Cailles Fines Herbes Farci aux Truffes Poivrade Rose avec quenelle du beurre pomme de terre puree

Fine Herb Stuffed Boneless Quail and Black Truffle Pink Peppercorn Sauce Poivrade with Butter Potato Puree Quenelle!

     This quail recipe can be served as a very classy refined appetizer or a light entree for a multi course formal dinner.  The quail is split in half and deboned except for the leg bone, the fine herbs are placed on the quail meat before trussing with butcher's twine.  This is a classy way of presenting quail!
     I posted a classic poivrade sauce recipe for a steak last year.  Truffles were not available at that time so they were omitted from the sauce.  Truffles are really just a garnish for a poivrade sauce, but they do add a rich flavor.  I did add black truffle shavings to this poivrade recipe.
     The rose designation on the title of this recipe refers to the color of the peppercorns.  I used pink peppercorns to make the poivrade.  Pink peppercorns are not a true peppercorn, but they do give the sauce poivrade a nice naturally smoky crisp pepper flavor that is perfect for quail.
     The potato puree is made with only rich sweet butter.  Plugra butter is best for making this type of puree potato.  I left the potato puree plain and added no extra flavors, because it is nice to have a neutral flavored item with the highly seasoned entree and sauce.  Many young cooks make the mistake of flavoring every item on a plate.  A neutral or lightly seasoned item acts like a point of origin for taste, when two strong flavors are served with it.  This is part of balancing an entree's design.
     I post the same basic recipes for the sauces often in these recipes.  Espagnole is a mother sauce.  Glace viande is a reduction.  Demi glace is a secondary sauce of espagnole.  All these sauces can be kept in a refrigerator for 7 days or they can be frozen in portions for later use.  I'm making another big pot of brown stock (fond brun) today and I will freeze portions for upcoming recipes.  

     Glace Viande Recipe:
     Place veal bones, lamb bones, beef bones, pork bones, meat scraps and a few dollops of tomato paste with a rustic un-peeled mirepoix of carrot, celery and onion into a large roasting pan.  (The mirepoix should be about 15 percent of the volume of the bones.  For 2 pounds of bones and scraps, about 3 ounces of tomato paste should be used.
     It is important to allow the tomato paste to caramelize to a light brown color.  Everything can be roasted in the same pan.  Stir the ingredients occasionally.  The mirepoix does not have to be cooked separately and the tomatoes don't need to be pincer in a pan separately.  Those are unnecessary extra steps in French cooking that modern French chefs simply avoid.
     Roast the mixture in a 350 degree oven till the bones and vegetables caramelize to a deep brown color.
     Place the bones and mirepoix into a stock pot.
     Deglaze the roast pan with water and add the jus to the stock pot.
     Cover the bones with water and bring to a boil over high heat.
     Turn the temperature to medium low heat and simmer for 4 hours.
     Add water occasionally to cover the bones.
     Strain the stock through a fine sieve.
     Discard the bones and vegetables.
     Skim off the grease.
     Reduce the meat stock by a little more than half.
     This is a very rich unseasoned stock that can be frozen in portions for later use.
     The glace should be able to coat and glaze the back of a spoon.
   
     Classic Sauce Espagnole Recipe:
     This espagnole recipe is by the book!  Use the same proportions of 15% mirepoix and 3 ounces of tomato paste per every 2 pounds of meaty bones, just like the initial fond brun (brown stock) recipe for the glace viande.
     Place meaty veal bones, lamb bones, beef bones, pork bones, meat scraps and a few dollops of tomato paste with a rustic un-peeled mirepoix of carrot, celery and onion into a large roasting pan.
     Roast the mixture in a 350 degree oven till the bones and vegetables caramelize to a deep brown color.
     Place the bones and mirepoix into a stock pot.
     Deglaze the roast pan with water and add the jus to the stock pot.
     Cover the bones with water and bring to a boil over high heat.
     Turn the temperature to medium low heat and simmer for 4 hours.
     Add water occasionally to cover the bones.
     By now the meat stock should be a rich brown color.
     Skim the grease off of the top of the simmering meat stock.
     Make a brown roux with equal parts of unsalted butter and flour while constantly stirring over medium high heat.
     Do not stop stirring or the roux will scorch!
     Keep stirring as the roux changes color from blonde to tannish red color and to a brown color.
     Add enough of the brown roux to the meat stock pot to thicken the broth to a thin sauce consistency.
     Simmer the thickened meat stock for one hour and stir it occasionally.
     Strain the thickened meat stock through a fine mesh strainer into a sauce pot.
     Discard the bones, meat scraps and vegetables.
     Add about 1/2 cup of sherry wine per quart of thickened meat sauce.
     Add a bouquet garni of bay leaf, chervil and thyme.
     Add a small handful of mushroom trimmings.
     Add a couple of chopped shallots.
     Add sea salt and black pepper.
     Simmer the sauce espagnole till it becomes a medium thin sauce consistency.
     Strain the espagnole sauce through a fine mesh strainer and set it aside.
   
     Demi Glace Recipe: 
     Place a proportion of 1/2 sauce espagnole and 1/2 thin glace viande into a sauce pot.  About 1/2 cup of each will make enough demi glace sauce for this recipe.
     Heat the sauce pot over medium/medium high heat.
     Reduce the demi glace, till it can coat the back of a spoon.
     You will need only a couple ounces of demi glace for this recipe.  The demi glas does not need to be kept warm for the poivrade sauce recipe.

     Beurre pomme de terre puree recipe:
     Cut 1/2 of a peeled russet potato into large even size pieces.
     Place them in a sauce pot.
     Cover the potatoes with at least 1" of water.
     Add 2 pinches of sea salt.
     Boil the potato chunks over high heat, till they become tender.
     Drain the water off of the potatoes.
     Place the potatoes in a mixing bowl.
     Cut about 3 ounces of rich plugra butter into pats.
     Add the butter pats to the potatoes, one at a time while mashing with a wire whisk.
     Add sea salt and white pepper.
     Whisk the potatoes, till they become smooth.
     Keep the butter potato puree warm on a stove top.

     Cailles Fines Herbes Farci aux Truffes Poivrade Rose:
     Use a chef knife to split 1 quail in half.
     Use a boning knife and your fingers to remove all the bones, except the leg bones.  (Be careful not to damage the skin!)
     Trim the tips of the leg bones off.
     Place 2 pinches of minced basil in a small bowl.
     Add 2 pinches of minced tarragon.
     Add 2 pinches of minced marjoram.
     Add 2 pinches of minced tarragon.
     Add 2 pinches of minced chervil.
     Add 2 pinches of minced Italian parsley.
     Stir the minced herbs together.
     Spread the boneless quail halves open, with the skin side down.
     Season the meat with sea salt and white pepper.
     Spread the fine herbs over the meat.
     Roll each quail half, so they look like a long tube with a leg bon sticking out of one end.
     Truss and tie the quail, so it remains in a tube shape.  (Trussing in 3 places along the quail "tube" will keep the seam closed and the quail will retain the tube shape when roasting.)
     Season the outside of the trussed boneless quail with sea salt and white pepper.
     Heat a saute pan over medium/medium low heat.
     Add 1 small splash of vegetable oil.
     Sear the quail in the hot oil, till brown highlights start to appear and the skin becomes slightly crisp.
     Pour off any excess grease from the pan.
     Place the pan in a 350 degree oven.
     Roast the quail, till they become fully cooked and golden brown.
     Keep the quail legs warm on a stove top, while making the pink peppercorn and black truffle garnished sauce poivrade.
   
     Truffes Poivrade Rose Recipe:  
     This poivrade recipe is adapted to the quail and pink peppercorns.  Poivrade is classically garnished with black truffles.  Using a demi glace instead of an espagnole to make this poivrade yields a much richer meat flavor for the quail and an elegant glazed look.  Poivrade is traditionally adapted to the wild game that it is served with.  The peppercorns are always added last to ensure a bright crisp pepper flavor. 
     Heat a small sauce pot over medium/medium low heat.
     Add 1 pat of unsalted butter.
     Add 1 teaspoon of minced shallot.
     Saute and sweat the shallots, till they turn clear, but not browned.
     Add 2 tablespoon of cider vinegar.
     Add 1/2 cup of dry white wine.
     Bring the liquid to a gentle boil over medium heat.
     Add 1/2 cup of demi glace.
     Add 8 to 10 thin shavings of black truffle.
     Reduce the sauce, till it can coat the back of a spoon.
     Reduce the temperature to low heat.
     Add 4 to 5 pinches of pink peppercorns that are partially crushed by your fingers.
     Add 1 pat of unsalted butter, while stirring to finish the poivrade.
     Keep the poivrade sauce warm over very low heat.  Only a few tablespoons of poivrade are needed for this recipe.

     Assembly:  
     Use two large saucing spoons or tablespoons to form one large quenelle of the butter puree potato.
     Place the quenelle on the center of the plate.
     Carefully cut and remove the butcher twine trussing from the boneless fine herb stuffed quail legs.
     Lean the quail legs on the quenelle, so they look nice.
     Spoon the truffle garnished pink peppercorn sauce poivrade over the quail legs and quenelle.
     Garnish with an herb sprig or an Italian parsley sprig.

     Viola!  Magnifique!  This is a very classy way to serve a quail!  Sure, this recipe takes a little bit of work, but the result will be nothing but compliments from dignified guests.  Poivrade sauce is designed to make wild game taste great.  For quail, there is no gamey flavor, so the sauce is adapted to compliment the flavor of the quail.  Black truffle and pink peppercorn really turn the poivrade into a wonderful quail sauce.  The demi glace adds the dark rich glaze look that sauce espagnole lacks.  Bon Appetite!  ...  Shawna