Chile Verde with Quail
Chile Verde with Quail
This recipe for Chili Verde with Quail is from Andrea and Ruben Mata. It was featured in Ruben’s story which is part of the educational video series How To Hunt Upland Birds by Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever. To watch the series to to www.howtohuntuplandbirds.org and learn everything you need to know to get started in upland bird hunting. The course is free, so check it out today!
Andrea Mata cooking Chile Verde with Quail as part of the How To Hunt Upland Birds educational video series.
Ingredients
The sauce:
- 8 tomatillos
- 2 anaheim or poblano peppers
- 3 jalapeno peppers
- 1 serrano pepper
- 1 bunch of cilantro
- 1 tsp. minced garlic
- 1 cup of chicken broth
The Quail:
- 5-10 quail cleaned and off the bone
- Salt (to taste)
- Pepper (to taste)
Recipe
Following is Andrea’s recipe for the Chile Verde with Quail. To learn more about Ruben’s and Andrea’s disagreement on who really created the recipe make sure you watch the series How To Hunt Upland Birds.
Step 1 – Husk and rinse the tomatillos and rinse and cut the stems off all the peppers.
Step 2 – Line a baking sheet with foil and broil the tomatillos and peppers on high for 20 minutes or until blackened, flipping everything half way through. You want the skin nice and roasted. The tomatillos may pop, but don’t worry, that helps with the flavor.
Step 3 – Remove the tomatillos and peppers from oven and place in bag to cool. Once they are cool enough to handle place the tomatillos in the blender (we use skin on but you can remove if you’d like).
Step 4 – Cut the peppers in half and remove seeds to cut some of the heat. I find that a spoon works best. Again, you can remove the skin, however we choose to leave it on as we really like the smoky flavor it adds.
Step 5 – Add the peppers to the blender, along with the teaspoon of minced garlic and cilantro and blend well.
While the peppers and tomatillos are roasting and cooling you can start the meat. When Rubin is able to get a limit of quail (in California it’s 10) that is enough to feed 4-6 people.
Step 6 – Once he cleans them, I pull as much meat as I can get off the bones to make sure we have little to no waste.
Step 7 – Take whatever meat you can pull, add it to a skillet with one teaspoon of olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper. Brown the meat for perhaps a few minutes, making sure you get all sides browned; however, you don’t have to worry about cooking it all the way through. Once browned, put the meat to the side until your sauce is made.
Step 8 – Add the tomatillo and pepper sauce from the blender to a large pan (I like using a deep sauté pan), add one cup chicken stock and the browned quail, bring to a boil and simmer for 2 hours.
Serve with rice, beans and tortilla chips and enjoy!
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