Sale on quail

Our local grocery store has a few refrigerated shelves in the back that are devoted to the, "sell by" items.  When I say "sell by" I mean the, "Oh crap it's about to expire" items.  Every mega-mart has them.  If you seek out the manager's markdowns at your local grocery store you can save yourself a lot of money per week.  Just remember to use what you buy quickly and not to over-buy.  We generally find things like corn-fed chicken, the fancy-brands of yogurt, and little beauties like free range quail from France.  Oooh la la!

The quail were due to expire in a couple days, (i.e. they were still fresh and legal to sell) and had been marked down from €6.59 to €3.29.  We were shopping for dinner that night anyway so we picked them up and cooked them immediately.  I chose to use the little au gratin dish that came with the Staub starter set I purchased years ago while working at Sur Le Table, (can you say discount?)  Personally I prefer Staub, but I think my other half prefers Le Creuset.  They are much of a muchness.

The quail were sprayed lightly with sunflower oil, then stuffed with a chopping board medley of flat-leaf parsley, fresh thyme, fresh rosemary and a couple shallots.  We had half a cauliflower left over (for some reason my grocery store carries cauliflower the size of soccer balls) so that was chopped up and placed around the birds.  A few chestnut brown mushrooms went in to prop up the quail legs and viola!  Cook uncovered for 35 minutes at 200 °C oven (that's about 393 °F) or until well browned.