Amuse Bouche – Quail, Cauliflower Cream, Truffled Cardoons, Fuyu Persimmons

Although quail is the protein in this amuse, the real star to me is the under-utilized cardoon. As a matter of fact it has been like pulling out teeth sourcing them out. I can’t for the life of me understand why they are not more sought after by chefs.
With a flavor that is a cross between celery and artichoke, they lend themselves well to a multitude of presentations, many of which you will find posted here in the coming weeks as I will likely be incorporating them into our daily amuse bouche as a means to utilize them and to educate our guests. For a current dish featuring cardoons, check out our bone-in filet presentation… http://thepickledtongue.com/?p=242
To clean the cardoons, the spiny edges of the stalks must be trimmed and then the tough outer membrane on the stalk peeled off. Once it is peeled, it must be submerged into acidulated water to prevent dis-coloration as occurs with artichokes. You can then cut them into whichever shape you like and cook them the same as you would artichokes. In this case, they were sauteed in hot olive oil with garlic and shallots, deglazed with white wine and cooked to remove the alcohol, and chicken stock is added in small doses and cooked out until fork tender. Sous vide cooking would be ideal for this. Once completed, they are tossed with a black truffle butter and served on the bottom of the plate.
The next ingredient is Fuyu persimmons. Though more widely used, it is still unfamiliar to many.Though edible raw, they were somewhat starchy so I decided to cook them into a preserve. To make the preserve, which is quenelled atop the truffled cardoons, they were cooked very slowly overnight with honey. The next day I passed this through a grinder fitted with a small die and the result was excellent.
The quail is completely boned out and a half of a breast and either a thigh or leg composed the portion. Once seasoned, the skin was cooked crispy in brown butter, flipped and removed from the pan after a couple seconds.
The soup in the mini-mug, is a simple cauliflower veloute with steamed truffle infused milk on top.