Quails Elixir
Quails became a symbol of romance to Caz ever since she read Laura Esquivel’s Like Water For Chocolate. Caz experimented with this idea and finally found a winner!

Ingredients:

• 4 quails - feathers plucked, heads and the insides removed and skin intact
• 4 heaped tablespoons of raspberries, if using canned raspberries (or 24 fresh raspberries)
• 6 dried figs, stems removed and cut in half
• 100 ml of red wine
• 4 heaped tablespoons of slivered almonds (or crushed almonds)
• 50g of brie (or other mild and creamy cheeses), cut into 8 slices
• 4 gloves of garlic, finely chopped pepper and salt to taste

Halal

	Servings: 2 persons Prep. time: 30 mins Cooking time: 20 mins Standing time: 5 mins Category: Main Course

Preparation:

1. Soak the figs in the red wine for 20 minutes until slightly plumbed and softened.
2. Wash quails and pat dry with absorbent paper. Set aside.
3. Mix the raspberries, garlic, almonds and figs (including any unabsorbed red wine) in a medium bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Brush a little olive oil on the baking dish (choose one that is just big enough to hold the quails). You’re now ready to stuff the quails.
5. Working on one quail at a time, stuff the cavity with one fig-half (together with some of the raspberry mixture) followed by a slice of brie and repeat this until you have stuffed three fig-halves and two slices of brie in the cavity. Tuck the legs neatly across and sit the now plumbed quail on the baking dish.
6. Repeat with the rest of the quails. Rub a generous amount of salt all over the quails.
7. If using canned raspberries (which I prefer), mix 4 tablespoons of the raspberry juice from the can with the leftover red wine, season with a little more salt and pepper and drizzle over the backs of the quails.
8. Roast in a preheat oven of 200C for approximately 20 minutes until the skin is golden and slightly crispy. The flesh should be just pink.
9. The raspberries and figs give a real lift to the gamey taste of the quails and keep the flesh moist and tender. The brie melts and intertwines with the fruity flavours. The almonds give the crunch, a delicious contrast with the soft-as-velvet quail meat. The quails love to rest on a bed of young spinach leaves (two quails per serving). Spoon a little of the quail juice over the leaves.