Quail with Spice Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 onions
• 200 g celery root
• 2 carrots
• 1 tbsp plant oil
• 400 ml red wine
• 3 fresh bay leaves
• 1 piece lemon zest (untreated)
• 3 cloves of clove
• 1 tsp allspice berries
• 0.5 tsp Peppercorns
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 quail (ready to cook)
• Salt
• pepper (ground)
• 60 g soft butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• a splash lemon juice
• a pinch sugar

Instructions

1. 1.

   Preheat the oven to 160°C fan.

2. 2.

   Peel and dice onions, celery root, and carrots. In a roasting pan, brown them in oil for about 10 minutes. Deglaze with wine. Add bay leaves, lemon zest, cloves, allspice, peppercorns, and cinnamon. Pat quail dry, season inside and out with salt and pepper. Melt 40 g butter and brush the quail; set aside the rest. Place quail breast side up on the vegetables. Roast in the oven for about 30 minutes until golden brown, basting occasionally and adding wine if needed.

3. 3.

   Remove the pan from the oven and take out the quail. Place them on a rack (with a fat pan underneath), brush with remaining melted butter, and roast at 200°C until all sides are golden.

4. 4.

   Strain the sauce through a fine sieve into a pot and bring to a boil. To thicken, whisk flour with the remaining soft butter using a fork. Stir portions of this mixture into the simmering sauce until desired thickness is reached. Simmer for a few minutes, strain again if lumps form, then season with lemon juice, sugar, salt, and pepper.

5. 5.

   Arrange quail on a preheated plate, drizzle some sauce over them, and serve the rest separately.