IT’S TIME TO FALL IN LOVE
Roast quail with roasted mushrooms, parsnips, sweet potatoes & fennel
AS THE WEATHER STARTS TO GET COLDER, AND THE ‘CRAZY SUMMER SWEAT’ STARTS TO EASE, NICK DIACONO PREPARES AN AUTUMNAL FEAST OF FLAVOURSOME DISHES THAT YOU WILL SURELY FALL FOR.
All ingredients available at Park Towers Supermarkets. Photography by Chris Sant Fournier.
Roast quail with roasted mushrooms, parsnips, sweet potatoes & fennel
SERVES 4
YOU WILL NEED:
4 whole bone-in quails, 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes, 2 medium-sized bulbs fennel, 2 small red onions, 3 cloves garlic, 4 medium-sized parsnips, 1 pomegranate, 4 tbsp aged balsamico di Modena, 50g butter, 50g flour, 50g butter, olive oil, Thyme, 50g butter, 50g flour, a splash of red wine, salt & pepper
METHOD:
Rub seasoning and thyme and some oil into quail skin and cavity, place in a snugly fit container or zip lock bag along with the red wine and leave to marinate overnight. Preheat oven to 200 centigrade. Cut fennel, sweet potato, parsnip into medium dice. Chop onion and garlic not too small and add to mix, season well and toss with olive oil and more thyme. Roast in oven until golden brown takes about 90 mins depends on your oven. Add small whole cleaned button mushrooms to the roasting tray for final 30 mins of cooking. Remove quail from marinade and pat dry using a paper towel, toss liberally in flour. Heat a cast-iron pan with some canola oil and cook the quail over high heat until golden brown, add a knob of butter three minutes into the cooking. Finish off quails in the oven over the roasting vegetables, after browning in a pan they will take 8-10 mins to cook in the oven. Crack open a pomegranate. Serve the quail over a roast vegetable mix, dress with pomegranate seeds and aged balsamic.
Cervjol tails with tartare sauce
SERVES 4
YOU WILL NEED:
4 small local baby Amberjack (cervjol)
100 ml canola oil, 200g mayo, 1 tbsp. red onion chopped, 2 tsp pickles chopped, 1 tsp capers chopped, 1 tsp chopped dill, 1 tsp chopped parsley, 2 hits tabasco, Juice of 1 lemon, sea salt & pepper
METHOD:
Mix chopped ingredients with mayo, lemon juice, tabasco and some seasoning and leave to develop in the fridge. Clean the fish and cut through entire fish from the belly to tail. Season the flour with salt pepper and coat fish well. Shallow fry in cast iron pan until skin is crispy and fish cooked. Serve with tartar sauce.
Buttermilk fried chicken gizzards
SERVES 3
YOU WILL NEED:
500g gizzards, 500g flour, 1 ltr chicken stock, 1 bay leaf, 600ml buttermilk (store-bought), 2 tsp sweet paprika, 2 tsp black pepper 200g mayo, 1 tsp red miso, juice of half a lemon, salt & pepper
METHOD:
Wash the gizzards and place in a pot, cover with chicken stock, add bay leaf and bring to a boil. Turn to a gentle simmer and cook for one and a half hours. Remove from water and cool under running cold water, mix buttermilk with paprika and some seasoning. Submerge gizzards in buttermilk and leave to marinate overnight. Prepare a pot with canola oil for deep frying - mix flour with some seasoning and paprika. Coat gizzards in the flour well shaking any excess. Once the oil reaches 190/200 cook in small batches until crispy. Mix mayo with lemon juice and miso well. Check gizzards for final seasoning serve with mayo.
Gozitan asparagus with house cured bottarga tal-Kubrita
SERVES 4
YOU WILL NEED:
A fingers width of bottarga, 2 bunches asparagus, 50g butter,2 tsp toasted sesame seeds, 100g crushed walnuts, zest of 1 lemon, fresh cracked black pepper, olive oil
METHOD:
Prepare a cast iron pan and heat a few tablespoons of olive oil. Snap off the rigid woody bottom part of the asparagus. Add asparagus to the hot pan and cook whilst moving around spears for about 5 minutes. Add butter, crushed walnuts & seasoning, cook until al dente and golden brown. Garnish with grated bottarga, lemon zest and sesame seeds.
FEATURED IN THE AUTUMN EDITION
October 2020
