you are in France, you will most likely find quails in butcher shops or big supermarkets. You won’t find them in smaller/medium ones because quails aren’t that popular to begin with and they aren’t something you eat every day.
Similar recipes to these roasted honey quails
Since I’ve only recently started featuring meat&fish recipes, there aren’t many recipes similar to this one but what I can propose is:
Roasted honey quails with pea purée
Ingredients
Quails
- 4 quails One per person
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp rosemary
- 1 tbsp thyme
- 1 tbsp herbes de provence
- 1 tbsp paprika
- Salt & Pepper
- Olive oil
Side veggies
- 4 carrots 1 per person, cut vertically
- 2-3 onions Diced
Pea purée
- 4 cups peas roughly 1 per person
- 1.5 tbsp chili flakes
- Salt & pepper
- Olive oil
Instructions
Quails
- Pre-heat the oven at 230ºC.
- In a bowl, mix the honey, soy sauce, garlic & herbs.
- Pour the sauce on each quail and with the help of a brush, spread the sauce throroughly so each quail is covered in it.
- Add a bit of olive oil to the quails.
- When the oven is hot, put quails and cook for 18 to 25 minutes. I cooked mine for 20 minutes and they were good.
- When ready, leave to rest 5-10 minutes before eating.
Side veggies
- Cut the veggies and bake them in the oven at the same time as the quails. Carrots should be soft but still have a bit of a crunch. I cooked mine for a little longer than the quails, while the quails were resting (30 minutes total).
Pea purée
- In a pan, add a bit of olive oil. When hot, add the peas. Add the chili flakes, salt & pepper.
- Cook for 10-12 minutes till they start to soften a bit.
- Put 80% of the peas in a bowl and hand mix them till they start to have a purée consistency. Add a bit of water if they are too thick.
Plating
- I plated it as follows: thick layer of pea purée, then one quail on top, then I added some of those extra peas I didn't purée and then poured 2 tbsp of the sauce + juices from the quails.
Liked this recipe ? Pin it!
Leave a Reply