A Provencal Meal with Quail and Rice
Traditional Provencal food is anything but fancy. Sure the Côte d’Azur has always had a particular cache and of course Aix-en-Provence borders on regal, but the countryside where the grapes, olives and everything else grows is where the real Provençaux live trying to earn a living from their farms. In this Cocoa & Lavender recipe, David explores a dish that is similar to a paella with rice and quail.
Cailles aux riz Provençal
According to Cocoa & Lavender: Overall, this dish is similar to a paella: a rice dish with bits of meat and vegetables added to give flavour, texture, as visual interest. The little bit is sauce on top could be increased but it seemed just right as is.
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp olive oil divided
- 1 large onion halved and sliced
- 3 small carrots peeled and cut into matchsticks
- 3 stalks celery cut into matchsticks
- 1 1/2 cups long grain rice
- 1 tsp herbes de Provence
- 1/4 tsp lavender buds crushed
- large pinch salt
- 3 bay leaves fresh (or 1 dried)
- 3 1/2 cups chicken broth simmering
- 8 quail semi-boneless, washed and patted dry
- freshly ground black pepper
- salt
- 1 cup white wine
- 1 cup crushed tomatoes
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large skillet or paella pan over medium-low heat.
- Slowly cook the onion, carrot, and celery for 10 minutes, until soft but not brown.
- Turn the heat to medium-high.
- Add the rice, herbes de Provence, lavender, salt, and bay leaves and cook for 5 minutes, when rice has turned white and chalky looking.
- Add the simmering broth, and cover, reducing the heat to low. Simmer for 30 minutes.
- Heat the remaining oil in a large skillet and brown the quail on both side, starting with the breast side - about 3 minutes per side.
- Set aside pan with drippings.
- Open the pan with the rice and add the quail, feet facing inward and breast side up.
- Re-cover and continue to simmer for the remainder of the 30 minutes.
- Just before serving, heat the skillet with the quail drippings and deglaze the pan with the white wine.
- When reduced by half, add the tomatoes and simmer till reduced a bit.
- Keep warm until it is time to serve.
- Drizzle the sauce over the quail and rice.
- Bring pan with the quail to the table, remove the cover, and serve.
Notes
An equally delicious, but cost effective alternative to quail would be chicken thighs.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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