After a delicious lunch of quail (recipe below), we headed to the beach.
Charlie saw the remains of a huge sandcastle, stripped of all his clothes and jumped into it. Thea was paddling with Rich, they were about about twenty feet off shore, shell picking ... i had a moment of peace, bliss.
I sat back and enjoyed the sun, I could see Charlie’s top half, the bottom half was hidden by his castle, he was safe and behaving.
Or so I thought ...
He looked up with a huge smile on his face and said the dreaded words ... “I have done a poo” ... he was seriously proud of his accomplishment.
I jumped up, covered the 3m between us in a second and froze. He had done the most enormous turd ... somehow it was standing on end in the sand ... looking slightly like the Eiffel Tower.
Charlie jumped up and down, clapping and repeating “I have done a poo mummy look” ... the beach was starting to notice ... Rich was too far away to help ...
I jumped into action and started rummaging through our bag, found some paper, grabbed the offending item and headed up the beach in search of the nearest bin ... I thought I was coping quite well, being fairly subtle ... I was almost proud of myself ... until ... Charlie, who was now following me up the beach, start shouting ... “Mummy where is my poo going” ... “It s a big one” ... “where are you taking my poo” ... I tried to ignore him while I disposed of the offending item, in retrospect was probably not the best tactic ...
With mummy ignoring him he looked for Daddy. He saw Rich coming out for the water and surpassed all previous humiliation by shouting at the top of his voice “Daddy I did a poo on the beach and Mummy is holding it ....”
No words were needed to work out what the rest of the beach were thinking, the shocked stares said it all ... Rich summed it up later ... “The word poo is a universal language"
Apologies if this story has put you off this recipe ... it is good ... promise ...
We had it for a light lunch with salad, if you want to bulk it out I would serve the dish with roasted new potatoes. Drizzle with olive oil and place them in the them in the oven for 30-40 minutes, they take about the same time as the quail.
QUAIL
Serves 4
Ingredients
8 Quail, 8 Cloves of garlic, Couple of sprigs of dried thyme, Olive oil, Salt and pepper
- Turn the oven to 200
- Place the quail in a roasting dish with the garlic, sprinkle with olive oil, thyme and salt and pepper
- Place in the oven for 20 minutes, remove, drizzle with a bit more olive oil and return to the oven for another 15-20 minutes
- While the quail is cooking place the rocket in a shallow bowl and make the dressing
- Check that the quail are cooked, they should be crisp and golden on the outside and cooked through, if you see any raw meat then do not eat them, put them back in the oven till they are cooked through
- Once the quail are cooked, remove from the oven place the quail and garlic on top of the rocket
- Drizzle the dressing over the top of both the quail and rocket
- Take the dish to the table and serve
Salad Dressing
6 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1 Teaspoon of runny honey, 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, 1 Small clove grated garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper
- Place all the ingredients in a jam jar, shake for ten seconds
Cooking notes
A good way to check that the quail is cooked is to pull softly at the legs, if they pull off easily then the quail is cooked. (This is just a guide so do check the colour of the meat before you eat.)
Adapting
If you are not a big Thyme fan then leave it out or replace with your favorite herb, rosemary would be great.
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