Southern-fried quail with blue cheese dressing
- Preparation and cooking time
- Prep:
- Cook:
- plus at least 6 hrs marinating
- More effort
- Serves 4
Ingredients
- 100ml buttermilk
- ¼ tsp ground cumin
- 3 quails, split in half through the middle so you have six halves
- sunflower oil, for deep-frying
- celery leaves, to serve (optional)
For the dressing
- 4 tbsp mayonnaise
- 4 tbsp buttermilk
- 40g soft blue cheese, crumbled
- pinch celery salt
For the spiced flour
- 250g plain flour
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp onion salt
- ¼ tsp dried oregano
- ¼ tsp chilli flakes
Method
- STEP 1
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.
- STEP 2
To make the dressing, beat the mayonnaise, buttermilk, cheese and celery salt together – don’t worry if it’s not totally smooth. Keep chilled.
- STEP 3
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.
- STEP 4
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.
