Recipe - Quails On Mushrooms

6 Plump young quails
6 Big flat mushrooms; plus...
6 ounce Mushrooms for the stuffing
6 ounce Butter
3 Garlic cloves (or more)
Lemon juice
Parsley
Chives
Tarragon

To make the duxelles, first chop the 6 ounce mushrooms plus the stalks from
the big flat mushrooms on which you will sit the quails. Chop finely, using
a knife, not a food processor. Mix in 1 very finely chopped garlic clove,
about 9 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, 3 tablespoons snipped chives and
1 heaped tablespoon fresh tarragon (or a generous 1 One half teaspoon dried
tarragon if fresh is not available). Cook the mixture in a little butter
over moderate heat for 3 minutes or so, stirring often. Season well with
salt, pepper and about 2 teaspoons lemon juice.

Let the duxelles cool before using it to stuff the birds. Spread it gently
between the flesh and the skin, all over the breast area, to plump up the
quails prettily. Secure the flap of neck skin under each bird with a wooden
toothpick. If the skin is torn, put the stuffing into the body cavities
instead. Tie up the legs of each bird to keep it neatly shaped.

Make about 5 ounce garlic butter and reserve it. Choose a roasting tin or
baking dish just large enough to take the 6 flat mushrooms side by side.

When ready to cook, melt a nugget of the garlic butter in the roasting tin.
Turn the birds in it to coat them with fat, then arrange them, breast down,
on a rack suspended across the roasting tin. Bake at 425 F (220 C) gas mark
7 for 15 minutes.

Put the mushrooms in the tin, arranging them gill side up, and dot them
with the rest of the garlic butter. Put the rack of quails back on top of
the tin and turn the birds breast side up. Position the birds carefully,
placing each one above a mushroom so that the meat juices will drip on to
the mushrooms during cooking. Bake for 20 minutes or so until the birds and
mushrooms are perfectly cooked.

Sit the birds on the mushrooms and serve straight away, or cover and keep
hot at 250 F (120 C) gas mark One half until ready to serve. Rice, couscous or
burghul, and crisp peppery watercress go well with this dish.

Source: Philippa Davenport in "Country Living" (British), September 1988.
Typed for you by Karen Mintzias

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini