What won’t I do to do to get the Irish vote? – Mushroom Stuffed Quail Sous Vide

Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst led the Suffragette movement in the early part of the 20th century. They and their followers went to extremes to get the vote for women. They chained themselves to railings. They threw bricks through windows. They went on hunger strike. One of them even ended up killing herself under the king’s horse at the Epsom derby in 1913. Those lassies really wanted the right to vote. You now have that right. All I ask is that, if you are in Ireland, you use it with the wisdom that I know you posses. 

At this stage of your reading, you probably have guessed that I have entered a cookery competition. I have and I need your vote for my Mushroom Stuffed Quail Sous Vide with Porcini Pasta and Pinot Noir Sauce. Like any politician trying to get his nose out in front (like the king’s horse, perhaps) I will say pretty well anything to get your vote. But, more of that later. For now, get over to the Cono Sur Wines Ireland Recipes page and cast your vote as if you were involved in selecting an honest leader for FIFA. That is, vote for the one you know is as pure as the driven snow. Put another way – Vote for me.

If you do cast your vote in my direction I give my politician’s promise to bring you with me, not only to the semi-finals in Paris in November this year, but onward to Chile to share the overall prize in 2016. So vote for me. You can trust what I say. My word is my bond and I have a clear conscience about everything I have ever done in my guilt free life.

Here’s the ingredients I used.

• 4 quail cleaned and dressed
• A bottle of Cono Sur Single Vineyard Pinot Noir
• 2 shallots
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 100 grammes or so of mixed mushrooms
• Olive oil
• Butter
• Salt and pepper
• A handful of parsley
• 210 grammes of ’00’ flour
• 2 free range eggs and the yoke of a third
• 20 grammes of dried porcini mushrooms

Side note on voting convenience: In the same tradition as a local councillor arranging a coach to bring groups of pensioners to the poling station, I have cunningly linked each photograph to the voting page. So when you have seen enough to make you say “YES! I’ll vote for Conor.”, simply click on the nearest photo in the post. It’s the sort of convenience that I promise for my followers, should I be favoured with a win. Sadly, for mobile users,  

Here’s how to prepare it;

Slice the necks from the quail and reserve.

You need a hard neck for politics. These lads would never get into parliament.

Finely slice the shallots and garlic.

Shallots seem to be like concentrated onions. I wept like a Suffragette at the races.

Chop the mushrooms reasonably small (remember they are being used to stuff a tiny bird).

Lovely chestnut mushrooms. They are very woodland flavoured, if that’s possible.

Heat some olive oil and a knob of butter in a pan. With the heat on low to medium, sweat the shallots and garlic until aromas are rising from the pan.

That’s what ‘aromas rising’ looks like.

Add the mushrooms and stir.

If you love mushrooms, vote for me! If you don’t vote for me anyway.

Turn the heat down to low. Slowly reduce the mushrooms while stirring occasionally. This will intensify the flavours. Season with salt and black pepper. When the mushrooms are well reduced, turn up the heat to high and add half a glass of Cono Sur Pinot Noir.

Yes I used the wine in the mushrooms. It helps marry the flavours and to impress the judges.

Stir until the alcohol has evaporated and the wine is well reduced and integrated with the mushrooms. Turn the heat off. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and let the mushrooms cool enough to handle. Do not wash the pan.

Stuff the quail with the mushrooms.

This shot might lose me a couple of votes! Don’t be squeamish. Vote for me.

There should be some mushrooms left over to help in flavouring the sauce. Tie the legs of the quail together.

They are small but very tasty. Not just like a small chicken.

Vacuum seal the quail in cooking bags and cook sous vide at 60 degrees Centigrade for any time between two and two and a half hours.

Stuffing them is a great idea. Otherwise, they float! We don’t want any floating voters either.

Add the unused mushrooms back to the pan and add the quail necks. Add a generous knob of butter. Fry over a medium heat to extract flavour from the mushrooms and necks. Increase the heat to high.

Four necks give off a decent amount of flavour. Brown them nicely.

Add a glass of Cono Sur Pinot Noir and stir until reduced, to form a flavoursome sauce. Taste and season as appropriate. Reserve.

Now that is one tasty sauce. Neck, wine, mushroom, salt and pepper. Delicious.

Blitz the dried porcini mushrooms until they form a dust.

They turn to a fine dust. Just like a politician’s promise.

Add the flour, porcini dust and the eggs to a large bowl.

The porcini pasta ingredients. Like most politicians for whom we vote, not much to it.

Using your hands, mix until a pasta dough has been formed. Remove from the bowl and knead until the dough is pliant. Wrap in cling film and place in the refrigerator for half an hour.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Roll out the pasta and make fettuccine.

The pasta has a nice mid brown colour. The aroma is wonderful.

Hang the pasta until needed.

The back of a chair works for me. Would it get your vote?

Slice the parsley up small. Remove the quail from their bath.

The poor little quail look a bit odd when they come out. Cooked yet not browned.

Pat them dry and brown them on a hot pan containing oil and butter.

Four of them in the pan. They are small little darlings.

Strain the sauce. Cook the pasta in the boiling water. Assemble the dish.

For what it’s worth, it got my vote.

Serve (with the sauce on the side) and enjoy with a well-earned glass of Cono Sur Single Vineyard Pinot Noir. Bon Appétite.

A final note on suffrage: Do spare a thought for the Pankhurst sisters. Not only did they eventually win the vote for women but they taught us men how to behave on stag weekends. Throwing bricks through windows, robbing policemen’s helmets, chaining each other to railings. Wonderful girls….