Boxing Day lunch – roasted quail breasts with the lot

This dish is made from leftovers – quail breasts. I used the rest of birds to make the filling for quail, leek and cabbage ravioli. Dry breasts meat is not too good for ravioli. The beauty of this dish is that you can marinate breasts the day or even two ahead, and then simply throw them together with any vegetables you prefer, and in 30 minutes the meal is ready.

The only issue you will have is to slice or chop vegetables in size to be fully cooked at the same time as quails. To be sure, I sliced new potatoes very thin, to have them crispy on the edges and melting soft in the middle.

Ingredients:

quantity depends on the number of people you serve

quail breasts
potatoes
mini truss tomatoes
garlic
butter
olive oil
fresh rosemary
fresh thyme
artisan sea salt
black pepper
garlic, sweet and hot chilli preserve (or any spice mix you like)

Preparation:

marinate quail breasts
make a pocket by separating the skin from the middle of a breast meat
insert piece of butter, half a coffee spoon of preserve (or spice/herbs mix) and a tiny piece of fresh thyme into this pocket
use sea salt on the rest of the breast
leave refrigerated overnight or even longer
line a tray with 2-3 cm high edges with baking paper
drop some olive oil and spread it
slice potatoes thin (2mm or so)
place them in a bowl or a bag, add olive oil and shake to cover all surfaces
place quail breasts skin up in the middle of the tray
spread potato slices around, sprinkle potatoes with quality sea salt and black pepper, add a few drops of olive oil if necessary
add garlic cloves with skin
cut tomatoes in half, season them with sea salt and pepper, add couple of drops of olive oil
add rosemary to the tray
sprinkle potatoes with cut rosemary
place in preheated to 200C oven with fan regime, roast for 25-30 minutes
serve with fresh salad or vegetables