Baked Stuffed Quail

Servings

10

Ingredients

• 4 slices bacon
• vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 cups chopped pecans
• 1 1/2 cups yellow polenta
• 1 1/4 cups plain flour
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 pound minced pork sausage
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
• 3/4 cup Riesling wine, divided
• 10 quail, dressed
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 6 tablespoons butter or margarine
• Garnish: fresh parsley sprigs

Instructions

1. COOK bacon in a large skillet until crisp; remove bacon, reserving drippings. Crumble bacon, and set aside. Measure drippings, and add enough vegetable oil to measure 1/2 cup. Set aside.
2. STIR together polenta and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Stir together eggs, buttermilk, and drippings mixture. Add to polenta mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in bacon and 3/4 cup pecans. Spoon batter into a greased 9- x 5-inch loaf pan.
3. BAKE at 170°C for 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 30 minutes; remove from pan, and cool completely. Brown sausage in a large skillet, stirring until it crumbles and is no longer pink. Remove from heat; stir in ginger, and set aside.
4. SLICE ends from cornbread loaf, and crumble enough to measure 1 cup. Slice remaining cornbread into 10 slices, and set aside.
5. STIR together sausage mixture, cornbread crumbs, remaining 1/2 cup pecans, and apricots. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup wine, and stir well. Rinse quail thoroughly with cold water; pat dry. Spoon 1/4 cup stuffing mixture into body cavity of each quail. Secure each cavity with wooden picks, and tie legs together with string. Combine 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper; dredge stuffed quail in flour mixture. Melt butter in a large heavy skillet. Add quail, and brown on both sides. Remove quail from skillet, and arrange in a 13- x 9-inch pan. Add remaining 1/2 cup wine to drippings in skillet; bring to a boil, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet. Spoon over quail. Bake, covered, at 175°C for 45 minutes.
6. TOAST cornbread slices, and cut into triangles. Arrange cornbread around quail on a platter; garnish, if desired.