Anson Mills Stuffed Quail Improvisation

Once a year or so I like to have some of my gourmet chef friends over to repay them with a gourmet meal in gratitude for all the lovely meals they have cooked for me throughout the year. WHY do I always get so nervous? WHY is it always a huge honking big deal? WHY???? Because these guys are the best of the best. Interestingly, they are male. Perhaps it's just because I'm one of the "gals" trying to keep up with these super chefs. This year I felt that I had it pinned down weeks in advance. Roasted Stuffed Quail with Madeira Sauce. Sounds good. Looks amazing. I can do this. Not your normal dinner fare, I think. This could work. They could be impressed. Fast forward to the week of.....

-What do you mean I cannot get quail?
-What do you mean I'm out of Anson Mills rice grits?
-What do you mean Madeira wine costs $50 a bottle?
-What do you mean one of you can't eat Pancetta (pork)?

Was there anything going to go right with this meal tonight??????? Well, I had no time to regroup. Onward Christian soldiers......Change the quail to Cornish Hens, substitute brown rice for rice grits, go with a less expensive port wine although the recipe specifically says the Madeira wine is one of a kind, use turkey bacon to season the stuffing for the one chef with the dietary issues. Wow! If this improvised meal was made the "real" way, I would have thought I had died and gone to Heaven immediately. It was knock your socks off good. Here is how Anson Mills describes the "correct fowl" in this recipe....

What a surprise to discover little birds that taste like something reminiscent of a Carolina autumn. Crisp, succulent roasted fowl and woodland flavors echoed in the stuffing of Carolina Gold Rice Grits and Farro Piccolo and favored with a demi glace fortified by Madeira, which represents mankind’s highest form of grape artisanship. This dish honors the flavor legacy of grapes and quail, ancient and modern at once. It is a primordial pairing.

I cannot begin to imagine how good the quail would have been. I paired this with parsnip soup, a farro succotash, fresh salad and buttermilk chocolate cake. The soup was from fresh parsnips from the farmers' market that I had just bought. I had never worked with parsnips before other than mixing them in a smashed vegetable medley. Mixed with seasonal apples, sweet onions and cannellini beans it was hearty and by adding just a drizzle of maple syrup and olive oil on top it was quite tasty. The perfect prelude to the hens.

Everyone raved and I felt I had divided and conquered until again next year. I think the boys feel I can keep up with them still. Just don't tell them how "off the mark" I was with the true recipe! Then they might never forgive me.

Bon appetit to all of you who make us novices strive to be better every day!