Food Science: Stuffed Quail and Three-Sister's Soup Recipe

As I prepare to move to the Netherlands for Grad. School I am taking advantage of more time to cook for my family at home. Tonight I am making a First Nations inspired meal: Wild Rice stuffed Quail in a Cranberry-Bourbon Sauce, Three-Sister's Soup, and Naan. Granted, Naan isn't Native American, but it's very close to Flatbread and quite frankly, I already had some so it's silly to waste the food. I'm also going to serve with a Backhand Chutney and Pickled Carrots, both of which I made previously.



Three-Sisters refers to corn, squash, and beans, which were grown using a companion planting system. The corn was planted in the center of mounds, the beans planted slightly further down the mound after the corn was about 5-6 inches high. The squash was then planted at the base between the mounds. The corn stalks support the vines of the beans as trellises and the leaves from the squashes provided ground cover which would trap moisture and provide shade for the roots. The beans act as nitrogen fixers in the soil, which allows the corn to grow more robustly. Alternatives can be planted, for example peas instead of beans and pumpkins or zucchini instead of squash.

Three-Sister's Soup

Ingredients

3 tbs butter
4 c vegetable broth
1 c diced onion
1 clove diced garlic
1 acorn or butternut squash pre-cooked and pureed
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c yellow corn kernels
1/4 tsp coriander
1/2 c hominy cooked
1 c beans cooked
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper

*notes, I'm cheating a bit by using some substitutions:
1/2 box vegetable broth
1/2 box butternut squash soup
1 small can corn kernels
1 can hominy
1/4 c dried flageolet beans soaked overnight in 1 c water
1/4 c dried cranberry beans soaked overnight in 1 c water

Directions

Melt butter in heavy bottomed pan. Saute onion and garlic until transparent. Add spices, vegetable stock, corn, hominy, and beans, heat to boil, then turn down heat to simmer. Cook 15-20 minutes. Add butternut squash soup and heat through. Serve with hot flatbread and yogurt/sour cream.

Wild Rice Stuffing for Quail (Boudin)

Ingredients

oil
1 c Wild Rice, cooked
1 lb ground pork
1 onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbs pine nuts

Directions

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the ground pork and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 10 minutes. Add the onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic, and continue to saute for 5 minutes.

Bring 2 cups water and a pinch of salt to a boil in a small saucepan. Add rice and pine nuts, cover, and bring back to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.

Cranberry-Bourbon Sauce

Ingredients

1 pint cranberries
1 cup bourbon whiskey
3 tablespoons sugar

*notes, substitutions:

I took a 1/2 pint of Cranberry Sauce I made last year and heated it with 1 c of the bourbon whiskey to make the sauce.

Directions

In a small saucepan, combine the cranberries, bourbon and sugar in pan. Bring to a boil and cook, uncovered, over medium heat until the berries are soft and the sugar is dissolved, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool bit, then pour into a blender and puree until smooth.

Roasted Quail
*Adapted from here

Ingredients

Rice Mixture (called Boudin)
8 whole quail
Kosher salt and black pepper
Cayenne
Chili powder
Smoked paprika

Directions

Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the quail with salt, pepper, cayenne, chili powder and smoked paprika. Swirl some oil in the skillet and then add the quail. Cook on one side for about 5 minutes; flip and cook for another 5 minutes-the quail won't be fully cooked yet, but that's okay. Set aside.

Mix the cooked rice into the ground pork mixture and season with salt, pepper and cayenne. Now you have boudin.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Stuff each quail with boudin and place back in the cast-iron skillet. Roast until cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes.

Serve the stuffed quail atop cranberry-bourbon sauce.

Backhand Chutney

Ingredients

2 c apple vinegar
5 medium apples
2 c raisins
1 clove garlic
2 c honey
1 lemon
1/2 c ginger
1/2 tsp cayenne

Directions

Peel and core apples, dice small. Add all to pan and heat through until apples are soft and berries are plump. Pour into jars and seal.

Pickled Carrots
*Adapted from here

Ingredients

1/2 pound large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sugar
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 cup water

Directions

Fill a medium-large saucepan half-full with water and bring to a boil on the stove top. Carefully add carrots to boiling water and cook for about 5 minutes, until just softened. It’s better to have the carrots be a little too crisp than too soft and mushy. Drain carrots and transfer to a large non-reactive bowl.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring a couple times to completely dissolve the sugar. Slowly pour the hot liquid over the carrot and onion mixture. Let cool completely to room temperature. Then divide between 4 to 5 pint jars, adding carrots and liquid to within half an inch of each jar top. Seal jars tightly with lids and refrigerate.