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Wine and Food: Recipes

Roasted Quail with Black Mission Figs, Fennel and Pine Nuts
By Chef Douglas Keane
Serves 4

Preparation:
In a large sauté pan melt the butter and add onions and fennel; cook until soft. Add mushrooms and cook until water is released. Add figs and cook for two minutes. Remove from heat and add toasted pine nuts and saba. Season with salt and pepper. Allow to cool. When stuffing is completely cooled, distribute evenly amongst four quail. Do not over fill the cavity of the bird too much or it will spill out during roasting. With a small knife slit a hole through one thigh of each bird and “pull” the other leg through the slit. This will make the birds look like their legs are crossed and will help keep the stuffing in during roasting.

To roast the birds:
Lightly coat each bird with corn oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on a roasting rack on a sheet pan and place in 350 F oven for 20 minutes. Check to make sure the stuffing is warm. Remove the birds and allow to rest for five minutes.

To serve:
Sauté some spinach or braising greens and place a small amount on the plate. Slice quail in half lengthwise and place on the greens to expose the stuffing. The birds should show a little pink in the breast meat.

Drizzle a little more saba around the outside of the plate and serve.

Douglas Keane
Cyrus Restaurant

DOUGLAS KEANE
Executive Chef/Owner
Cyrus Restaurant

Douglas Keane attended Cornell University’s prestigious School of Hotel Administration, during which an apprenticeship took him to San Francisco’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel, where his considerable culinary skills began to shape his career.

After graduating, Keane headed to New York to cook at The Four Seasons. During his stint at The Four Seasons, he eventually worked his way up to Sous Chef. He next spent a year at Lespinasse, one of the Big Apple’s premier dining destinations. The renowned Kunz, a traditionalist unafraid of innovation, was Keane’s single greatest culinary influence. But California beckoned again and Keane returned to San Francisco to serve as Chef de Cuisine at the highly touted Jardinière. He then took a leave of absence to serve as opening Sous Chef at acclaimed Restaurant Gary Danko. After Gary Danko, Keane returned to Jardinière as Executive Chef, where in 2002 he was honored by the San Francisco Chronicle as a “Rising Star Chef” and earned three-and-a-half stars for his cuisine in a glowing review.

Ultimately, at Cyrus, admittedly his “dream restaurant,” Keane specializes in an ambitious culinary style he refers to as “contemporary luxury” cuisine, which has a strong classic French foundation layered with contemporary global accents and an emphasis on seasonality. In addition to his remarkable success as a chef and restaurateur, Keane's side projects have included assisting the great Jacques Pepin on his Cooking with Claudine television series on Encore and consultations with various restaurants and hotels, including the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco. He has also worked with celebrated pastry chef Jacques Torres at New York’s Le Cirque 2000.