Whipped labne with grilled quail

Got any leftover quince paste from your last cheese plate? Put it to good use with a rosemary and quince glaze, used to marinate quails to perfection before chargrilling and serving with whipped labne and freshly chopped gremolata for zesty freshness.

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  4

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Series. Cooking. Rated PG.

Stream free On Demand

The Cook Up with Adam Liaw

series • CookingPG

Ingredients

• 4 x 220 g jumbo quail
• 100 g quince paste
• 2 tbsp verjuice or water
• 2 tbsp chopped rosemary
• Sea salt flakes
• Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• Cooked polenta, to serve

For the gremolata

• 40 g flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 lemons
• 2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

For the whipped labne

• 1 cup labneh
• 1 lemon, zested
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Marinating time: 30 minutes; Resting time: 4 minutes

Instructions

1. To make the gremolata, finely chop the parsley on a chopping board, then finely grate the garlic and lemon zest directly over the parsley. Finely chop the garlic and lemon into the parsley, then squeeze over 1 tbsp lemon juice and drizzle with the olive oil, mixing to your preferred consistency. Spoon into a bowl and set aside.
2. To make the whipped labne, whisk the ingredients together in a medium bowl and refrigerate until needed.
3. For the quail, use sharp kitchen scissors to cut along either side of each quail backbone and remove. Open a quail up, skin side up and use the heel of your hand to firmly flatten, then repeat with the remaining quail. In a large bowl, combine the quince paste, verjuice (or water), rosemary and a generous pinch of salt. Add the prepared quails to the quince paste mixture and mix well to combine, ensuring all sides of the quail are coated. Marinate for 30 minutes.
4. When ready to cook, preheat a barbecue or chargrill pan to high. Lightly drizzle the quails with olive oil and season with salt inside and out. Place the quail inside down on the hot plate, then press to flatten – weighing down with a burger press or another heavy pan. Cook for 5 minutes (the ribs will seem very charred, but it works!), then turn and cook skin-side down for a further 1-2 minutes, keeping an eye on the skin to prevent any burning. When the quail is ready, the leg meat pulls away easily at the joint.
5. Transfer the grilled quails to a plate and drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil and allow to rest for 3-4 minutes. Serve the grilled quails with the polenta, whipped labne and gremolata.

Want more from The Cook Up? Stream all the seasons here and for free at SBS On Demand.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.