Roast Dinner in Miniature

Today is Yorkshire day, a celebration of everything in God’s own county!  Why not mark the day with a twist on a classic roast dinner in minature from Yorkshire Food Finder! Make the veg stock for the Yorkshire puds by sauteing the leeks, onion and garlic until soft, add the rest of the ingredients and cover with water. Boil for 10 mins then strain and chill.  Prepare the quail and stuffing by preheating oven to 200C and de-bone the quail breast, removing the ribs and cartilage. Cut off the legs and wings - set aside. Put the breasts skin side down between two sheets of cling film and flatten with a meat tenderiser taking care not to damage the breast meat until twice their normal size. Sauté the legs and wings until brown in the rapeseed oil (use the legs and wings from the remaining two birds for game stock)and add the white wine. Let it bubble and reduce the add the vegetable stock, a squeeze of tomato puree and sprigs of thyme. Reduce the jus while you prepare the rest of the dish. Blend the cornflour with cold water and add a little at a time to the now reduced jus, stirring and making sure it doesn’t become too thick. Season and add a pinch of caster sugar to taste. Set aside until ready to serve. Put the couscous into a bowl and add the boiling water and a knob of butter. Finely chop the shallot and sage, sauté until soft but not coloured and add to the couscous. Lift the legs out of the jus and cool for a moment then remove the skin from the legs and pick off the leg meat. Chop finely and add to the couscous mix. Season to taste. Lay two overlapped pieces of cling film on the damp surface and lay a quail breast on it, skin side down. Arrange a line of the sage and onion couscous mix onto the middle of the breast and using the cling film to roll into a sausage and twist the ends to shape. Repeat with the other breasts. Put both the breasts into the pan of the boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove the breasts from the water, snip the cling film at one end and squeeze the cooked breast out. Season with a little salt and sauté quickly in a pan until coloured on all sides – about 3-4 minutes. Put on a board to rest and loosely cover with foil. Heat up the sunflower oil in a small sauté pan, add the whole sage leaves and cook for just a few seconds until crisp and drain on kitchen paper. For the Yorkshire puddings - Make batter with the flour, salt, eggs, chilled milk and chilled vegetable stock, making sure you add the chopped thyme. Refrigerate while you heat a knob of the goose fat until smokng in 12 of the holes in a mini morsel tin. Pour the pudding batter into the tin, making sure it comes no more than halfway up, and return to the oven. Remove the Yorkshire puddings from the oven. Slice the quail breast and stand a piece in each of the mini puddings. Stand up a crisp sage leaf as garnish in the heart of the pudding next to the quail, and pour over a little of the jus.