Impress Your Lover this Weekend with this Quail Sauce over Fettuccine

On Wednesday we talked about the goodness that was Marcella Hazan's recipes, and how with her specific details even a simple spinach and tomato sauce for pasta could taste like a gourmet meal. Well if you try that and want to go along for an even more delicious ride, hold on to your socks! This quail sauce over fettuccine will blow you away, and have whomever you make it for raving about your culinary skills. We'd never worked with quail before and were a little intimidated at first, but turns out, it's actually pretty easy to do!

It takes about an hour from start to finish, so it's perfect for the weekend. Plan your date for 8 and start cooking at 7, so that everything's ready when your lady or gent arrives. Serve with a nice glass of white, and by 8:15 you'll be covered in compliments and they'll be truly impressed. You can thank us in the comments later :)

Making the Dish

What You'll Need
2 quail, rinsed and patted dry (although, at our grocer we could only get it in a pack of 4, so make four if you need to, it'll be fine!)
3 tbsp, olive oil
1 half sweet onion, very finely chopped
1/2 rib celery, very finely chopped
1/2 carrot, very finely chopped
1 sage leaf and 1 sprig's worth of rosemary leaves, very finely chopped together
1 tbsp fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup white wine (chardonnay works fine, as does pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc - nothing too sweet!)
1 can whole peeled plum tomatoes
1/4 cup freshly grated pecorino romano cheese
1/2 lb fettuccine (or, if you want to be fancy, fresh tagliatelle)

In a large wide saucepan that can contain all the quail in one layer, start heating up the olive oil over medium high heat. Once the oil is nice and hot, add the quail and brown them on all sides - about 2 -3 minutes per side. Once browned, remove hem from the pan.

In the same pan, add in the onion, celery carrot, sage and rosemary, and cook until the vegetables are softened, about 6 - 7 minutes.

Once the veggies have softened, add the quail back to the pan. Add a touch of salt and pepper, and gently stir together. You don't want the quail to rip or tear, but you do want to get them covered up in the veggie infused oils. Turn them a few times as they start to take on a nice golden color.

After about 4 minutes, add your wine and bring it to a gentle boil for about 45 seconds. Add in about a 1/4 cup worth of the tomato juice from the can of tomatoes and let it return to a boil. Then, turn the heat down to low. Move the pan back and forth so that the quail are as submerged into the liquid as possible. Cover the pan, and cook on low heat for about 20 minutes.

While the quail are simmering in the tomato sauce, remove 3 - 5 tomatoes (your preference!) from the can and roughly chop them up. When the quail have cooked for 20 minutes, add the cup up tomato to the pan and fold them into the sauce, again stirring gently so as not to tear the quail.

Add in the tablespoon of ground black pepper, stir to incorporate, and then cover the pan with the lid slightly ajar and cook for another 25 minutes. Check the pan throughout this process and if the cooking juices are drying up, add in a tablespoon of the tomato juice.

By now, the quail should be fall off the bone tender. Remove the quail from the sauce. Start cooking your fettuccine in salted water - cook it until 1 minutes shy of the package directions, then get to work on the quail. Using two forks, pull the meat away from any bones and get it into nice chunks. Be sure that no bones remain in the meat. For presentation's sake, you can keep the drumsticks whole and place them on top of the dish at the end.

With the meat separated and pulled, add it back into the pan of sauce and stir it in. You should have a nice thick, ragu of tomatoes and quail.

Add the fettuccine to the quail sauce mixture and add in the grated pecorino romano. Ladle a small amount of the pasta water over the pecorino to get it melted, and toss the entire concoction over medium heat until all of the juice is absorbed in the pasta - about two minutes.

Serve on warmed plates, the drumstick placed nicely on top, garnished with extra pecorino if you desire!







The Result
This was definitely one of the most impressive meals we've made in our small kitchen. The sauce was rich and silky, with big flavorful chunks of tomato and quail.

The quail has the consistency of chicken, but none of the chicken-y cloyingness - it's richer and bolder, which is a perfect compliment to the wine flavored tomato sauce.

Use a nice wine for the cooking and serve it with the meal for a great pairing. If you've done it all correctly (and if your date isn't a vegetarian!), she or he should be very impressed with you, and it should be pretty much guaranteed she'll be telling her friends about your excellent culinary skills. Feel free to take all the credit!

If you have any questions, or success stories, let us know in the comments! Have a great weekend!

One year ago: Chicken Cacciatore

A Wonderful Mexican Dinner: Creamy Chicken Enchiladas Verdes

 

Hey there Gojee-ers! Welcome to our blog, thanks for stopping by! If you like what you see, check out more of our recipes, and don't forget to follow us on Twitter or Facebook to see all our latest creations! Thanks!

As you know, we like to do things that are seasonal and local here, because things tend to just taste better when that's how you do it. So when summer comes around and it's finally tomatillo time, this is a great one to make!

This is a dish that's very easy to make and really shows off the way a couple of different flavors can create an amazingly tasty combination in your mouth. The pairing of the cool and tangy sour cream with the tart tomatillos and the creamy cheese is just fantastic. We have a feeling it'll make you hungry, and it's worth the inkling of guilt you might feel making them.

Now, we've made enchiladas verdes before - a couple of variations actually - but this version is one of the easier and more enjoyable ones we've had.

Making the Dish

What you'll need
2 chicken legs, cooked and shredded
6 - 8 tomatillos
1 - 2 jalapenos or serranos, depending on your desire for spice
1 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp flour
3 cloves garlic
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup roasted chiles
1 cup shredded colby-jack cheese
1/2 tbsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper
6 flour tortillas
salt and pepper to taste

Start off by husking and roasting the tomatillos under the broiler in your oven. Let them get nice and charred, then flip them over (about 7 minutes), and let them get charred on the other side (another 5 - 7 minutes). Remove from the heat and then set the oven to 375. Place the tomatillos into a food processor.

While the tomatillos are roasting, dice up the garlic and seed and dice the chiles. Place them in a non-stick pan with some olive oil and sauté until the garlic is slightly golden.

Once the chiles and garlic have cooked, add in the tablespoon of flour and stir around until the flour has incorporated all of the veggies. Let the flour and veggie mixture toast on the pan for a few minutes, and then slowly drizzle in the chicken stock, whisking constantly, until it is all incorporated. You should have a somewhat thick sauce forming. Season the mixture with the cumin and cayenne pepper.

Take the sour cream and add it to the sauce, and stir to incorporate. Remove from the heat, and then taste, seasoning with salt and pepper until you get it to the level you like.

Pour the sour cream sauce into the food processor with the tomatillos. Pulse the processor until everything is nicely blended. Taste the sauce, adjust the seasonings if necessary.

In a separate bowl, mix the shredded chicken with chiles and add in about a half cup to 3/4 cup of the verdes sauce. Stir until everything is completely incorporated.

Build the enchiladas by scooping 1/6th of the mixture into each of the tortillas. Roll them up and place them in a baking dish seam side down. Then, cover all of the tortillas with the remaining sauce. On top of this, overlay all the shredded cheese.

Bake in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes, until a nice golden brown crust forms on top. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes, and then serve.







The Result

We served our enchiladas with a side of refried beans, heated up from the can and seasoned with some cayenne, cumin, and a scoop of any chiles you have left over.

The enchiladas were extremely tasty! Plus if you make enough for a serving of leftovers, they only get better after a day of having the flavors mingle.

Got a killer enchilada recipe? Let us know in the comments!

One year ago: Homemade Neapolitan pizza recipes

Not your Usual Ragu: Bucatini with Chicken Ragu

 

It's not often that we combine chicken with pasta. We'eve never been fans of the ultra-heavy chicken alfredo, and most of the time tend to pair our red sauces with seafood or beef. We came across this recipe in one of our Mario Batali cookbooks and were reminded of the sugo di pollo we made about a year ago, and decided to give it a try.

The original recipe called for spaghetti grosso, which is a very thick spaghetti. We couldn't find that, but we had bucatini on hand, which worked like a charm. The nice, thick noodle provided a lot of surface area for the sauce to cling to, and made for a wholly satisfying meal.

Making the Dish
This is actually a very easy dish to put together. It's slightly time consuming just because of the cooking times, but if you have some things to do while the chicken is cooking and then when the ragu is simmering, you'll notice you've spent barely any time actually cooking.

Cooking the chicken and preparing the stock

Begin by brining the chicken for about half an hour by simply letting the chicken rest in slightly salted water. After a half hour, pat it off. In a large saucepan, add in a shallot, two carrots, a rib of celery, and a bay leaf. Bring to a boil and then let cook at a low rolling boil for about 45 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the pan, and let cool. Continue to cook the remaining stock until it is reduced by about half.

Chopping up the veggies with the chicken cools

While the stock is cooking down, dice up your veggies for the ragu. In a small dice, prepare a rib of celery, an onion, three cloves of garlic, and a tablespoon of fresh thyme.

Cooking the veggies in butter and oil. 

In a large sauce pan, melt a tablespoon of butter into a tablepsoon of olive oil, and sauté the veggies over medium heat, until soft and golden. This could take about 15 minutes. While that's cooking down, shred up your chicken, using two forks. (Be careful that while you're doing this you keep an eye on your veggies, you don't want them to burn!)

Shredding the chicken

When the veggies have softened, add in a cup of the chicken stock you've been reducing (making sure that the big softened vegetables aren't included), and a cup and a half of tomato sauce. Add in the thyme, and the shredded chicken.

Adding the thyme and chicken to the sauce and broth

Let simmer for about 45 minutes at low heat until the sauce has reduced and thickened.

Letting the sauce simmer for an unbearably long time

In the last 20 minutes of simmering the ragu, cook your spaghetti or bucatini until one minute shy of package directions. Then, grab the cooked pasta with tongs and place in the sauce pan.

Adding the fresh grated pepper to the bucatini and the sauce

Cover with a hearty amount of freshly ground black pepper, and then toss to combine, over medium heat, until the ragu is absorbed into the pasta.

Tossing the bucatini into the chicken ragu

Serve, garnished with grated cheese.

The Result
Delish! The sauce is bursting with chicken flavor, and is a hearty, filling dish. The chicken is a nice change from ragus of beef or vegetables, giving you the texture of meat without the heavy flavor.

Plus, Herbie & Pepper loved the extra bits of chicken they were able to dine on.

Have a chicken and pasta dish we should try? Let us know about it in the comments!

One Year Ago: Farfalle with Lamb, Basil, and Sun-dried Tomatoes

Braised to Perfection: Southern Style Chicken with Greens

 

We've got a quickie for you today, but that doesn't mean it's not delicious. We found this recipe for a "southern style" chicken in an older issue of Saveur. It's not "southern style" like the most delicious invention in recent memory, McDonald's Southern Style Chicken Sandwich. Rather, it's in the style of the south, a la Charleston. If you've never had a chance to have some really good authentic southern American cuisine... get on it quickly. It's delicious. Certainly not good for you from a nutritional perspective, but what delicious food is?

Making the Dish
Start off by seasoning your chicken. We opted for chicken legs because they are, in our opinion, much tastier than chicken breast. If you decide to go with breast, this will still work, but try to get it on the bone to give it some more flavor. The seasoning is a simple mix of paprika, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Rub that all into the chicken and let it rest for a bit.

Seasoning the chicken legs with the paprika, cayenne, salt, and pepper

In a medium large saucepan, heat up some oil until it is quite hot. Then, drop the chicken in skin side up and sear it until it gets nice and crispy.

Searing the chicken legs

Turn over and sear the other side, then remove from the chicken from the oil and let it drain on a paper towel.

Crispy chicken

In the same sauce pan, add in some sliced onion and green bell pepper, scraping up the chicken bits as you go. You can season with a touch of salt and pepper, and cook over high heat until the veggies begin to soften.

Sautéing the sliced veggies

As their cooking, add in a few tablespoons of tomato paste and stir to incorporate. Lastly, add in some chicken stock and stir together to combine.

Adding in the tomato paste

Place the chicken in a baking dish and pour in the broth and veggies, surrounding the chicken legs. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and when it's ready, add the baking dish to the oven.

Smothering the chicken in the braising liquid and veggies

Cook for about 45 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.

After about an hour of cooking, the chicken is delicious. 

While the chicken is cooking, get going on the greens. We used collard greens and some cabbage, a nice combination. Slice everything up into small to medium sized shreds, and add them to a pot with olive oil and garlic.

Sliced greens

Cook them down until they've wilted a bit. Then season with salt and pepper and add in some chicken broth. Braise the greens in the chicken broth until they're luxuriously soft.

Nice, soft, collard greens and cabbage

The Result
When the chicken and greens have finished their braising, remove the chicken from the baking dish and top with some of the broth and veggies. Grab the greens and let them drip off the braising liquid, and serve them on the side.

We're sure you'll enjoy it. The veggies, long cooked, are flavorful, soft and delicious, and a perfect compliment from the seasoned and braised chicken. Roasting a chicken like this is a great, easy way to make things taste great, and one of our go-to techniques in the fall.

Have a roasted chicken recipe we should make on the blog? Let us know about it in the comments!

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