Category Archives: Recipes – All About – Tried and Tested

Cooking for Family and Friends

Ragù di Quaglia (Quail Pasta Sauce)

Every so often the freezer fills up with mature, processed quails, and the best solution is to turn them into something truly special : a slow-cooked ragù. On this occasion, I pulled 40 frozen quails from the freezer and spent most of Sunday afternoon transforming them into a rich, deeply flavoured sauce that can be enjoyed for months to come.

This is a labour of love, but one that rewards you generously. This is not just a sauce – it’s a celebration of North Italian tradition, where time, patience, and respect for every ingredient create something unforgettable. Cooked slowly, bottled carefully, and served with fresh pasta, it brings the warmth of our kitchen straight to your table.

Ingredients

  • 40 deboned quails
  • 2 kg finely chopped onions (50% brown, 50% red)
  • 250 g extra virgin olive oil
  • 250 g butter
  • 200 g finely chopped celery
  • 200 g finely chopped carrot
  • 50 g salt (adjust to taste)
  • 50 g freshly ground black pepper (adjust to taste)
  • 250 ml full-cream milk
  • 500 ml white wine
  • 500 ml stock (quail stock preferred)
  • 500 g tomato purée
  • 1 kg tinned tomato passata
  • 100 g finely chopped garlic
  • 50 g finely chopped fresh hot chilli (optional)
  • 5 g freshly grated nutmeg
  • A handful of hand-shredded fresh basil
  • 2 Cups Grated Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese

Method

In a very large, heavy-based pot (large enough to hold all the ingredients), add the olive oil, butter, and chopped onions. Sauté gently over medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent, but not browned.

Add the celery and carrot and cook gently for a further 5 minutes.

Add the quail meat, season with salt and pepper, and cook until lightly browned. Stir in the tomato purée and cook for a few minutes to deepen the flavour.

Pour in the white wine and cook until it has completely evaporated. Add a portion of the stock and stir frequently.

Reduce the heat to medium, then add the garlic, chilli (if using), milk, and nutmeg. Cook until the milk has fully evaporated, stirring regularly.

Stir in all the tomato passata. Once the ragù begins to bubble, reduce the heat to low and cook uncovered for 4–5 hours. Stir often and do not let it burn. As the ragù thickens, add more stock, as needed to maintain a rich, slow-simmering consistency.

Once cooked, bottle the ragù, seal, and pasteurise.

Storage & Yield

The great advantage of this method is longevity : the bottled ragù can be stored in the pantry for a very long time and provides an exceptional, ready-to-use meal at any time.

This batch yielded approximately 50–60 meal portions. For a family-sized version, simply divide all quantities by ten.

If quail is not available, a combination of beef and pork makes an excellent alternative.

Pasta al Ragù di Quaglia

While the pasta cooks in ample salted water – fresh pappardelle is my preference – open a bottle of ragù and transfer it to a pan large enough to accommodate both the pasta and sauce.

Gently heat the ragù. Drain the pasta while it is just shy of al dente and add it directly to the pan. Toss the pasta and ragù together over low heat until fully cooked, stirring and lifting constantly (Mantecare).

If the sauce becomes too thick, add a little stock, or some of the salted boiling pasta water. Finish with fresh basil, give it one final toss, and serve immediately topped with ample grated Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese.

Pasta al Ragù di Quaglia should be served piping hot – and enjoyed without haste.

Do not forget the bottle of home made red wine to finish it all !

PASTA CAVOLFIORE (Broccoli Pasta)

Ingredients 

1 medium cauliflower broken in to florets

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed

6 anchovies

6 tablespoons of olive oil for the sauce 

6 tablespoons of olive oil for roasting 

190g of any short cut dry pasta

1/2 cup of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

salt and pepper to taste   

preheat the oven to 200C

Put the raw cauliflower in a bowl, add the olive oil and turn the couliflower over until the florets are well covered. Put the florets in a roasting pan that  will take all the cauliflower in one level. Roast the florets until they are golden. The tips can be a little blackened because that enhances the nutty flavour 

When the cauliflower has roasted, put the pasta on the stove to boil

Use a pot that can contain the florets and pasta together, put the 6 tablespoons of olive oil in the pot and add the garlic and all the anchovies. Turn the heat to low and brown the garlic, the anchovy will melt in to the oil

When the pasta has cooked, save 1/4 cup of the pasta water and drain the pasta. Pour the pasta directly into the anchovy and garlic sauce and mix well. Add a bit of the pasta water to the mix if needed. Serve immediately, put the cheese on the table so everyone can add cheese to taste  

STROMBOLI

We expected 2 friends for dinner tonight and I decided to bake a STROMBOLI instead of the normal bread I always make

I used my standard bread dough recipe, using my own organic milled wheat flour and rolled it out about 0.5 cm thick. Dressed it with Fresh baby Spinach, Caciocavallo cheese, Tomatoes, Capocollo, Salami, Garlic, Parsley, Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper – Most of the Produce, Cheese and Salumi are my own produce

Roll it up thightly

Proof it in one of my spare egg incubators

Bake at 225 C for 30 minutes, turn the heat down to 190 C and bake for another 30 minutes

Ready for the guests

The end product was not only visually appealing, but met with the approval of all !!

RISOTTO alla BARBABIETOLA (Beetroot Risotto)

Winter in Dunedin means that the garden is not very productive and we need to eat what is available. Beetroot seems to ignore the cold and the plants were producing throughout winter – fortunately I planted enough. The problem of too little vegetable varieties becomes more intense as one runs out of ideas as to how the beetroot is going to be cooked today. I harvested some more beetroot and asked Mrs BYF to do something else with it this time and she came up with this wonderful Beetroot Risotto – I am now sorry I did not plant more.

Ingredients

4 small or 2 large Beetroot (about 500g) washed but not trimmed 

1 whole Garlic

4 Scallions (because we have lots in the garden) finely chopped, including the tender parts of the green leaves. 

1 1/2 cups of risotto rice like Arborio or Carnaroli

500ml of Stock. Any good stock will do of which we again have ample supplies of. 

Olive oil for frying 

1 tablespoon of Butter to add at the end. 

Salt and Pepper to taste. 

Grated Parmigiano reggiano to serve. 

Pre heat the oven to 200C. Brush the beetroot and the garlic with olive oil and roast until cooked, about 40 minutes. Don’t leave them too long, they get dry and wrinkly.

When the beetroot and garlic are done and have cooled enough to handle, trim and chop the beetroot ( I never remove the skin) if you chop finely enough you don’t have to blend anything. Squeeze the garlic over the  beetroot and set aside. 

Heat the stock to just below boiling point

Add a few tablespoons of olive oil to a pan, big enough to contain the cooked rice, scallions and beetroot add the chopped scallions and fry until translucent. Add the rice and fry for a few minutes. Add half a glass of good white wine and allow the alcohol to evaporate. Start adding the stock a few tablespoons at a time, don’t make a soup. Keep stirring while adding stock. Each grain of rice should have a coating of moisture and float separately from the others. Keep this up until the rice is almost done, then add the garlic and beetroot mix to the rice. Cook and stir until the rice is tender enough to taste.  Adjust salt and pepper. Add the butter and stir very well before serving hot onto heated plates

Top with Parmigiano reggiano and some chopped parsley

ENJOY with a glass of GOOD home made red wine !!

KENTUCKY FRIED RABBIT

New Zealand has far too many rabbits. They are eating their way through the countryside ruining the pastures so we decided, as payback, that we would eat them! There are many ways to cook this lovely, lean meat and ‘Kentucky Fried Rabbit’ is the best when one has had too many stews or roasts

Even though I am not a loyal KFC customer, I know lots of people who are (Obviously not close friends of mine). When I stumbled upon an Italian food site claiming to have “acquired” the famous KFC recipe (tongue in cheek off course from the Italians) and disclosed it all on their page, I was interested. I am often asked how to cook rabbit as I have AMPLE supplies in my freezer, my standard answer always is that you can cook it in any way you cook chicken. Having made the connection between chicken and rabbit and having the secret recipe at hand, I was determined to try some KFR (Kentucky Fried Rabbit) or DFR (Dunedin Fried Rabbit) in my mission to eat every one of these NZ PESTS!!!

It was my turn to cook Saturday lunch and I thought I may as well try my new adventurous recipe on Mrs BYF. Weighing out the ingredients to the closest gram and carefully following the intricate steps of the recipe, I had some food on the plates about two hours later and to my BIG SURPRISE it was very good. Some of my regular KFC muncher “friends” even seriously commented it to be better than the famous KFC!!! Watch out Colonel here comes New Zealand!!

Recipe

1 large wild rabbit

Cut the rabbit up in portions

Use a pan big enough to fit all the rabbit pieces in a single layer

2 cups of vegetable oil for frying

1 cup potato flour for the first drenching

2 cups flour for the second drenching

1 tablespoon of smoked paprika

1 teaspoon cardamom

1 teaspoon salt or more to taste

1 teaspoon powdered ginger

1 tablespoon powdered garlic

3 eggs beaten

Method

Because one can never be sure of the age of the rabbit I steam it until it is soft but still firmly on the bone. It takes about 20 – 30 minutes for an old rabbit. This step is not required if you know it to be a young rabbit and the results are always better than cooking an older rabbit

When the steamed rabbit has cooled, pat dry and drench with the potato flour. Whisk all the dry ingredients together. Dip the rabbit pieces individually first in the egg and then in the flour mix, then dip the pieces in the egg and flour again. Heat the oil in the pan. Slip the pieces into the hot oil (the rabbit should sizzle) and fry for about 10 minutes on a side, controlling the heat so that the rabbit becomes golden brown and not burnt

One probably should have this with mashed potato and gravy but I served it with steamed broccolini and polenta.

ENJOY with a glass of GOOD HOME MADE RED WINE