Chicken, Duck, and Other Birds
Stewed Chicken with Brown Gravy
Chicken with Artichoke Sauce and Pasta
Grilled Marinated Chicken with Hot and Sweet Peppers
Chicken, Duck, and Other Birds
Stewed Chicken with Brown Gravy
Chicken with Artichoke Sauce and Pasta
Grilled Marinated Chicken with Hot and Sweet Peppers
Since chicken is perceived as ordinary and inexpensive by many people, chefs give disproportionate attention to their chicken dishes in particular and their poultry dishes in general. The chicken dish in a first-class restaurant is usually one of the best eats in the house.
But I’d trade it any time for a well-made stewed chicken, falling off the bone into a plate of brown gravy with dirty rice. Hardly a restaurant cooks that anymore. So we have to make it at home. And let’s not even talk about how the fast-food industry has destroyed the reputation of fried chicken.
I’m also put off by the trend in recent years to replace the roasted half-duck with a fanned-out, grilled, undercooked duck breast. It’s only occasionally that I find such dishes turn me on. Again, the heart begs for the Cajun smothered duck, tender and awash in a sauce of its own juices.
I give you those dishes and a few others. I love chicken, don’t you?
If I had to live on just one entrée the rest of my life, this would be it. I love a good roasted chicken, like the one my mother (Aline) used to make every Sunday when I was a kid. After this chicken comes out of the oven, you can add almost any sauce or garnish to it you like, but it’s very good as is. Buy a free-range chicken or the smallest chicken you can find at the store.
Feel free to vary the array of fruits, vegetables, and herbs that I like to stuff inside the cavity before putting the chicken into the oven.
One 3–3½-lb. whole chicken,
Stems of 1 bunch of fennel, chopped, or tops from 1 bunch of celery
Stems of 1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley
½ orange, sliced
1 good-sized branch rosemary
10 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt to taste
Salt-free Creole seasoning or freshly ground black pepper to taste
½ tsp. dried tarragon
1 Tbsp. butter
1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. If you have a convection oven, set it to convect.
2. Rinse the chicken and remove the giblets. Stuff the cavity with as much of the fennel or celery, parsley, orange, rosemary, and garlic as will fit inside it. Season the outside of the chicken with salt and Creole seasoning or pepper.
3. Put the chicken, breast side down, on a broiler pan with a rack and set it in the center of the oven. Reduce the oven to 350 degrees F. Roast for 1 hour and check the temperature of the chicken with a meat thermometer. When it reaches about 170 degrees F, turn the oven up to 450 degrees F and dot the outside of the chicken with small slivers of butter.
4. Roast the chicken another 5–10 minutes. Check to make sure the juices run clear from the thigh. Remove from the oven and let stand for 15 minutes before serving. SERVES TWO TO FOUR.
“Good woman’s chicken” and its variations (chicken Clemenceau and chicken Pontalba) are among the best dishes in the Creole cookbook. Although there is little agreement on how chicken bonne femme is prepared, potatoes and garlic are always part of the recipe. This one evolved in my kitchen from the very good version prepared at Antoine’s, with inspiration from the super-garlicky, great bonne femme at Tujague’s.
4 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch squares
Two 3½-lb. whole chickens, quartered
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. flour
½ cup ham, cut into tiny dice
1 cup chopped green onion tops
1 cup chopped yellow onion
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1 cup dry white wine
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
¼ tsp. Tabasco
Vegetable oil, for frying
2 lb. white potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾-inch dice
1 stick (8 Tbsp.) butter
8 cloves garlic, chopped
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Fry the bacon in a large skillet until crisp, then remove with a slotted spoon and reserve, leaving the fat in the skillet. Meanwhile, season the chicken with salt and pepper, then dust lightly with the flour. Cook the chicken in the rendered bacon fat over high heat until browned on all sides. Remove the chicken pieces to an ovenproof platter and keep warm.
2. Add the ham, green onion, and yellow onion to the skillet in which you cooked the chicken and sauté until the onions turn translucent. Add the mushrooms, wine, Worcestershire sauce, and Tabasco, and bring to a boil. After a minute, reduce the heat to maintain a simmer.
3. Pour the oil into a deep skillet to a depth of 1 inch and heat to 375 degrees F. Add the potatoes and fry until very lightly browned. Drain them well and add to the skillet with the ham and onions. This is bonne femme garnish.
4. Continue simmering the garnish until all of the liquid is absorbed; lightly stir to distribute the ingredients. Remove from heat.
5. Heat the butter in a small saucepan until it starts bubbling. Lower the heat, skim the foam off, and add the garlic. Cook the garlic in the hot butter for about a minute.
6. Spoon the bonne femme garnish over and between the chicken pieces. Spoon the garlic butter over the garnish and season to taste with salt and pepper. Crumble the reserved bacon over the top.
7. Bake for 7–12 minutes. Turn the chicken pieces, redistribute the garnish, and bake for another 5–7 minutes. If the white meat is cooked, remove it from the pan and keep warm. Continue cooking the leg quarters until the juices run clear when the thigh is pierced. Return the breasts to the mixture and serve with lots of the garnish. SERVES FOUR.
Stewed Chicken with Brown Gravy
This is one of New Orleans’s favorite lunch specials—one which, unfortunately, is slipping away from us. The old Delmonico used to make the definitive version of this dish. Now Mandina’s version is probably best. It’s always served with brown gravy over the chicken and rice. The vegetable of choice is peas, preferably with mushrooms in a roux.
Stewed chicken is made sort of like chicken gumbo but with bigger pieces of chicken and less broth.
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup flour
1 rib celery, chopped
½ yellow onion, chopped
½ green bell pepper, chopped
⅛ tsp. dried thyme leaves
Two 3-lb. whole free-range chickens, cut into 8 pieces
¼ cup red wine
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp. Tabasco
Cooked long-grain rice
1. Make a dark roux by heating the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring often, until the mixture turns the color of dark chocolate. After the roux has reached the right color, remove from the heat and add the celery, onion, bell pepper, and thyme. Continue to stir for a minute or so until the vegetables get soft and the roux cools.
2. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, sear the pieces of chicken until browned all over. Remove the chicken. Add the wine and bring it to a boil, scraping the bottom of the pan to dissolve the browned bits in the wine.
3. Add 3 cups of water to the pan and bring to a simmer. Add the roux and whisk until smooth. Return the chicken to the pot.
4. Cover and simmer on very low heat for about 30 minutes. Remove the breasts and wings, and continue to cook 20–30 minutes longer, or until the meat on the chicken legs begins to fall away from the bones. Remove the chicken from the pot and keep warm. Add the salt, pepper, and Tabasco to the gravy pot and cook until the sauce thickens. You can strain it or not, according to your taste. Serve the chicken with rice and spoon the gravy over both. SERVES FOUR.
Confession: I never make fried chicken the same way twice. It’s still a work in progress. The problem with any method of cooking chicken is that the various pieces cook at different rates. This is why, I suspect, the Colonel didn’t use the standard breast-wing-thigh-drumstick configuration. The trick is to pull the breastbone and the cartilage in the center of the full breast away from the rib sections, leaving the two tenders still attached to the cartilage.
The problem is not entirely solved. Breast meat cooks faster than leg meat of the same size. So consider that as you cook. One more thing: There is no question that the flavor of the chicken gets better after you’ve fried about six pieces and that it starts deteriorating after you’ve fried about 16 pieces. So refresh the oil—strain it and add fresh—along the way.
MARINADE
4 cups buttermilk
¼ cup yellow mustard
2 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. dried tarragon
1 Tbsp. dried dill
1 Tbsp. Tabasco Garlic Pepper Sauce
2 whole chickens, each cut up into breast tenderloin, 2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks, and 2 wings
COATING
4 cups self-rising (yes!) flour
2 Tbsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. granulated onion
1½ tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. dried marjoram
1 tsp. dried thyme
½ tsp. ground white pepper
¼ tsp. cayenne
2 cups Crisco (preferred) or vegetable oil, plus more for refreshing the oil
1. Combine the marinade ingredients in a bowl, mixing until the salt is dissolved. Divide the chicken equally among gallon food-storage bags. Add enough marinade to completely soak the chicken. Place the bags in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight.
2. Remove the chicken from the marinade and shake off any excess. Place the chicken pieces on a rack over a pan. (The racks you use to cool cakes are perfect.) Place the chicken out of the way but in the open air and allow it to warm up for about 30 minutes.
3. When ready to begin cooking, combine the coating ingredients in a bowl. Pour into a large, clean paper bag.
4. Heat the Crisco or vegetable oil in a deep, heavy pot over medium-high heat until its temperature reaches 375 degrees F. Put 3–4 pieces of chicken into the bag with the seasonings. Shake to coat uniformly. (The bag method will also shake off excess coating.)
5. Using tongs, put 4–5 pieces of chicken into the hot shortening and fry, without turning, for 8–10 minutes. Turn the chicken pieces over and fry on the other side, again for 8–10 minutes. The color you’re looking for is a bit darker than the usual golden brown.
6. As you remove the pieces of chicken from the pot, drain them on paper towels. If nobody grabs it immediately—the recommended way of eating fried chicken—keep it warm in a 150-degree-F oven until serving. SERVES FOUR TO EIGHT.
Chicken with Artichoke Sauce and Pasta
The Red Onion was a great Metairie restaurant that closed in the early 1980s. On its menu was a terrific chicken dish that involved artichokes somehow. It’s almost impossible to get recipes from closed restaurants, but I remembered the taste, so I took a shot at recapturing it. I doubt this is how they did it, but it’s close enough for me.
4 chicken breasts, deboned and each cut into 3 pieces
½ cup flour
½ tsp. salt-free Creole seasoning
1 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
⅓ cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
6 artichoke hearts, poached and cut into quarters (or use canned or jarred artichoke hearts)
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 green onions, finely chopped
Tabasco to taste
½ lb. fettuccine, cooked al dente
1. Pound out the chicken pieces with a meat pounder between 2 pieces of wax paper to about double their original size. Blend the flour, Creole seasoning, and salt, and dust the chicken pieces lightly.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add the garlic and sauté for a minute. Add the chicken and sauté until browned all over. Remove the pan from the heat. Remove the chicken and keep warm. Discard the garlic cloves.
3. If using canned or jarred artichoke hearts, pour off the water or oil. Chop the artichokes roughly.
4. Return the pan to medium heat. Add the remaining oil, artichokes, lemon juice, and green onions. Cook until the onions wilt, then add 1 cup of water. Whisk to dissolve the pan juices and lower the heat to a simmer. Reduce the pan contents until they thicken a bit. Season to taste with salt and Tabasco.
5. Return the chicken to the pan and heat through, cooking until the sauce soaks into the chicken a bit. Add the pasta to the pan and toss to coat. Adjust seasonings with salt and Tabasco, and divide among 4 warm plates. SERVES FOUR.
This dish was made famous at Mosca’s, but it spread to many other restaurants around New Orleans. Each of them cooks it a little differently. (Mosca’s doesn’t use sausage or bell pepper in theirs, for example.) Feel free to add a few items of your own to the broiling pan.
1 whole chicken, about 3 lb., or 3 chicken breasts
Salt to taste
1–2 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
2 lb. small white potatoes
1 lb. Italian sausage links
⅓ cup olive oil
1 red or yellow bell pepper, seeds removed, cut into ½-inch dice
6–8 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. rosemary
2 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Chopped parsley
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. With a cleaver, cut the whole chicken breast (both sides) into four pieces, and each of the thighs into two pieces. Leave the drumsticks whole. Cut the tips off the wings. Remove small bones—big ones are okay. Season the pieces with salt and Italian seasoning.
2. Bring about a quart of water to a light boil. Peel the potatoes and cut them into half-moon-shaped slices about a quarter of an inch thick. Drop them into the boiling water for about 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.
3. Prick the skins of the sausages a few times with a kitchen fork. In a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat, cook the sausages until browned and firm. (They don’t need to be cooked all the way through, but nearly so.) Remove the sausages and pour off excess fat from the skillet. When the sausages have cooled enough to handle, slice into coins about a quarter-inch thick.
4. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil to the skillet. Raise the heat to high and heat until the surface begins to ripple. Add the bell pepper and garlic and cook until brown around the edges. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
5. Add the chicken pieces to the skillet and brown on all sides. They don’t need to be fully cooked. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the chicken and set aside.
6. Add the remaining olive oil to the skillet and brown the potatoes lightly over high heat, turning once.
7. Put the sliced sausage, pepper, garlic, chicken, and potatoes into a roasting pan, sprinkling in the rosemary, oregano, salt, and pepper as you go and distributing all the ingredients evenly.
8. Put the roasting pan into the preheated 400-degree F oven and roast for 15–20 minutes, uncovered. When the biggest pieces of chicken are cooked all the way through, it’s ready. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley. SERVES FOUR.
Grilled Marinated Chicken with Hot and Sweet Peppers
This was a standard dish for years at Brigtsen’s, and it’s a good example of the robust, painstaking, but essentially simple dishes from that great little Creole bistro. Frank Brigtsen says it was the sort of thing he did a lot when he worked for chef Paul Prudhomme.
MARINADE
1¼ cups balsamic vinegar
¼ tsp. chopped garlic
Leaves of 1 sprig fresh oregano, chopped
2–3 fresh basil leaves, chopped
⅔ cup extra-virgin olive oil
CHICKEN
4 boneless chicken legs and thighs
4 boneless chicken breasts, skinned
¼ cup clarified butter (see recipe, this page)
1 tsp. Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Poultry Magic Seasoning (see Food Sources, this page)
SAUCE
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
½ cup diced sweet bell pepper—red, yellow, green, or some of each
½ tsp. chopped fresh jalapeño pepper
¼ tsp. chopped garlic
½ cup rich chicken stock (see recipe, this page)
½ tsp. honey
¼ tsp. lemon juice
1. Combine all of the marinade ingredients except the oil in a mixing bowl. While whisking, add the oil in a thin stream until fully incorporated. Place the chicken pieces and marinade in food-storage bags and marinate in the refrigerator for 6–8 hours.
2. Remove the chicken from the marinade, shaking off the excess. Lightly brush the chicken with some of the clarified butter and season lightly with the Magic Seasoning. Place the chicken on a very hot grill or in a cast-iron skillet and cook for 3–5 minutes on each side, until done. Cook the legs and thighs, skin side down, first. If using an outdoor barbecue grill, you might want to baste the chicken with the leftover marinade.
3. To make the sauce: Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bell pepper, jalapeño, and garlic. Cook for about a minute, stirring constantly. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Add the honey, lemon juice, and remaining tablespoon of butter and cook, stirring, until the butter is melted and fully incorporated. Spoon over the grilled chicken and serve immediately. SERVES FOUR.
Cornish Hens with Peppercorn Red Wine Sauce
I found this recipe in a folder deep in my file cabinet. It was written in my hand on radio station stationery and dated 1988. I remembered it only vaguely. So I cooked it and liked it enough to know that it’s not an original recipe of mine, but I wish I had thought of it.
It’s very French in style and turns the chickenlike Cornish hen (which I rather like anyway) into something wonderful. It’s worth trying to find the demi-glace this recipe calls for. You can now buy demi-glace in gourmet food stores and gourmet-to-go places. And if you have a good relationship with a fine restaurant, you may be able to buy it there, too.
2 Tbsp. butter
½ small yellow onion, cut in half and pulled apart
½ tsp. dried marjoram
2 Cornish hens
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
12 oz. duck pâté de campagne
6 thick slices smoky bacon
1 tsp. chopped shallots
1 tsp. chopped garlic
½ cup brandy
2 Tbsp. green peppercorns (the marinated kind, not dried)
1 cup Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot
½ cup demi-glace
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Melt the butter in a large, ovenproof skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion pieces and marjoram, and sauté until the onions become soft. Turn off the heat and with a slotted spoon, remove the onions and allow to cool.
2. Season the hens with salt and pepper. When the onions are cool enough to handle, line the inside of the Cornish hens’ cavities with them. Divide the pâté in half and stuff the hens’ cavities with it. Tie the legs closed with kitchen twine. Wrap each hen with 3 slices of the bacon, holding them in place with toothpicks.
3. Return the skillet to medium heat. Place the hens in the skillet and sear them until the bacon starts to crisp. Put the skillet into the preheated oven and roast the hens for 35 minutes.
4. Remove the pan from the oven and the Cornish hens from the pan. Leave the oven on. Pour off excess fat from the pan, but don’t wipe. Place the shallots and garlic in the skillet and sauté over medium heat for about a minute. Add the brandy and peppercorns. (Be careful—the brandy might flame briefly.) Bring the brandy to a boil for about 30 seconds, then add the wine and demi-glace. Bring to a light boil and reduce until the sauce thickens enough to coat a spoon, 5–6 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Remove toothpicks and strings from the hens. Cut each hen in half from front to back and place each half on a plate. Pour the sauce around the hens and put the plates into the oven for 2–3 minutes to warm everything back up. Serve with wild rice. SERVES FOUR.
This is not named for the little town down on US 90, but for Paradise, to which the sauce is alleged to raise you. That’s what they told me at Antoine’s, where this was the treatment for squab when I first began dining there in the early 1970s. Squab was out of vogue then, though, and the sauce soon moved to chicken. Now that squab is available and liked by lots of people, it would be nice for the old dish to return.
I like the sauce with almost any bird. I suggest Cornish game hens, or pheasant if you can get it. The recipe calls for pepper jelly, but taste it first: It shouldn’t be lip-blistering hot. If very hot is all you have, substitute something like apple jelly.
GAME BIRDS
4 Cornish game hens
1 whole apple, cut into eighths
1 whole orange, cut into eighths
Creole seasoning
Salt
SAUCE
4 Tbsp. butter
¼ cup finely chopped sweet onion
¼ cup flour
1 cup tawny port
2 cups strong duck, turkey, or chicken stock
1 Tbsp. pepper jelly (not too spicy!)
About 20 red seedless grapes, cut in half
½ tsp. salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Stuff the cavities of the Cornish hens with the apple and orange sections. Season with Creole seasoning and salt. Place on a roasting pan, breast side down, and put in the oven. Immediately lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Roast for 45 minutes, then turn up the heat to 425 degrees F for a final 5 minutes. The internal temperature should be about 175 degrees F on a meat thermometer inserted in the thigh.
3. While the birds are in the oven, make the sauce. In a saucepan over medium-low heat, melt 1 Tbsp. butter and cook the onion until light brown.
4. Add the remaining butter and flour, and whisk to make a blond roux.
5. Whisk in the tawny port. Bring to a boil and hold it there, whisking often, until the liquid is reduced by half.
6. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Dissolve the pepper jelly into the sauce, then strain.
7. Return the sauce to a very light simmer, and add the grapes. Check seasonings and add salt and pepper as needed.
8. Place a whole roasted Cornish hen on each dinner plate, and serve the sauce around it. SERVES FOUR.
This old-fashioned Cajun way of preparing wild fowl—another of my mother’s recipes, although she would never call it (or herself) Cajun—is so full of flavor as to be almost rich, but the spice level is moderate. It’s great with Dirty Rice (see recipe, this page) and yams.
2 farm-raised ducklings or 4 wild ducks, cleaned
2 Tbsp. salt-free Creole seasoning, plus more to taste
1 cup flour
½ cup vegetable oil
2 yellow onions, chopped
2 large green bell peppers, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
1 cup water or chicken stock (see recipe, this page)
1 bay leaf
1 cup chopped green onion
½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Wash the ducks and pat dry. Season inside and out with the Creole seasoning, then dust the outside lightly with the flour.
2. Heat the oil in a roasting pan or large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Brown the ducks in the oil, turning frequently, until the skin begins to crisp on all sides. Remove and keep warm. Pour off all but about 1 tablespoon of the oil from the pan. Add the yellow onions, bell peppers, and celery, and cook over medium-low heat until soft, about 2 minutes.
3. Return the ducks to the roasting pan. Add the water or chicken stock and bay leaf. Cover the pan, place it in the preheated oven, and bake for about 2 hours. Every half-hour turn the ducks over. Add a little water if the pan juices begin to dry out. The ducks are cooked when the meat begins to fall from the leg bones.
4. Remove the ducks from the pan and keep warm. Let the pan contents stand for a few minutes; the fat will rise to the top. Skim and discard the fat. Bring the remaining pan contents to a very light simmer and reduce until it thickens to a gravy consistency. Add the green onion, parsley, and more Creole seasoning or salt and pepper to taste.
5. With a large knife, cut the ducks in half from end to end. Remove and discard the backbone and rib cage and serve the rest with the sauce. SERVES FOUR TO SIX.
There’s really only one challenge in making duck confit: getting enough duck fat. Restaurants have no problem with this. They break down the ducks for duck breast dishes, which gives them lots of skin and fat for making a confit of the legs. So, in other words, if you’re going to try this, be prepared to eat other duck dishes. One other piece of bad news: You need to start this recipe days ahead. Good news: It can be a week or two ahead.
2 whole ducks
Salt
1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Thaw the ducks if necessary. Cut them into quarters. Reserve the breasts for another dish, but remove all of the skin except the part right over the breast and on the leg quarters.
2. Render the fat from all of the duck skin in a skillet over medium-low heat. Coat the leg quarters generously with salt and transfer to the rendered fat in the skillet. Place the skillet in the oven and roast slowly for 2 hours, or until the meat begins to fall away from the bones.
3. After 2 hours, transfer the duck legs to a deep dish and pour the fat over it. You may need additional fat to completely cover the duck legs. Cover the dish and refrigerate for at least 3 days. It will hold for days or even weeks in the refrigerator.
4. When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Arrange the duck legs on a broiling pan and top them with all the fat you can. Bake until the skin sizzles audibly. Serve immediately, with a small salad of something sharp (like arugula with raspberry vinaigrette). SERVES FOUR.
Pat Gallagher’s Smothered Quail
I’m not nuts about quail. As cute as the little birds are, I find their flavor not sufficiently interesting to justify the amount of work involved in eating them. So it’s saying something when I tell you that I would never turn away from any quail dish prepared by Pat Gallagher. Gallagher had a number of restaurants over the years on the North Shore, and quail was always a great specialty. None were pretentious dishes. Just fresh, prepared simply and very, very well. Now that quails are relatively easy to buy fresh, consider trying this one night.
It’s better to buy the quails with the bones in—the quality is better than boned quail. The only bones you need to remove for cooking are the backbone and rib cages. Use kitchen shears to cut down the backbone. Spread the quail open and pull out the backbone and the ribs. This takes a little patience, but you’ll get the hang of it quickly.
An excellent accompaniment for this dish is Dirty Rice (see recipe, this page). Not-so-dirty rice would work, too.
8 quails, partially deboned and split
Salt and freshly ground black pepper or Creole seasoning to taste
2 sticks (16 Tbsp.) butter
1 medium yellow onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
8 large mushrooms, sliced
¼ cup brandy
2 cups chicken stock (see recipe, this page)
½ cup dry red wine
½ tsp. dried thyme
1. Season the quails front and back with salt and pepper or Creole seasoning.
2. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat and bring it to bubbling. Add the quails and sauté for about 2 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, and mushrooms, and cook until the onion turns translucent. Carefully pour on the brandy and touch a flame to it. (Skip this if you have even a shred of doubt about safety, and just let the brandy simmer for a few minutes to let the alcohol cook off.)
3. When the flames die out, add the stock, wine, and thyme, and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and cook over medium-low heat until the quails are tender, 7–10 minutes.
4. Serve 2 quails per person with plenty of the sauce. SERVES FOUR.
