Honey Roasted Quails With Chestnuts For Christmas
For A Stunning Thanksgiving, Christmas Or New Year Dinner, Try This Honey Roasted Quails With Chestnuts Recipe
This recipe of honey roasted quails is quite easy, but the result is stunning and absolutely delicious. I discovered this recipe a few years ago in France. My mother in law prepare these roasted quails for Christmas almost every year. It's a delicious recipe, very unique and I am sharing it with you.
We use fresh quails (I never tried with frozen quails, but frozen ones should do the trick if you can't find fresh ones). The easiest way to deal with quails is to have your butcher clean them. Then you only have to cook them. No struggle to make them nice and clean.
Count 2 quails per guest. The recipe is for 4 people, you can adapt it. By the way, mom in law and myself cook a lot "au pif" as they say in France. It means that we don't measure everything.... but for you I took time to lay down everything so the result will be close to the real thing.
If you don't have Armagnac, use Brandy.
Photo: Nathalie Roy / Fanfreluche
Ingredients
- 8 quails
- 1 large onions
- 6 Tablespoon Honey (enough to cover all your quails)
- Some Butter and oil
- 1/2 Cup Golden Raisins
- 1 large can of chestnuts ( about 20 ounces drained)
- A nice sweet white wine (Loupiac or Cadillac are good choice). You'll need about half a cup
- Some Armagnac (2 or 3 tablespoon)
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 4 tablespoon of full fat cream
Instructions
- Cover your quails in honey, set aside
- In a large casserole (I prefer cast iron), brown your quails. You can't do them all at the same time, do 3 or 4 per batch. Make sure they are nice and brownish. About 2 minutes each side. Remove and set aside.
- Add more butter, a bit of oil and cook your onions until they are golden brown.
- Swill out the casserole with the wine. Add the Armagnac and stock. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat. Add the quails and simmer until the meat is done. About 25 minutes (depends a lot on the size).
- Remove the quails but leave the liquid in the casserole. Set the quails in a dish and keep them warm in your oven (set a low temp and cover your quails with aluminum paper). They need to be kept warm while you finish the sauce.
- Add the raisins and chestnuts to the casserole, let them simmer a minute or 2 until warm. Add the fresh cream, heat and you are ready to serve.
© 2013 Nathalie Roy
