Party food recipe for 4 people, takes only 6 mins; recipe has buttermilk, ground cumin, quail, sunflower oil, celery leaves, mayonnaise, buttermilk, blue cheese, celery salt, plain flour, cayenne pepper, onion salt, dried oregano and chilli flakes.
Southern-fried quail with blue cheese dressing
Course: Party food
Servings
4
servings
Prep time
10 mins
Ingredients
- Buttermilk: 100ml buttermilk
- Ground Cumin: 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- Quail: 3 quails, split in half through the middle so you have six halves
- Sunflower Oil: sunflower oil, for deep-frying
- Celery Leaves: celery leaves, to serve (optional)
- Mayonnaise: 4 tbsp mayonnaise
- Blue Cheese: 40g soft blue cheese, crumbled
- Celery Salt: pinch celery salt
- Plain Flour: 250g plain flour
- Cayenne Pepper: 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- Onion Salt: 1/2 tsp onion salt
- Dried Oregano: 1/4 tsp dried oregano
- Chilli Flakes: 1/4 tsp chilli flakes
Directions
- Mix the 100ml buttermilk, cumin and a large pinch of salt together in a bowl. Put the quail halves in the buttermilk mix so they are completely covered, then chill for at least 6 hrs or overnight.
- To make the dressing, beat the mayonnaise, buttermilk, cheese and celery salt together - don't worry if it's not totally smooth. Keep chilled.
- When ready to cook, mix all the spiced flour ingredients together. Heat a deep-fat fryer or a deep pan with sunflower oil to 175C. Remove the quail from the fridge, then dip each half in the spiced our and carefully drop them in the fryer.
- Fry for about 6 mins until golden and crisp, then drain on kitchen paper and leave to rest for 2 mins or so. Pile onto a large serving plate, put the blue cheese sauce on the side for dipping, and scatter over the celery leaves, if you like.
