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[Daniel]

I am making Sunday Dinner tomorrow night.. I am trying my hardest to make a healthy dinner.. So far, I have two things I am serving.. I feel like I should make something else.. Besides a healthy dessert..

One Course:

Lentil Salad w/ Scallops:

Lentils with a dijon dressing. Grilled Scallops

Grilled Quail:

Figured I would grill quail w/ a soupy polenta mixed with wild mushrooms and a shot of truffle oil..

I was recently bought an Ice Cream Machine by my guests.. So I feel like I need to use my gift.. I need some sort of sorbet or sorbets that I should make.. Please direct me to any recipe you might suggest..

Also, does anyone see another course or dish I could add to the line up..

Also, also.. I have Quail Eggs.. Can anyone help me add Quail Eggs to the dish or a seperate dish..

Edited January 22, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[Jensen]

I was recently bought an Ice Cream Machine by my guests.. So I feel like I need to use my gift.. I need some sort of sorbet or sorbets that I should make.. Please direct me to any recipe you might suggest..

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I have a recipe for Meyer lemon granita that could probably be adapted to an ice cream maker (she said even though she's never used an ice cream maker before in her life). I will PM it to you as I'm sure it's under copyright.

[Daniel]

Thank you, Jensen.. Can I substitute a Meyer Lemon for the 3 for a dollar kind?

Edited January 22, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[Shalmanese]

I was recently bought an Ice Cream Machine by my guests.. So I feel like I need to use my gift.. I need some sort of sorbet or sorbets that I should make.. Please direct me to any recipe you might suggest..

Also, does anyone see another course or dish I could add to the line up..

Also, also.. I have Quail Eggs.. Can anyone help me add Quail Eggs to the dish or a seperate dish..

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If pomegranites are in season over there, you HAVE to try a pomegranite sorbet. It's out of this world. Otherwise, I was quite impressed by my lemon-mint sorbet with dark chocolate:

I guess you could also make a quail egg ice-cream of some sort .

[Jensen]

I've thought about this but I'm really not sure. Meyers are much sweeter than true lemons (apparently, they're a hybrid of an orange and a lemon???).

My postie can't stand Meyer lemons (if you have a lemon tree around here, you try everything to get anybody to take some) but I prefer them to the Lisbons or Eurekas. They are a real treat.

[Daniel]

I was recently bought an Ice Cream Machine by my guests.. So I feel like I need to use my gift.. I need some sort of sorbet or sorbets that I should make.. Please direct me to any recipe you might suggest..

Also, does anyone see another course or dish I could add to the line up..

Also, also.. I have Quail Eggs.. Can anyone help me add Quail Eggs to the dish or a seperate dish..

←

If pomegranites are in season over there, you HAVE to try a pomegranite sorbet. It's out of this world. Otherwise, I was quite impressed by my lemon-mint sorbet with dark chocolate:

I guess you could also make a quail egg ice-cream of some sort .

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I am not that talented to make a quail egg ice cream.. The only thing I see myself doing is a deep fried quail and mini waffle, with a mini quail egg on top.. Served with a little syrup... But I am doing a healthy dinner..

Has anyone poached a quail egg? How does it come out and pointers

[Daniel]

I've thought about this but I'm really not sure. Meyers are much sweeter than true lemons (apparently, they're a hybrid of an orange and a lemon???).

My postie can't stand Meyer lemons (if you have a lemon tree around here, you try everything to get anybody to take some) but I prefer them to the Lisbons or Eurekas. They are a real treat.

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So should I do one part lemon and two parts F.S O.J. ...

Oh, Oh.. I have Meyer Lemon Olive Oil if anyone wants to give me an Olive Oil Ice Cream Recipe.. Oh wait, its supposed to be healthy.. If its good enough maybe I will sneak it in..

Edited January 22, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[Verjuice]

Daniel,

For that missing course, have you thought about setting the quail eggs on a salad? You could use some peppery, bitter wintry greens like watercress or rocket. though. Endive would be good too. You could use either your tuffle oil or your meyer lemon olive oil, as well.

Check out this excellent article about chefs' creative use of eggs, and this one, specifically about dishes featuring poached eggs.

These look good, too. You can probably adapt them without much of a problem. Bitter green and poached eggs go really well together.

Crayfish and Poached Quail Eggs Salad with Truffle Vinaigrette

Poached Quail Egg Salad with Watercress and Tarragon Sauce

As for dessert. How about thin sliver of clementine almond cake (just oranges, sugar, almond and eggs, not too rich but very tasty) with small scoops of Greek yogurt. Drizzle of honey and sprinkling of chopped pistachios, perhaps. Come to think of it, I bet it's be fantastic with olive oil gelato. Don't know about the Meyer lemon bit, though. I love Meyer lemons but they might overwhelm the cake.

Or a pavlova with pomegranite sorbet and lots of passion fruit seeds squeezed over; meringue is light, right?

Or you could make a light sponge cake and serve with poached fruit.

I like the upthread idea of pomegranate sorbet. Pomegranate and quail is very "Like Water for Chocolate", if I remember correctly.

I've heard great things about well made dark chocolate sorbet, but I've never tried it myself.

Tuiles.

Warm, tropical flavors are always welcome in winter, no? Mangoes, passion fruit. Didn't you make a coconut creme brulee a while back for one of your dinners? You could serve tiny portions of that in demitasse cups, with a little mound of tropical fruit salad. If you can create a homemade approximation of that amazing Liberte coconut dessert yogurt, then that would be a lighter alternative.

Good luck.

[Daniel]

Thank you, thank you Shalmanese and Verjuice..

I was wondering if having a few scallops and a little lentil mixed with a vinegar dijon dressing might be over kill with the salads.. But maybe if I make a lot less of the lentils and make the scallops the main attraction of the dish, I could get a away making another salad? Or maybe I should serve the Quail with the Lentil salad and put an egg a top the salad? And make a different main with scallops..

I thought of cracking a quail egg over some type of steamed green and then baking in a mini gratin for a bit.. Or could I place a fried quail egg over the soupy polenta, under the mushrooms? Might be over kill..

Thanks for the articles. Really interesting.. Glad to see Onera got mentioned..

[dvs]

ahi tartare w/ a quail egg perched in the center (mix in after presentation)

[iriee]

maybe make a wilted salad with lentils mixed in at the end and garnish with a fried quail egg and the quail. be careful when you crack the quail egg. use a serated knife to saw through shell. lime and basil sorbet is real nice and refreshing . maybe a small scoop before the entree ? have fun!

[Luckylies]

poach the egg like this...

grab some plastic wrap (do you have the thick kind?)

lay a square of it overlapping the outside of an egg cup or the egg carton.

rub it with some olive oil and hit it with some salt (if you feel like it)

crack the egg into the dibit

pull the corners of the wrap up and tie with some plastic wrap (it should be a little beggars purse) try to eliminate air bubbles.

poach the bundles...for not too long, y'heard.....

[ludja]

I like Shalmanese's idea re: the pomegranate sorbet. Another sorbet that I think would go very well at the end of that meal would be pineapple.

Process one large pineapple (de-cored and eyes removed) to get a quart of puree. For 1 quart of puree use 2/3 cup sugar. Heat a half cup or so of the puree over medium heat and add in sugar and stir until dissolved. Add sugared pineapple to rest of the puree and add 1/2 tsp kirsch or more to taste. Cool completely in fridge then freeze in ice cream maker. Can serve with a dollop of whipped cream if desired and/or a crispy cookie.

This sherbert/sorbet has a lovely texture and great flavor; kirsch and pineapple are made for each other.

(adapted from Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook)

Edited January 22, 2006 by ludja (log)

[Shalmanese]

A while ago, someone came up with a quail egg ravioli which I thought looked absolutely fantastic. It's a bit delicate and tricky but doable.

Basically, you get the yolk of the quail egg and put it in a VERY thin layer of pasta with some sea salt sprinkled over the top and then layer on another very thin layer of pasta. Dip in boiling water for 30 seconds, then serve with a strongly flavoured broth.

[Daniel]

Wanted to post my dinner thank you for your help everyone.. I got a lot of interesting ideas from all yalls.. As for tonights dinner I added a salad course and went with a sorbet too because of your suggestions..

Verjuice, here was the salad you suggested I make.. It was good.. It was missing some things that I didnt want to add.. I was trying to make a lighter dish.. I would at least add some croutons the next time I make it..

Poached Quail Egg Salad with Watercress and Tarragon Sauce

Next I made grilled scallops w/ a red pepper coulis I was talking about.. Underneath I had lentils mixed with dijon vinegraette.. Added chopped onion and red pepper..

Broiled quail with soupy polenta, truffle oil chantrells, and a cherry veal sauce..

Thank you for all your suggestions.. I made the sorbet out of things I had in my place. I used Rose Water and canned Lichees.. It was outrageous.. Such a natural pairing..