This lovely grilled quail recipe has a perfect balance of citrus orange and earthy parsley. Game birds like quail work well with the more intense flavours and give a nice balance. Perfect with a glass of merlot.
Grandads Cookbook is a collection of recipes from various sources reproduced here for convenience. Recipes are accredited to their original author where known and links are provided to any online source materials.
Alternatives to Quail
Game birds like quail and pheasant are a tasty alternative to chicken but with a stronger flavour.
For most quail recipes you can substitute pheasant which are a little larger or even guinea fowl although the cooking time will be longer.
Quail are fascinating little game birds which I keep on my allotment for eggs and meat. I prepare my own but quail are widely available online or from any good butchers shop.
How to Prepare Quail
You will need two oven ready quail for a main course per adult serving and one each for a starter.
How To Spatchcock Quail
Spatchcocking any game bird or chicken involves cutting out the backbone with a pair of poultry shears or strong kitchen scissors. This allows you to flatten out the bird ready for grilling or the BBQ.
There is a really good step by step guide over at serious eats.com to help you get your bird(s) ready.
What you end up with is something like the spatchcocked quail shown in the image below.
Where Can I Buy Quail?
Supermarkets in the UK seasonally stock game birds like pheasant, poussin and guinea fowl but not quail.
Quail are farmed in the same way as chickens but on a very much smaller scale.
Depending on where you live you may be able to get quail fresh or frozen from a farm shop but they are always available online from outlets like the Wild Meat Company and any good butchers shop will be able to get them for you.
Grilled Quail with Orange and Parsley
Ingredients
- 4 Quails back bone removed and flattened to a spatchcock
- Juice and zest of 2 oranges
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and finely chopped
- 2 tbsp good olive oil
- 1 tsp coriander seeds crushed
- Small bunch of flat parsley roughly chopped
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Conversions
Instructions
- Mix orange juice and zest with garlic, olive oil, coriander, parsley and seasoning
- Use half this dressing to marinade the quails
- Marinade for a minimum of 30 minutes
- Heat the BBQ , grill or griddle pan
- Cook the quails 4 minutes on both sides
- Rest for 5 minutes and serve with the excess dressing and salad of your choice.
You may also like one of my other favourite recipes …
Looks delicious! Quail has always been so intimidating to me but I definitely want to try this.