MARINATED GRILLED QUAIL WITH HONEY

If I’m eating fish or chicken I generally like to cook it with the bones in to keep it moist, but with quail there are so many small bones that you have to work really hard to eat any meat.

Ask your butcher nicely to clean and butterfly the quail for you; I guarantee that when you’ve cooked it this way, you’ll find that you like it even more than chicken. Unlike chicken, quail should be cooked medium so it stays juicy.

FOR 4

For the quail

4 jumbo quail (prepared as above)

2 dried red chillies, soaked in warm water for a couple of hours

60ml extra virgin olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander leaves

½ a bunch of peppery salad leaves (e.g. rocket or watercress)

15ml Moscatel vinegar

For the marinade

100ml pomace or light olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 bay leaves

½ a bunch of fresh lemon thyme

1 dried chilli

To infuse the honey

125ml orange blossom honey

2 cloves

3 star anise

1 dried chilli

1 teaspoon white peppercorns

Mix the marinade ingredients together, then massage into the quail and leave for at least 4 hours and ideally overnight.

Deseed the soaked chillies and chop into rings, then cover with half the olive oil and mix together. Leave to sit; the oil should turn red.

In a saucepan, on a really low heat, gently infuse the honey with the cloves, star anise, chilli and peppercorns. Do not leave the pan of honey while it is on the heat!

Put a pan on a medium heat. Season the quail and add to the pan, skin side down – make sure there’s not too much excess oil, just enough to spread over the body of the quail. When the skin is golden and crispy (around 3–4 minutes), turn the quail over and cook for another 30–40 seconds, then season again.

Take the quail from the pan and put them on a tray or plate, skin side up, then drizzle over the chilli-infused oil and honey.

To serve, put a quail on one side of each plate and sprinkle over the coriander, then add the salad leaves (dressed at the last minute with the rest of the olive oil and the vinegar) on the other side.