Sautéed Quail Breasts on Pesto Risotto

12 quail breasts
1½ cups rice
Salt and Pepper
¼ cup olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
6 cups good strong chicken stock
Balsamic vinegar
1 cup of white wine
2 cloves garlic crushed

For Pesto
50g unsalted butter
½ cup chopped basil leaves
60g pine nuts, lightly pan roasted
salt & pepper
100g grated parmesan
3 cloves garlic, crushed
60ml olive oil
some fresh basil leaves for decoration


Bring chicken stock to the boil and reduce on simmer to approx 70%.
Heat olive oil in large saucepan. Add onion, garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add rice and stir for few minutes. Add white wine. Add stock, one ladle at a time, and simmer over low heat.
Repeat until rice is cooked. Adjust seasoning. Set aside and keep warm.
Place basil, pine nuts, garlic, salt & pepper into food processor. Blend to a paste. Add parmesan and olive oil. Blend again. Stir this into rice.
In a frying pan, melt 50g of butter. Sautee quail breasts, 2 minutes on each side.

Oven Roasted Quail with “Cassatta” Stuffing, Potato Puree, Cipollini & Port-Poached Figs

4 semi-deboned quails
2 cups hot sausage meat
1 tbsp dried currants
½ cup ricotta cheese
3 potatoes – peeled and diced
1½ tbsp unsalted butter
½ cup heavy cream
1 tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper
16 peeled pearl onions
4 fresh figs
2 cups Port wine


Combine sausage meat with ricotta cheese and dried currants. Stuff quail with this (1 tbsp each). “Fluff” gently. Brush with butter and sprinkle with salt and white pepper. Roast at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.
Place figs into small sauce pot and add port wine. Simmer about 15 minutes. Remove figs from port and set aside. Continue simmering port until reduced by half. Remove and place into a squeeze bottle.
Place peeled onions on baking sheet. Sprinkle with olive oil and bake at 350 degrees until they begin to caramelized.
Boil potatoes until soft. Separately boil heavy cream and butter. Transfer potatoes and hot cream into food processor and puree until smooth. Season with salt and white pepper to taste.
Spoon tbsp potato puree alongside quail. Lean poached fig against quail and drizzle port around

Rolled roast pork, stuffed with spinach and mortadella

800 g boned pork loin, in a slice
150 g frozen spinach
5 slices of Italian mortadella
6 tbsp dried chives
4 tsp dried marjoram
8 tbsp olive oil
300 ml red wine
Salt
Pepper, if liked
Kitchen string
500 ml jelly
4 tbsp white vinegar


Thaw frozen spinach putting them directly in a pan with 2 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp water. Let them cook, half-covered, over medium heat until cooking juice is very well reduced. Season to taste with salt and let them cool.

Open slice of pork loin over work surface, sprinkle with 2 tbsp dried chives, season to taste with salt; arrange slices of mortadella and then spinach and marjoram. Roll slice of meat and tie roast with kitchen string at 1" intervals.

Put meat in saucepan with remaining olive oil and chives; brown on all sides and then pour in wine and allow to evaporate a little. After few minutes add some hot water. Keep on cooking over gentle heat, half-covered, stirring sometimes, until meat is tender (it may take an hour-and-a-half). If necessary, add water.

Let the roast cool for a night.

The day after prepare jelly adding 4 tbsp white vinegar. Cut roast into slices ½" thick and arrange them on a deep dish. Pour in warm jelly and let dish refrigerate for almost 2 hours before serving

Venison Steak with Beetroot and Horseradish Pesto

250g cooked beetroot, peeled and chopped
1 small unwaxed orange, zest only
2 tsp horseradish sauce
70g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp chopped, fresh flat leaf parsley
7 tbsp olive oil
4 Venison steaks, each about 150g
salt and freshly ground black pepper


Preheat oven to 150ºC.
Place beetroot, orange zest, horseradish sauce, parmesan, garlic and parsley in food processor or blender and whiz briefly. Add enough oil to form thick paste. Season to taste and set aside.
Heat 2 tbsp oil in frying pan then add steaks and season. Cook for 2 minute, then turn and continue to cook for further 1-2 minutes before transferring to ovenproof plate. Place in oven for 10 minutes then serve them with dollop of beetroot pesto on top.

Beef Carpaccio

Ingredients
240g sashimi-grade beef fillet

Dressing:
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 pinch horseradish powder or mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
125ml olive oil
1 tablespoon milk
1 tbsp chicken broth or water (to thin the mayonnaise)



Chill the meat well. Using a razor-sharp knife, slice the meat paper-thin. Arrange the slices of meat on a plate to cover the surface completely. Drizzle the dressing decoratively over the meat in ribbons. Serve immediately.

To prepare the dressing: Place the egg yolk, wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, mustard and a little salt and pepper in a mixing bowl, and beat the mixture with a whisk. Add the oil slowly in a steady stream as you continue beating until the mixture is smooth. Beat in the milk and a little broth or water, if required, to thin the mayonnaise to a thin sauce that just coats the back of a wooden spoon. Adjust the seasoning to taste.

Veal escalope with ham and sage

Ingredients
400 g veal, cut into thin slices
120 g ham, cut into thin slices
16 sage leaves
45 g unsalted butter
Salt
Pepper
Toothpicks


Remove fat from veal. Half them. Cut slices of ham into pieces with same dimensions of veal slices. Wash sage leaves and pat dry.
Spread out and pound veal; lay a slice of ham, a sage leaf and another slice of ham on each one, securing with a toothpick.
Melt butter in flameproof casserole, arrange saltimbocca, season to taste with salt and cook for 1-2 minutes over high flame. Remove from casserole; pour in 2 tbsp warm water and reduce cooking juice over high flame.
Serve with this sauce.