Cailles à la Dauphine

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •2-quart (1.9-liter) deep ovenproof gratin dish
• •Small rimmed roasting tray
• •3-quart (2.8-liter) wide saucepan with lid
• •Immersion blender
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Kitchen twine and kitchen scissors

Instructions

1. 1

   Stage the kitchen

   Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C), or 400°F (200°C) with a fan, with a rack in the upper-middle position. Line the bottom and sides of a 2-quart (1.9-liter) deep gratin dish with overlapping slices of ham, leaving no broad patches of bare dish. Measure the peas, shred the lettuce, and set the water and blender beside the stove. This mise en place is the honest home equivalent of the second pair of hands assumed by the original direction.

2. 2

   Wrap and first-roast

   Pat the quails thoroughly dry, then season their cavities and outsides with half the salt and a pinch of the white pepper. Spread 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 14 g) of the butter over the vine leaves and wrap one leaf around each bird, buttered side against the flesh. Lay a bacon slice over each leaf-wrapped breast and secure the parcel with a single loop of kitchen twine. Arrange the quails breast-side up on a small rimmed roasting tray and roast for exactly 10 minutes. The bacon may only be beginning to color; this is the first roast, not the finish.

   Dry birds brown; damp birds merely sweat beneath their wrappings. The vine leaves must also be well dried before they're buttered.
3. 3

   Build the green purée

   As soon as the quails enter the oven, put the peas, shredded lettuce, water, remaining 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) butter, remaining salt, and remaining white pepper into a wide saucepan. Cover and cook over medium-high heat for 4 to 6 minutes, stirring once, until the lettuce has collapsed and a pea crushes readily beneath the back of a spoon. Take the pan off the heat and blend with an immersion blender until smooth, keeping the blade submerged. Return the pan to medium heat and stir continuously until the purée is somewhat stiff, glossy, and able to hold a soft mound, about 3 to 5 minutes. Draw the spoon across the pan: its path should remain visible for a moment. If the purée runs back at once, keep reducing it before assembly. Ça se rattrape. If it becomes pasty, beat in hot water 1 teaspoon (5 ml / 5 g) at a time until it is supple but still holds its shape.

   If the first ten-minute roast finishes before the purée is firm, remove the quails from the oven and let them wait on their tray. Don't overcook the birds while chasing the reduction.
4. 4

   Set the Dauphine dish

   Remove the quails after their first 10 minutes and snip away the twine without disturbing the vine leaves or bacon. Spoon the stiff pea-and-lettuce purée into the ham-lined dish and smooth the surface. Half-plunge the quails into the purée, breast-side up, so the lower half of each bird is supported by the green bed while the bacon-covered breast remains visible. The purée must hold them where you place them; if they sink or the surface floods around them, lift the birds out and reduce the purée again before continuing.

5. 5

   Roast and serve

   Return the assembled dish to the oven for 10 minutes. The bacon should be burnished, the butter should gleam across the birds, and the purée should show a gentle bubbling edge without becoming loose. Check the thickest part of a thigh without touching bone; it must reach 165°F (74°C). If it falls short, roast in 2-minute intervals and check again. Carry the dish directly to the table and spoon some ham-lined purée beneath each quail. This dish waits for no one. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Choose plump quails of roughly equal size so all four finish together. If yours are smaller than 5 ounces (140 g), begin checking them 2 minutes before the end of the second roast; larger birds must be judged by temperature, not wishful thinking.
• •Fresh young peas are splendid in season. Outside it, frozen petits pois are the honest classical pantry answer and often give a sweeter, greener purée than tired fresh peas.
• •Brined vine leaves work well, but rinse them in two changes of cool water and dry them thoroughly. Bacon, ham, and brined leaves all carry salt, so season the purée with attention before adding more.
• •The purée should be firm, not dry. It must hold the quails while remaining soft enough to spoon beneath them; the clean path left by the spoon is a better test than the clock.
• •Pour a fresh, rounded white Burgundy such as Saint-Véran or Mâcon-Villages. It has enough body for the bacon and butter without trampling the peas.
• •Cailles à la Dauphine is best the moment it leaves the oven. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and keep them for no more than 2 days; reheat covered and gently, because a second fierce roasting dries quail.

Advance Preparation

• •The quails can be seasoned, wrapped in vine leaves and bacon, and refrigerated for up to 4 hours. Bring them out while the oven heats so they lose their deepest chill.
• •Line the gratin dish with ham and prepare the peas and lettuce up to 4 hours ahead, then cover and refrigerate them separately. Keep the final cooking and reduction of the purée close to serving so its color and flavor remain lively.
• •For calmer dinner-party service, cook and blend the pea-and-lettuce mixture up to 2 hours ahead, cover its surface, and refrigerate it promptly. Reheat and complete the stiff reduction while the quails undergo their first roast.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 340g)