Quails Gone Wild
quails on a blanket
Rather than kick off the barbecue season with the traditional fare, we decided to go wild this Memorial Day weekend. Guests were instructed to bring their favorite wild game to grill or smoke. The result was quite an eclectic collection of creatures. If you lined them up you'd have a veritable evolution line leading from sea to upright mammals on land. Okay, not upright mammals, but we had everything from shark, squid, quail, lamb, venison and rabbit represented on the fire. There was even promise of crocodile and zebra, but those friends must have been mauled by lions because they never arrived.
We finished off the evening with thick slices of coconut cake, a reminder that it's almost time to lather up with coconut oil sunscreen and hit the beach.
For some more dirty pictures of the quail click here.
Read on for the smoked rabbit and coconut cake recipes.
Smoked Rabbit
Mario, our trusted butcher, warned us that rabbit is prone to toughness. He suggested that we soak the hare he provided in a marinade of oil, vinegar and garlic overnight. As added insurance that our guests wouldn't be chewing endlessly, we decided to haul out our smoker and roasted the rabbit at low temperature to lock in flavor and moisture. The result was a sweet smoky meat that fell loosely off the little rib bones.
Marinade:
1 whole headless rabbit, skinned and dressed
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup cider vinegar
juice of one lemon
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. coarsely ground pepper
2 cloves of minced garlic
Soak the hare overnight in the marinade.
Smoker Preparation:
We use a bullet style smoker. It looks like an upright hollow bullet in which a water pan separates the grill racks from the direct heat of the barbecue brickets.
Soak a handful of your favorite woodchips in a pan of water. We like hickory or applewood.
In the base of the smoker, light a pile of charcoal brickets.
When the flame subsides and the coals are glowing red, add the woodchips to the fire, then place the water pan and grill rack stack over the brickets.
Put the marinated rabbit on a grill rack and cover.
The rabbit should be tender and ready in about 3-4 hours. To test if the meat is done, insert a fork into the flesh. If you can twist the fork and the meat shreds away with the consistency of pulled pork, the rabbit is ready for eating. The meat tastes like a rich smoky chicken.
Coconut Cake
In the preparation of the the rabbit (and quail) we consulted The Joy of Cooking quite heavily. The chapters on small game and wildfowl were very helpful and it introduced us to birds like the figpecker, thrushes, moorhens and gallinules. In our perusal of this helpful reference book, we came stumbled upon a recipe for coconut layer cake. That's when our mouth really began to water. Below is a variation on the Joy of Cooking coconut cake.
**Have all ingredients at 70 degrees. Grease two round cake pans that are 8-10" in diameter. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Ingredients:
Sift before measuring:
2 2/3 cups cake flour
Resift with:
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Cream until soft:
1 cup butter
Add gradually and cream until light:
2 cups sifted sugar
Beat in, one at a time:
4 egg yolks
Add:
1 1/4 tsp. coconut oil
Add flour mixture to the butter mixture in about 3 parts, alternating with:
1 cup milk
Fold into the batter:
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1 1/2 tsp. grated lemon rind
1/4 tsp. salt
Stir the batter until smooth after each addition. Whip until stiff, but not dry:
4 egg whites.
Fold them lightly into the batter.
Pour batter into greased cake pans. Cook for 30-35 minutes. Cool cakes on rack. The frost.
Frosting:
1 cup butter
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 Tbs. milk
1 cup grated coconut
1 tsp. lemon zest.
Cream the butter and smooth. Whip in sugar, adding milk if frosting gets dry. Fold in coconut and lemon zest.
