Roast Marinated Quails with Couscous Salad

I just felt like it, I just felt like cooking some quail. It is not an everyday dish, that is for sure. Not because it is a very difficult dish to cook, but more because that quails are not the cheapest bird we can get. But what can I do, I just had this urge of cooking quails.

Quails are game birds, the smallest ones and they are not too gamey, which makes them even nicer. I do like the game taste, but then again, not everybody does. Other game birds are pigeon, partridge and pheasant. And then there is the grouse....not that is really a bird with a strong game taste, but back to the quail.

Mostly quails are sold frozen and already deboned which makes everything so much easier. If you have to debone your quails you are in for a lot of work, but if you get deboned quails, you are ready to cook.

I decided to marinate them in Middle Eastern spices , so I took Ras el Hanout, a Moroccan spice mix and a couple of other spices and marinated the quails for a couple of hours, the fried them in a pan, finished them off in the oven and made a nice couscous salad with it, it was the perfect summer lunch

Just a quick explanation about Ras el Hanout. It is a mix of ground spices consisting of Cinnamon, Cardamom, Cloves, Chili Peppers, Coriander, Cumin, Nutmec and Tumeric. It is available in most specialty shops

So here is the recipe good for 6 friends

Ingredients
6 ea Quails, deboned
Ras el Hanout
Olive oil

100 g (3 oz) Couscous
60 g (2 0z) Dried Dates
1 ea red Chili
1 ea Oranges
18 tips Dill
18 leaves Mint
30 g (1 oz) Pistachio
45 ml (1.5 oz) Olive oil
15 ml (0.5 oz) Champagne Vinegar
1 ea Yellow Peppers
1 ea Red Onions
1 cup Radicchio
1 cup Rocket

Method

Marinate the quails with the Ras el Hanout and Olive Oil for several hours, then fry in a little olive oil till golden brown. Finish the quails off in the oven at 160 C for another 5 minutes, set aside and keep warm.

Cook the Couscous as directed on the box you bought the couscous.

Cut the dates in fine strips

Cut the pepper in julienne

Toast the Pistachio quickly in a dry pan

Cut the Orange in wedges

Slice the red chili

Mix the salad ingredients carefully together and add olive oil and vinegar, season to taste

For serving place the salad on a plate on the radicchio and rocket and garnish with the herbs. Serve the quail right next to the salad and enjoy the meal with your friends