Quails in rose-petal sauce - Sam's Recipe

Quail in Rosepetal Sauce

The original of this recipe was published in Laura Esquivel's novel "Like Water for Hot Chocolate". The original recipe includes a Pitaya fruit which is local to Mexico and not available in Australia. "Baggage" competently informs me that Red Dragon Fruit, which is seasonally available here, is an excellent substitute. The recipe below was published by Cath Kerry in HQ magazine November 1994 and substitutes Chicken Stock for the Pitaya.

The most difficult thing about cooking this dish is finding the ingredients, particularly as in Australia roses are only grown for the florist market and it is impossible to commercially buy them for eating. They need to be scented (strangely not a consideration if you are a florist) and preferably a full red colour. It is also very important that they are organically grown so you don't poison your dinner guests - a large number of commercial growers in Australia still use DDT or worse as a pesticide for roses. We were fortunate that Baggage also likes to eat roses and has been laboriously growing them for this purpose. We were also very thankful that Baggage knew in which specialist deli to find pureed chestnuts.

2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp butter
10 roses, well perfumed and preferably red
12 fresh or tinned chestnuts, or 5 tbsp unsweetened chestnut puree (also known as Marrons)
1 tbsp anise
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp rosewater
2 cups chicken stock
12 quail
salt and pepper
a little extra butter

Soften the chopped garlic in butter. In a food processor, grind the petals from 9 roses with the chestnuts (peeled and cooked until soft), anise, honey and garlic. Keep one rose aside for decoration.

Warm the mixture gently and add enough chicken stock so that the sauce is thinned but still has body. Check the seasoning for salt and/or pepper. Set aside until quail are ready.

Season the quail inside and out with salt and pepper and rub with butter. Roast them in a moderate oven for about 25 minutes and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes.

To serve, finish the sauce by adding the rosewater. Arrange the quail on a serving dish and pour the sauce over. Garnish with a few perfect rose petals.

Tags: Sauna, Recipe, Food,