Lamb-Quail-Duck Barley Vegetable Soup

Yesterday I made 8 quarts of a Lemon-Chicken-Garlic-Vegetable Anti-Viral Soup thinking I'd bring much of it to share at church tomorrow. With COVID19 ramping up, the churches here are closed and people are encouraged to avoid crowds, hugging and just stay home. Additionally, I still have quite a bit of that Beef Vegetable Soup I made a few days earlier AND the Turkey Chicken Soup. . .

I love this room at The New Scenic Cafe'

So, guess what I just did. . .

I made a small pot of really interesting barley and vegetable soup with Duck and Lamb meat, and even some Quail bones I used to make bone broth!!

There is a reason for this Soup Insanity however. I had some wonderful leftovers that were begging to be turned into soup!

A couple nights ago my daughter and I decided to go to a restaurant we hadn't been to in a while.  She had a coupon for a free entree' when you buy one, so we started with an appetizer of Porcini Cured Elk with Celeric, wish I had taken a pic of that!  Then Nancy ordered the Rack of Lamb and I ordered an incredible Game Platter of Venison, Duck and Quail with rutabaga and carrot steamed 'fries' roasted cherry tomatoes, served with little cups of perigord--a black truffle sauce, béarnaise and duck fat!  We also splurged and had dessert!  Well, laa-de-daa!!  Faannccy!!  

Nanc ate half her lamb and then felt the rest was too rare.  Same with my duck.  She gave me her lamb and the bones she had just cleaned off pretty well.  So, today, I gave the dogs the fat off my piece of duck, cut that up and combined it with the cut up lamb she hadn't touched, then boiled all the bones with a splash of vinegar to make a quick bone broth.  I strained it well and had about 4 cups.  I added a couple cups of the turkey-chicken bone broth I had in the 'fridge.  I quick sautéed the meat in duck fat, with the chopped, partially cooked 12 lg. cloves of garlic I had leftover from the Anti-Viral Soup (which contained 22lg. cloves of garlic.  That seemed anti-viral enough to me!!)

I moved the garlic-meat to a plate, added a little broth to the pan, stirred to incorporate the brownings and sautéed the chopped carrots and celery. While that sizzled, I added a shake of cayenne pepper, some finely ground black pepper, ½c of long cooking pearled barley and 2 cups of water. That simmered a while before I poured in 4-6 cups of the bone broths, covered and simmered it again, for a total of almost an hour.



At the end, I checked the broth for flavor, added 1t ground rosemary, and 2T+/- beef Better Than Bouillon, the perigord, garlic-meat and all the greens shown on the cutting board. I covered and simmered this another 5 minutes or so.

If you follow my blog, you probably recognize this recipe as a slight variation of my favorite,  original, 'signature soup recipe.'  My Lamb, Barley Scotch Broth.  I love making this!  The only time it's even remotely failed is when the lamb I bought tasted more like beef.  Even then, it was an awesome soup!  Don't pitch those leftovers. . .ponder a while and turn them into your own, truly unique, yummy creation! . . Lin

Quail Stroganoff

1-1/2# 6 frozen quail
well seasoned flour
butter, bacon grease, oil
1/2 med. onion chopped
2-3 lg. cloves minced garlic

8oz. sliced fresh mushrooms
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 lg. chopped tomato
1c sour cream
1/2c half and half
1-2T powdered chicken soup base
a little more black and red ground pepper

In a large, non-stick frying pan, melt the butter, etc. together and heat.  Rinse and dry the quail then roll in seasoned flour.  Seasoned with black and red pepper, seasoned salt and a little sea salt.  Put the whole floured quails in the hot oil with the onion and garlic.



Cover with a splatter screen and fry for about a half hour, turning often until everything is well browned.  Move the quail to a 2-3 qt. baking dish.  Drain and discard about half the oil left in the pan.  To the rest of the oil, and browned onion and garlic, add mushrooms.  Stir and saute' until browning a little.  Add the remaining ingredients, stir well then pour over the quail.


At this point you can cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight to bring out all the flavors.  Or you can bake it now.  Bake at 325° for an hour.  Serve over mashed potatoes, thick cut American fries or cooked pasta. . .Lin