Grilled Quail and Cous Cous (by G)

Biggs seemed to be suffering from an excess of melancholic humor lately - as any 5th century physician will tell you the cure is to apply land squab (aka quail) to the affected area. So I bought some quail.

To marinate the quail I first halved them then pan toasted cinnamon, coriander seed, cumin seed, chilli flakes, fennel seeds, paprika and all spice then ground them to a powder in the mortar.  I added a little olive oil to make a paste, coated the quail halves in it and left them for about an hour.  Once marinated I put them into a super hot oven for about 20 minutes then applied some lemon juice and salt and stuck them under the grill.

In the past I have been anti cous cous, lately however (since I've begun cooking with it myself) I have become a bit of a fan.  This time I fried some onion, garlic, chorizo, coriander stalks and porcini mushrooms then added the cous cous and a mix of chicken style stock and porcini soaking liquid then just let the cous cous do it's thing - I did add some ground toasted almonds and a chunk of butter at the end to ramp up the happy.

I also made a yoghurt side sauce by simply adding chopped coriander, mint, garlic, shallot, chilli flakes and salt.

The little birds were alright (I always feel a bit guilty ripping apart a little creature) - the hearts were still in the body, I wish I had done something with them separately because they were bland, like they had been steamed.  The cous cous was amazing if I do say so myself. I had planned to add olives but saw really cheap dried porcini in the supermarket so I went in that direction instead. It was a winner.