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Cailles Aux Raisins En Timbale
Ingredients
The Pastry Shell
3 cups flour, 1/4 tsp. salt, 12 tbsp. diced and chilled butter, 2 beaten egg yolks, 1/2 cup (or less) of ice water, 1 tbsp. melted butter.
The Quail
2 cups peeled seedless green grapes, 1/3 cup of brandy, 8 plucked and cleaned quail, 4 tbsp. melted butter, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. fresh ground white pepper, 2 cups warm chicken stock, mixed with 2 tbsp. arrowroot, 2 tbsp. chilled butter bits.
Cailles Aux Raisins En Timbale is a three part dish designed to
show off the bird in a pastry shell surrounded in brandied grapes. Oh,
go ahead! It is really very simple. Begin by pealing two cups of
seedless green grapes (This is why the dish is for four) and marinate
them for at least an hour in brandy. You can do this well before the
arrival of your guests but do not
neglect them (the grapes). Stir occasionally. You may also prepare the
pastry
shell ahead of the dinner. In a chilled bowl, rub 3 cups of flour, 1/4
tsp.
salt , and 12 tbsp. diced chilled butter together into a course
mixture.
Add 2 beaten egg yolks and enough water (less than 1/2 cup ice water)
to
mix the dough into a ball that remains together. Roll the dough to fit
a
buttered 10 inch square by two inch deep pan. Hold the dough in place
with
aluminum foil if needed and bake in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for 20
minutes.
Remove the foil and cook an additional 20 minutes. Remove the shell and
after
it has cooled 5 minutes remove it from the pan. Half an hour prior to
the
dinner begin the quail. Season the quail with salt and pepper and brown
at
relatively high heat in a buttered (4 tbsp.) skillet. Once browned
place
the skillet with quail in a 500 degree oven for 10 minutes. Once
cooked,
remove the quail to the pastry shell. Separate the grapes from the
brandy
marinade and add them to the pastry shell. Remove and reserve the
butter
and add the brandy marinade to the skillet. In a separate pan, pre-warm
2
cups of chicken stock and add 2 tbsp. arrowroot. Cook the brandy over
medium
heat, mixing the browned quail juices into the sauce. Mix the stock in
and
cook until it thickens. Finally add 2 tbsp. chilled butter bits. Strain
the
sauce over the quail and serve. May I suggest you serve the dish with
asparagus
and for a wine remember there is brandy flavor in the dish. Perhaps a
Viogner,
or then again, it might be best to amuse your local wine merchant by
asking
him to match a brandy with a good whit wine. I have turned these
aficionados
white by suggesting that I also intended to have strawberry rhubarb pie
for
desert and could they suggest an appropriate desert wine. Enjoy this
royal
feast of an aristocratic bird. Your guests should be impressed.
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