Cook’s Note:
If you are putting a whole bird into the pot, be sure to warn your guests about the possibility of small bones. When we served this, we turned the meal into a competition to see who had the most bones left in the bowl at the end, and named the winner “Rattleshirt.”
Quails Drowned in Butter
This evening they had supped on oxtail soup, summer greens tossed with pecans, grapes, red fennel, and crumbled cheese, hot crab pie, spiced squash, and quails drowned in butter. Lord Janos allowed that he had never eaten half so well
.
—A CLASH OF KINGS
Serves 2
Prep: 15 minutes
Marinating: 1 hour or overnight
Cooking: 10 to 15 minutes
This recipe is a bit labor-intensive, but the result is worth it. The apple slices sweeten the quail from the inside out, and the sauce is lovely and complex. When it comes to quail, there is only a small amount of meat on each bird, but it is rich, so your guests should be as well fed as they will be impressed by receiving two quails on their plates.
1 small apple, cored and quartered
4 whole quails
Unsalted butter
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 spoonful honey (optional)
Place a piece of apple inside the cavity of each quail. With the breast side up, fold the legs up and over toward the neck, and tie with string under the neck. Fold the wings around so the tips lie in between the trussed legs and the breast. This will keep them from burning. You may also truss the quail as you would a chicken or turkey.
Pour the Elizabethan Butter Sauce along with the quails into a large Ziploc bag. If you are doing this the day before serving, put the birds in the fridge to marinate overnight. Otherwise, leave the birds at room temperature for 1 hour.
When you are ready to cook, preheat the oven to 425°F.
Transfer the quails to a baking dish and place them breast side up. Rub the quails with the butter, salt, and pepper. Pour the butter sauce marinade into a frying pan and cook it over medium-high heat. Let it reduce until slightly thickened, 5 to 10 minutes. You can add a little honey if you want to increase the syrupy consistency.
When the marinade has reduced, brush the quails with the sauce. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the juices run yellow.
Cook’s Note:
Consider serving the dish with white wine in summer and red in winter.
Almond Crusted Trout
Hamish left them, his place taken by a smallish elderly bear who danced clumsily to pipe and drum while the wedding guests ate trout in a crust of crushed almonds
.
—A STORM OF SWORDS
Serves 2
Prep: 15 minutes
Grilling: 1 hour
The crust, which doubles as an awesome stuffing, has a sweetness reminiscent of other sweet-savory medieval recipes, with the almonds and lemon really punching through. It helps keep the fish moist and tender, flaking off the bone. We made this recipe with whole fish, but it’s also great for fillets. The key is to cook it slowly at a low heat, to ensure that the crust doesn’t burn and the fish doesn’t dry out.
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
¼ cup fresh dill, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
½ cup chopped or ground almonds (we chopped almonds, then pounded them with a mortar and pestle)
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup bread crumbs
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup lemon juice
1 egg
½ cup flour
2 small cleaned and gutted trout, or 4 trout fillets
Heat a grill to low or preheat the oven to 275°F.
Mix the herbs, shallots, almonds, salt, and bread crumbs together by hand or in a food processor. Add in the garlic, lemon juice, and egg and mix until uniform in texture. Put the flour into a shallow bowl and dredge the fish in the flour. Gently pack the almond mixture inside and around the fish. Grill or bake for about 1 hour, or until the crust is just crispy and the fish is cooked through. Plate and serve.
Roasted Boar
“Sansa,” Lady Alerie broke in, “you must be very hungry. Shall we have a bite of boar together, and some lemon cakes?”
—A STORM OF SWORDS
Primo le convient mettre en eaue boulant, et bien tost retraire et boutonner de giroffle; mettre rostir, et baciner de sausse faicte d’espices, c’est assavoir gingembre, canelle, giroffle, graine, poivre long et noix muguettes, destrempé de vertjus, vin et vinaigre, et sans boulir l’en baciner; et quant il sera rosti, si boulez tout ensemble. Et ceste sausse est appellée queue de sanglier, et la trouverez cy-après
—LE
M
ENAGIER
D
E
P
ARIS, 1393
Serves 2
Prep: 15 minutes
Marinating: 1 hour or overnight
Roasting: 15 to 25 minutes
Sauce: 15 minutes