My signature dish - Quail in forest flavor

''Every great Chef has a signature dish – one that defines their culinary point of view and highlights their particular skill set.
It’s the culinary equivalent of an artist finding their own style. Chef’s signature dish often changes with time or they may claim several signature dishes. The process of creating your signature dish takes time – so don’t skimp on the space you’ll need to put this together (in your head, your heart and in your office). Most chefs are famous for a “signature dish”, the one dish that they hang their hat on as the best in their restaurants.'' - quote from http://thewordchef.com/2012/03/your-signature-dish-how-to-create-a-program-that-sizzles/

I was once preparing quail for an event at Radisson Blue Olympia Hotel in Tallinn, Estonia for about 50 people. At this event 5 chefs, from 5 different restaurants, from the top 10 restaurants were invited to cook for food writers and food bloggers. The theme for this event was '' Modern Estonian cuisine''.
My dish was the main course and for this event I create a  special dish from organic quail with flavors from the Estonian forest.
More pictures about this event here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.305012046194849.88676.100000581697968&type=3

A lady who was part of the organizers and who is cookbook writer, walked into the kitchen and asked me what I was preparing. I invited her to taste my quail cooked in two ways. She tasted it and really liked it. She asked me, “Is this your signature dish?” Without hesitating, I said “Yes!”
Since that day, roast quail in two ways has become one of my signature dish. Since that day I was trying to improve it.
Below is my recipe.

Roast quail in two ways with sweet potato, quail egg brioche, thyme sauce and the flavors of the forest (cranberries, almond, juniper berry, wild baby leaves salad and pickled onions)

4 quails – serves 4
Marinade as follows:
1 bunch thyme
1 small garlic clove
15 ml olive oil
12 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
salt/pepper

Remove quail legs and thigh bones. Make a marinade by mixing all the above ingredients together. Pour it over the quail leaving it overnight in the fridge. Remove the quails from the marinade, season and brown in a hot pan on the sides.
Place the quail into oven at 180 C for 10 minutes. Check and taste often. Remove quail and allow to rest for two minutes. Remove both breasts from each bird. Season the flesh side of the breast and place the two sides together. Serve on top of the cabbage.

Sweet potato
300 gr sweet potatoes or yams
lime juice to taste
fresh cream

Peel sweet potatoes and roast on a foil-lined baking sheet in middle of oven for 1 hour or until very soft. Cool potatoes just until they can be handled and scoop flesh into a food processor. Puree potatoes until smooth. Add lime juice, cream and salt to taste and puree mixture until combined well. Sweet potato puree may be made 2 days ahead and chilled, its surface covered with plastic wrap.

Forest crumble
30 gr dry cranberries
30 gr chopped almond
30 gr dry orange peel

Mix all ingredients and keep in a dry place.

Pickled onions
50 gr (4-5pieces) fresh pearl onions
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon raspberry vinegar
juniper berry
black peppercorn
bay leaves

Peel the onions and slice in half, long way. In a pan fry the onions upside down until golden brown.
Turn onions and cook for one more minute. Add sugar, vinegar, spices and cook for 3-4 minutes until the onions is soft. Cool and reserve in a container cover with marinate.

Cranberry sauce or jam
100 gr frozen or fresh cranberries
100 gr organic pine syrup.

In a small pot just bring to boil the fresh cranberries and the syrup and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Do not over cook.

Thyme sauce
5 g thyme leaves
100 ml white wine
10 ml red wine
1 tsp sherry vinegar
1 shallot (diced)
300 ml quail stock – made from the quail bones.

Dice shallots and wash the thyme. Put red wine, white wine and vinegar in pot. Add shallots and thyme and cook until reduced to glaze. Add stock and reduce by half. Correct seasoning. Fold in butter and it’s ready to serve.

Confit of quail
8 quail legs
1-2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
2 tablespoon sea salt
peel from 1 orange
2 garlic cloves
thyme
1 chili
3-4 juniper berries
3-4 black peppercorns
1 kg duck fat

Into a  tray sprinkle the legs with the salt evenly over all sides, turning to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 180C.
Wash the legs to remove the excess salt and pat dry on kitchen towels. Place the legs in a casserole or a tray, putting the legs skin side up. Add the garlic cloves, cinnamon stick, chili, thyme, star anise, orange peels, juniper berries, black pepper, and enough fat to cover the legs and place the pan in the oven. Cook uncovered, until the meat is very tender and has shrink away from the bone, around 30-40 minutes.
Let the legs cool slightly in the fat.

Quail egg brioche
4 quail eggs
sea salt
4 rings of brioche or 4 mini ready  vol au vent
salt

Break the eggs in vol au vent baskets, season with salt cook until soft. Serve.

Enjoy! Pin It Now!

Liquorice ice cream (Bianca)

Liquorice candies are very popular in Northern Europe, specially in Scandinavia. When I visited Norway few months ago, I saw liquorice ice cream in a shop. What caught my eyes was the color. It was black! You know it's an unusual ice cream just by the color :) But being just the beginning of spring, still cold outside, I didn't try it.
We have to be careful how much we eat, as excessive consumption of liquorice or liquorice candy is known to be toxic to the liver and cardiovascular system, and may produce hypertension and edema. You can read more about this here (wikipedia).
I forgot to say ... I love liquorice! :) Nico hates it, so since he's not here, that's a good reason for me now to make it home :)

I guess the really dark liquorice ice creams sold in the shops are dyed with black food coloring, but I didn't use any. My ice cream has a sort of greenish-gray color. Because of the color, it might be a straight NO for some people :) But, for liquorice lovers, I think it's not such a big problem, although just one ball of ice cream might be enough. Even for me! :) To temper a bit the color, I added some gold paste glaze, used in bakery. My ice cream is a bit shinny  :)

Ingredients:
- 600 ml cream
- 300 ml milk
- 6 egg yolks
- 25 g sugar (double, if you skip the glaze)
- 200 g chopped liquorice candies ( bought a pack of All Sorts, and picked out the plain ones)
- 100-150 g Liquorice All Sorts, chopped in small pieces (all the colors)
- 80 g gold paste glaze (optional)

Method:
In a bowl, with a hand mixer, beat the egg yolks and sugar until creamy. Set aside! In a pot, over low heat, put cream, milk, plain chopped liquorice and vanilla bean. Mix continuously, without letting it boil, until the liquorice candies are melted, about 15-20 mins. Take the vanilla bean out, split it half and scrape the seeds in the egg mixture. Take the cream off the heat and little by little, pour it over the eggs, mixing it. Transfer the whole mixture back in the pot and put it again on low heat, mixing continuously until thickens, about 10 mins. Have ready a some ice-cold water bath. Take it off the heat, strain it through a fine sieve into a bowl. Now, put the bowl into the water bath, to cool down the mixture. When it's cold enough to be placed in the fridge, cover with cling film (the whole surface) to prevent a skin from forming. Place the mixture in the fridge for 1-2 hs.

After that, if you have an ice cream machine, put the cream in the machine and let it do its job :) Before you put the ice cream in the freezer, mix in the chopped Liquorice All Sorts.
If you don't have a machine, just put the cream in the freezer for at least 3 hs. But every 30 mins-1 h (depending on your freezer power) take it out and beat it with the hand mixer, to prevent ice crystal from forming. After the last beating, mix in the chopped Liquorice All Sorts.

Enjoy! ... if you like liquorice! :) Pin It Now!

Banana-Peanut butter and Blackberries Smoothie (Bianca)

It's summer, it's warm and we need to keep us cool somehow. What's better then a cold drink? And why not a smoothie? The one I had today is packed with goodies.
Peanut butter is full in monounsaturated fats, provides vitamin B3 and E, protein, magnesium.
Blackberries provide vitamin C, folic acid, vitamin K and antioxidants. Blackberries seeds also contain omega-3 and omega 6 fats, but not everybody like them. Same here, I don't prefer them :)

Ingredients
For banana-peanut butter smoothie
- 200 ml milk
- 2 medium bananas (sliced and frozen in advance)
- 3 tbsp peanut butter
- 2 tsp spruce shoot syrup (or agave syrup,or honey)

For blackberries smoothie
- 200 ml milk
- 100 g frozen blackberries
- 3 tsp spruce shoot syrup (or agave syrup, or honey)

Method
Place all ingredients for the peanut butter smoothie into a blender and give it a good mix. Transfer into a bowl and keep it in freezer until you finish the other one.
Clean your blender and place in it all the ingredients for blackberries smoothie and mix well. Because I don't like the seeds, I strain it though a sieve.
Take the peanut butter smoothie out from the freezer. Into a glass, alternatively pour each smoothie to create layers.

This smoothie, being full of all those goodies, can be drunk in the morning for breakfast. But today I replaced my lunch with one glass :)   Enjoy! Pin It Now!

Rhubarb and Limoncello creamy tart (Bianca)

Rhubarb is one of the first garden products in Estonia to be harvested in the spring, but this is my first time using it this year. I decided to make a rhubarb tart, not just simple, but in combination with Limoncello, resulting in a creamy and a bit lemony tart. We've got this Limoncello bottle as a present, straight from the source, when a fellow chef from Italy visited Nico few months ago in Norway.
Although I know that Limoncello can be made at home too, I haven't try to make it, yet :)

Ingredients
Dough
- 250 g flour
- 30 g brown sugar
- 120 g butter (room temperature)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 5-6 tbsp cold water

Filling
- 250 g rhubarb thinly sliced ( optional-slice few thin sticks that go on the top, around 18-20 pieces / 10 cm long)
- 200 g fresh or frozen raspberries (thawed)
- 50 g flour
- 120 g brown sugar

Cream
- 300 ml heavy cream
- 3 egg yolks
- vanilla extract
- 50 ml Limoncello
- 20 g brown sugar

Method
Preheat the over at 180 degrees C. Butter a 25 cm round springform pan, lining it after with baking paper (bottom and sides)
Mix butter, sugar, flour and baking powder in a bowl, then add the water and mix it until the dough it's formed. It can be rolled with the rolling pin, then transferred into the pan or it can be pressed by hand straight into the spring form. I did it by hand, going up on the sides too, about 4 cm high. Refrigerate until needed.
Into a  bowl easily mix rhubarb, raspberries, flour and sugar. In a separate bowl whisk the egg yolks with sugar,  add the cream and vanilla extract, mixing until combined, then add Limoncello.
Place the fruits mixture in the pan, spreading it evenly on the bottom and then pour the cream mixture on top.
Now, arrange the rhubarb sticks on top like a flower :) Some of them will sink, but they'll come up again in the oven :)

Bake for 40-45 min, or until the top is starting to get a brownish color.
Let it cool completely before you slice it. It can be sprinkled with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

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