Roast quail stuffed with black pudding and Puy lentils with a chicken and morel sauce

INGREDIENTS

(serves four)

For the sauce
1 chicken carcass, roasted until golden brown
20g dried morel mushrooms
1 litre (generous) chicken stock
2tbs Madeira
2tbs balsamic vinegar
100g smoked bacon
100g carrots, diced
100g onions, chopped
Sprig of thyme
50g oil or 50g butter
125g lentils, washed
600ml brown chicken stock
4 quail, boned
120g black pudding
Salt and pepper
Butter

METHOD

For the sauce, put browned chicken carcass in a pan. Add rest of ingredients, simmer until it has reduced to one-third of the amount. Cool and refrigerate.

Sweat off the bacon, carrots, onions, and thyme in oil or butter. Add lentils and brown chicken stock. Simmer until lentils are just cooked.

Pre-heat oven to Gas Mark 6 (200ºC). Stuff each quail with a piece of the black pudding, then reshape the quail and fasten with a cocktail stick. Season quail and add a knob of butter on top of each. Put on a roasting tray and roast for eight minutes. Remove from oven. Rest for five minutes.

Heat the sauce in pan. Put the lentils in the centre of each plate. Remove cocktail sticks from quails and carve. Put quails on top of cabbage and pour the sauce around.

Note: Puy lentils can be substituted with nutty cabbage made with the following ingredients: half a Savoy cabbage (finely shredded), 1tsp Arran mustard, 1tsp toasted sesame seeds, 150ml chicken stock, 150ml double cream, salt and pepper.

Keith and Nicola Braidwood

Photo © Alan Donaldson