Grilled Quail with Peaches

Its February and I live in Minnesota, not exactly grilling weather outside. On the day I did this is was 3 degrees outside. Spicy grilled quail with peaches isn't exactly a Minnesota dish. We don't even have quail up here, but I love eating quail. Its probably a good thing we don't have them up here or I would probably waste a lot of my hunting year chasing them instead of other animals. It might seem strange that I would decide to grill but the folks at PK Grills sent me a grill to try out and I was kind of excited to get to it. 

I had these quail in the freezer and a burning desire to try a recipe from one of my new cookbooks so it kind of worked itself out. The PK Grill is an odd looking thing, kind of reminds me of my Grandparents old Airstream trailer. It is a cast aluminum grill that can be used for grilling or smoking. I haven't had an opportunity to try smoking anything on it yet but it certainly grills like a dream. It holds heat really well and the depth of the coals in relation to the grate is nice for fast grilling. These quail only needed about 2 minutes on each side to finish.  

I may have put a little to much of a char on these but you would never have known. they were sweet and spicy with just a hint of the charred flavor I love. Quail meat is a rich and wonderfully flavored meat and like I said before I could eat these everyday. The grilled peaches add the sweet balance that is needed to suppress some of the heat from the marinade. This was a recipe from Donald Link out of his book, Down South, it is the first thing I was going to cook out of this book but definitely not the last, it is full of delicious looking southern fare. 

Donald Link's Spicy Grilled Quail 

4 semi-boneless quail

3 cups of arugula

2 peaches pitted and halved

for the marinade

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon of honey

2 tablespoon of olive oil

1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp fresh thyme
1 tsp red pepper flakes

Mix together the marinade and then add the quail. Marinade the quail for 2-3 hours. Over a hot grill, grill the quail for 2-3 minutes per side. reserve the extra marinade and put it in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. grill the peaches along with the quail. Place the grilled quail on a bed of arugula and add some of the grilled peaches. spoon the remaining marinade over the quail and peaches and serve.