Lamb and rose stuffed quails with harissa and apricots

Quails are popular in France and available in the supermarkets all year. Easy to ignore because of their diminutive size they do offer a delicious meal though you normally need two per person.

This recipe come from a London chef, Yotam Ottolenghi, who was born and grew up in Jerusalem and the influences of the middle east show in his cooking. He writes regularly in the Guardian newspaper and, to be honest, we’ve not tried any of his recipes before because; a) they often seemed too cheffy and time consuming for the home cook, and b) he uses ingredients that aren’t readily available outside the metropolis of large cities like London. However, we spotted this recipe at the weekend and it seemed quite easy and with ingredients readily available – though would you believe we scoured the local supermarket and their wasn’t a dried rose petal in sight!

We had friends over for a meal last night and this is what we cooked, minus the rose petals and rose water – they were really delicious and we added to the stuffing some of our favourite Seasoned Pioneers ras-el-hanout spice which has rose petals in it. If we ever get the chance to buy the rose petals it would be interesting to see what difference it would make.

It may seem a strange combination poultry and lamb but it works so do try it.

The recipe given by Ottolenghi is for 6, which seems an odd number to choose. We made the full recipe of stuffing (which was easier than trying to scale it down) which leaves some over and we plan to use it for another meal later in the week – meatballs or koftas perhaps?

serves 6

150g dried apricots
400g minced lamb
150g fresh white breadcrumbs  
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp grated lemon zest
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
20g chopped parsley
40g chopped coriander
3 tsp dried rose petals
Salt and black pepper
12 medium-sized quails
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp harissa paste
2 tbsp rosewater
2½ tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp honey

Finely chop 30g of the apricots and put them in a bowl with the lamb, breadcrumbs, cinnamon, lemon zest, garlic, parsley, half the coriander, a teaspoon of rose petals, a teaspoon of salt and plenty of black pepper. Mix well and stuff into the quails.

In another bowl, mix the oil, harissa, rosewater, lemon juice, honey, three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt and some pepper. Rub this all over the quails and marinate in the fridge for at least two hours, and preferably overnight.

Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6. Put the quails breast side down in a roasting tray large enough to hold them snugly. Pour over any marinade and 150ml water, cover with foil and roast for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut the remaining apricots into 0.5cm-thick slices and, once the 25 minutes are up, add to the pan. Turn over the quails, return to the oven uncovered, and roast for 20-30 minutes more, until cooked. Remove the quails from the pan and keep them covered in a large bowl.

Tip the sauce from the tray into a medium saucepan and simmer for three to five minutes, until thick. Pour over the quails, add the rest of the coriander and stir to coat. Place the birds on a platter, sprinkle with the remaining rose petals and serve.

couscous with toasted seeds, almonds and pomegranate

We served it with couscous to which we added a mixture of toasted seeds and flaked almonds and to emphasise the middle eastern we stirred in pomegranate seeds and some chopped coriander.