Instructions

1. Combine cooked rice, cornbread crumbs or sourdough bread cubes with your choice of cooked chopped vegetables and aromatics such as onions, leeks, garlic, carrots, celery and green peppers. A ratio of 1 cup rice to 1 cup vegetables works well. Throw in a scant handful of fresh herbs for every 2 cups of stuffing. Mix well.

2. Moisten the mixture with a splash of wine or chicken broth. The stuffing should be slightly moist but not soggy.

3. Rub the quail with melted butter, olive oil or flavored oil such as walnut. Season with salt and pepper. For an extra burst of flavor, thinly slice lemon, oranges or limes. Quarter the slices if necessary since quail are small birds. Slip your finger in between the flesh of the quail and the skin to loosen the skin, then slide the citrus slices under the skin next to the flesh. Leaving the skin on keeps the quail moist during roasting.

4. Hold the quail so the breast cavity is facing you. Push 1 or 2 tablespoons of stuffing into the cavity. Don't overfill the cavity as the stuffing expands as the quail roasts. You may be able to fit about 1/2 tablespoon more stuffing into the area above the breast bone that's covered by skin, where the neck would have been. Gently lift the skin and slide in the stuffing, then cover the stuffing back up with the skin. If you want more stuffing per person than you can fit in the quail, place a 1- to 2-inch layer of the stuffing in the bottom of the roasting pan. Put the quail on top of the stuffing. As the quail roasts it flavors the stuffing.

5. Place the quail in the roasting pan, breast-side up. Set the pan in a preheated 350 degrees Fahrenheit oven and roast for about 30 minutes, or until an instant-read meat thermometer reads 160 F. Allow the quail to rest for 10 minutes outside of the oven before serving.