Roast quail with polenta and mushrooms

Ingredients

For 1 serving

• Quail1.5
• Fresh sageto taste
• Cremini mushrooms150 g
• Garlic1 clove
• Polenta (cornmeal)50 g
• Extra virgin olive oil8 g
• Saltto taste
• Black pepperto taste

In season: September – November

Method

1. Preheat a conventional oven to 200 °C. Rinse the quails inside and out, pat them dry and remove any stray feathers; put a sage leaf inside each one, season with salt, pepper and half the oil and tie the legs with string.
2. Put them in a baking dish with the remaining sage leaves and roast for 25 minutes, turning halfway, until the skin is golden and the juices from the thigh run clear.
3. Meanwhile wipe the chestnut mushrooms with a damp cloth and slice them. Heat the remaining oil with the crushed garlic clove in a frying pan over high heat and sauté them for 8 minutes, until golden and their liquid has evaporated; season with salt and pepper and remove the garlic.
4. Bring about four times the polenta's weight in water to the boil in a small pan and salt it; pour in the polenta in a thin stream, whisking, and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring, until thick and pulling away from the sides.
5. Remove the string and serve the quails on the polenta with the mushrooms and the roasting juices.