Diana's main course recipe from the two course challenge
Ingredients
- 1 quail
- 1 large sweet potato
- 1 parsnip
- 1 orange
- 50 g selection of wild mushrooms
- 100 g butter
- 3 x beetroot
- 50 ml vegetable oil
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- 1 bayleaf
- 4 shallot
- 1 medium onion
- 1 white wine vinegar
- 500 ml chicken stock (for poaching quail)
- 50 g lardoons finely chopped
- 25 ml cream
- 100 ml madeira
- 1 chicken wing
- 5 cardamom pods
- salt
- pepper
Method
- For sweet potato puree:
- Peel 1 onion, finely chop
- Peel + finely chop sweet pot
- Add 1 tbsp veg oil to medium saucepan
- Then add onion + sweet potato and sauté gently until soft- 10 mins
- Cover with lid and stir occasionally
- Add 5 crushed cardamom pods to infuse
- Slowly add 200g butter when all vegetables are soft
- Put mixture in blender and add 20ml cream and 30ml chicken stock
- Blend for 2 mins until smooth. Check for seasoning (salt, pepper, squeeze of orange juice)
- Pass it through a fine sieve and cover it with cling film until serving
- Beetroot juice glazed shallots:
- Peel and quarter shallots length wise
- Add 2tbsp of oil to frying pan and place shallots cut side down with a sprig of thyme
- Caramelize them for 5 mins, then add 150ml of beetroot juice.
- Blend 2 finely chopped beetroot in a blender and pass it through a fine sieve
- Reduce, beetroot juice to glaze consistency, (2 mins)
- Add 50ml chicken stock and reduce it down to 2 mins
- Add 100ml madeira to pan and then reduce it until syrup consistency(3 mins)
- Set aside
- Quail prep and chicken wing prep:
- Take the legs off the quail and clean it inside. You will need the whole crown of the quail
- Heat 400ml of chicken stock and infuse it with 1 sprig of thyme + a bay leaf
- In the meantime take the drumstick end of a chicken wing and trim the meat
- Cut the end of the bone, so you end up with a lollipop shape
- Poach quail crown for 2 mins and poach the lollipop for 6 minutes
- Set them aside and season them while hot
- Before serving crispen up the skin in a hot pan for 2 minutes and then let rest
- Beetroot + parsnip crisps:
- With a mandolin, slice the beetroot into thin circles
- Peel parsnip into strips with vegetable peeler
- Pre-heat the deep-fat fryer/ or shallow pan of oil to 180?c and drop the vegetables in
- It should take 1-2 mins until they are crisp and golden
- Mushrooms and bacon:
- Sautee lardoons in 1 tbsp of oil and crisp them up with a sprinkle of finely chopped thyme and black pepper
- With a slotted spoon, take out the crispy bacon bits and using the sane oil , sautee the mushrooms quickly ( only takes 30secs)
- Season with salt
