FOOD: Quail with pistachio sauce.
Serves 4
For the sauce
– ½ cup shelled pistachio nuts – ½ cup picked parsley
– 20 picked basil leaves
– 1 tbsp chives
– ¼ cup grapeseed oil
– pinch of salt
For the spiced nuts
– 4 tbsp shelled pistachio nuts – 1 tsp grapeseed oil
– 1 tsp smoked paprika
– 1 tsp Turkish chilli
– ½ tsp black pepper
– ½ tsp ground cumin
– zest from ½ an orange
– 4 butterflied quail – pinch of salt
– 1 tbsp butter
– 1 tbsp grapeseed oil – lemon juice
To make the sauce, bring a small saucepan of water to the boil. Blanch the pistachios for three minutes and then drain. When cool enough to handle, rub off the loose outer skin from the nuts using kitchen paper towel.
Bring another saucepan of salted water to the boil. Blanch the herbs for 30 seconds. Strain and refresh in a bowl of iced water. Once chilled, remove the herbs and squeeze out excess water.
Place the blanched herbs with the pistachios, oil and salt in a blender. Blend on a high speed to form a smooth sauce. If it gets too thick you can let it out with a little water.
For the spiced roasted pistachios, preheat your oven to 160ºC.
Toss the nuts in the oil before adding the spices and zest to evenly coat. Roast the nuts on a tray lined with baking paper until the nuts are toasted and the spices have become fragrant (six to eight minutes).
To cook the quail, season the birds with a pinch of salt on both sides.
Warm a frying pan with the butter and grapeseed oil to a moderate temperature. Add the quail, skin-side down, and pan-fry slowly until the skin becomes golden and crisp. Turn the quail and cook for a few minutes more, until just cooked through.
Remove the quail and squeeze a few drops of lemon over each bird and leave to rest on a plate for five minutes before serving.
To serve, prepare four plates with a spoonful of the pistachio sauce on each, place the quail on the sauce and finish with the spice-roasted nuts.
Wine pairing:
2016 Valentine Wines grenache, Heathcote ($28) – Liam O’Brien, head sommelier, Cutler & Co