Wild Mushroom Stuffed Quail With Truffle Risotto Food

MUSHROOM-STUFFED QUAIL

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Lay the quail skin side down on a baking sheet and season lightly with 1 tablespoon of the Creole seasoning. Insert 1 portion of the mushroom stuffing into the cavity of each quail and wrap the bird around it. Replace each bird on the baking sheet, breast side up. Brush the butter over the quails and season with the remaining tablespoon of Creole seasoning.
• Roast until the birds are tender and golden brown, 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve 2 quails per person. Serve with Truffle Sauce.
• Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and garlic, and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms, salt, and pepper, and cook, stirring, until the mushrooms are wilted and begin to caramelize. Add the wine and cook, stirring to deglaze the pan and until the liquid has almost all evaporated, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer the mushrooms to the bowl of a food processor. Add the cheese, bread crumbs, parsley, basil, and oregano, and process on high speed to a thick paste.
• Transfer to a bowl and divide into 8 equal portions. With your hands, pack each portion into a tight ball. Set aside until ready to stuff the quail.
• In a mixing bowl, mix the butter and truffle oil together. Place the butter on plastic wrap, form a log and wrap tightly. Refrigerate until firm. In a saucepan, combine the white wine, shallots and garlic. Season with salt and white pepper. Bring the liquid to a boil and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in the cream and cook for 1 minute. Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces. Reduce the heat to medium-low and whisk in the butter, 1 piece at a time. Reduce the heat to low and keep the sauce warm. Garnish with shaved truffles and chives.

STUFFED ROAST QUAIL WITH MUSHROOMS

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and shallot and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until all the liquid has cooked away and the mushrooms are tender, 5 minutes. Add the bourbon and cook until it has evaporated, 45 to 60 seconds. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate to cool, 10 minutes. Once cooled, add the ground chicken and herbs. Season with salt and pepper. (To taste and adjust the seasoning, simply zap a teaspoon or so of the mixture in a bowl in the microwave to cook it through. Season with salt and pepper as needed.)
• Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Using a tablespoon, stuff the interior of each quail with the mushroom-chicken mixture. Using kitchen twine, tie the legs of each bird together, and then flip the wingtips under the back of each bird to hold the wings in place. Brush the birds with the melted butter, and then season heartily with salt and pepper. Roast, basting occasionally with the melted butter, until the birds are pale golden brown and the interior of the stuffing registers 165 degrees F when measured with an instant-read thermometer, 30 minutes.
• Switch the oven to broil and place the birds under the broiler to darken the skin, if desired, for 45 to 60 seconds depending on the strength of your broiler. Serve immediately.

WILD MUSHROOM RISOTTO

Steps:

• Place the dried morels in a bowl and pour 2 cups boiling water over them. Set aside for 30 minutes. Scoop the morels from the water with a slotted spoon, reserving the liquid. You should have 2 cups; if not, add water to make 2 cups. Drain the morels and rinse once more. If some of the mushrooms are large, cut into 2 or 3 pieces. Pour the mushroom liquid through a coffee filter or paper towel, discarding the gritty solids. Set the mushrooms and the liquid aside separately.
• Meanwhile, remove and discard the stems of the porcini and rub any dirt off the caps with a damp paper towel. Dont rinse them! Slice thickly and set aside.
• In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock with the 2 cups of reserved mushroom liquid and bring to a simmer.
• In a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the pancetta and shallots over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Add the morels and porcini and saute for another 5 minutes. Add the rice and stir to coat the grains with butter. Add the wine and cook for 2 minutes. Add 2 full ladles of the chicken stock mixture to the rice plus the saffron, salt, and pepper. Stir and simmer over low heat until the stock is absorbed, 5 to 10 minutes. Continue to add the stock mixture, 2 ladles at a time, stirring every few minutes. Each time, cook until the mixture seems a little dry before adding more of the stock mixture. Continue until the rice is cooked through, but still al dente, about 25 to 30 minutes total. When done, the risotto should be thick and creamy and not at all dry. Off the heat, stir in the Parmesan cheese. Serve hot in bowls with extra cheese.

MUSHROOM RISOTTO

Steps:

• Heat the chicken broth in a medium saucepan and keep warm over low heat.
• Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1/2 onion and 1 clove garlic, cook, stirring, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the fresh mushrooms, herbs and butter. Saute for 3 to 5 minutes until lightly browned, season with salt and pepper. Drizzle in truffle oil then add the dried porcini mushrooms which were reconstituted in1 cup of warm chicken broth. Season again with salt and fresh cracked pepper. Saute 1 minute then remove from heat and set aside.
• Coat a saucepan with remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Saute the remaining 1/2 onion and garlic clove. Add the rice and stir quickly until it is well-coated and opaque, 1 minute. This step cooks the starchy coating and prevents the grains from sticking. Stir in wine and cook until it is nearly all evaporated.
• Now, with a ladle, add 1 cup of the warm broth and cook, stirring, until the rice has absorbed the liquid. Add the remaining broth, 1 cup at a time. Continue to cook and stir, allowing the rice to absorb each addition of broth before adding more. The risotto should be slightly firm and creamy, not mushy. Transfer the mushrooms to the rice mixture. Stir in Parmesan cheese, cook briefly until melted. Top with a drizzle of truffle oil and chopped parsley before serving.

WILD MUSHROOM RISOTTO

Steps:

• Coat a large saute pan generously with olive oil and add the smashed garlic cloves. Bring to a medium-high heat. When the garlic cloves have begun to brown and are very aromatic remove and discard them. Add the assorted fresh mushrooms to the pan and season with salt. Saute the mushrooms until they are soft and pliable. Turn off the heat and reserve.
• Using your hand, carefully scoop the porcini mushrooms out of the hot water. (At this point the water should have cooled off significantly. If it is still too hot for your hand, use a slotted spoon.) Pour the top 2/3 of the mushroom water into another container and reserve for use while making the risotto. Discard the bottom third. It contains a lot of sand and dirt from the mushrooms. Puree the rehydrated mushrooms with a little of the reserved mushroom water to make a smooth mushroom paste. This will not look good but it will certainly taste good! Reserve.
• Coat a large saucepot abundantly with olive oil. Add the onions and season generously with salt. Bring the pot to a medium-high heat. Cook the onions, stirring frequently until they are very soft and aromatic but have no color. Add the rice and stir to coat with the olive oil. Cook the rice for 2 to 3 minutes to toast, stirring frequently. Add wine to cover the surface of the rice and stir frequently until it has completely absorbed. Add the reserved mushroom water and then add chicken stock until the liquid has covered the surface of the rice. Stir frequently until the stock has absorbed into the rice. Repeat this process 2 more times. Check for seasoning, you probably will need to add salt.
• During the third addition of stock, add the reserved sauteed mushrooms and 2 tablespoons of the pureed porcini mushrooms. When the stock has absorbed into the rice and the rice is cooked but still "al dente", remove the pot from the heat. Add the butter and cheese and whip until well combined. This will set the perfect consistency of the rice. The rice should flow and not be able to hold its shape and look very creamy. Serve immediately garnished with chives.

WILD MUSHROOM STUFFED QUAIL WITH TRUFFLE RISOTTO

Steps:

• QUAIL Bone the quail and reserve the bones. Dust with salt & pepper and roast at 375 until done, approximately 20 minutes. Refrigerate until required. SAUCE At a medium-high setting, heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil in sauce pan large enough to hold all quail bones. Saute bones until browned, deglaze with mirepoix until caramelized, deglaze again with chicken stock and port ensuring that all brown bits are incorporated into the sauce. Reduce heat and simmer at a low bubble until reduced by half. Strain sauce through a fine seive or coffee strainer and keep warm. WILD MUSHROOM STUFFING Reconstitute dried mushrooms with double their volume of boiling water, about 15 minutes. Strain and reserve reconstitution liquid. At a medium heat setting, heat 2 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp of oil in saute pan and add diced shallots. When shallots are sweating add mushrooms and saute 5 minutes. Add garlic, 3 sprigs of thyme, balsamic vinegar and saute another 5 minutes. Salt & pepper to taste. Pre-heat oven to 300 F, stuff wild mushroom mixture into quail and re-heat for 10-15 minutes. RISOTTO At a medium-high setting, heat 3 tbsp vegetable oil and saute onions until they shine, 3-5 minutes, add rice and stir until all kernels are coated in oil. Add half of the reconstitution liquid and reduce heat to low so that the mixture is a constant low bubble. Keep stirring occasionally Once the liquid has almost fully reduced, add half of remaining liquid, once almost all reduced again, add remaining liquid. Risotto will use between 2 and 2.5 times it's volume of liquid. Rice should be slightly crunchy in the middle. SERVICE Arrange Rositto in a deep bowl and place Quail on top of rice. Drizzle sauce on Quail and add shaved black truffle over rice. Top with a couple of drops of truffle oil and a spig of thyme.

BRAISED QUAILS WITH WILD MUSHROOMS

Steps:

• Season the quails with salt, and pepper. Melt half the butter with a drop of oil in a heavy casserole, and brown the quails on all sides over medium-high heat. Cook's Note: you could also use lard. Remove the quail from the pan, and set aside. Add the bacon to the pan, brown it, and remove. Finally, fry the onion until golden, adding more fat to the pan beforehand, if needed.
• Stir the flour into the onions, and cook 1 minute. Deglaze the pan with the wine, stirring up the good bits on the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Return the onions, bacon and quails to the pot. Pour over the stock, cover, and simmer until the quails are just cooked through, about 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat the remaining butter (a little more if you like) and cook each type of mushroom separate, as the various types cook differently. Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper as you go, then, at the end, toss them all together with the chopped parsley.
• When the quails are done, remove them from the cooking liquid and keep them warm while you boil the juices, uncovered, to reduce to thin sauce consistency. Add the mushrooms to the sauce. Tilt into a serving dish, set the quails on top, and serve.