NIC feast menu features stuffed quail

Carnivores can help fund student scholarships at North Idaho College through the annual Wild Game Feast.

Organizers have featured more unusual wild meat, from ostrich to alligator to kangaroo, in the 11 years of the feast.

This year, chef Eddie Nelson decided to focus the menu on dishes that appeal to more palates, but served in an extraordinary way, he said in a news release.

The main course of this year’s dinner will feature roasted quail stuffed with wild mushrooms and rice, served with a chasseur sauce and grilled acorn squash.

Tickets are still available for Saturday’s dinner. The evening begins at 5:30 p.m. with a no-host bar and Northwest cheese and fruit display, Swedish-style buffalo meatballs, duck sausage-stuffed mushrooms, steelhead gravlox with bagels and cream cheese, and shrimp canapés.

Dinner courses will be served starting at 7 p.m. and include a crayfish bisque, salad and white chocolate mousse tart topped with berries, huckleberry syrup and a Grand Marnier chocolate sauce, along with the quail entrée.

A special wine selection will be available with dinner in addition to a no-host bar.

Wildlife education displays, local artwork and a silent auction are also part of the evening. Proceeds benefit scholarships for NIC students through the NIC Alumni Association.

The Wild Game Feast will be held in the Ts’elusm Dining Room of NIC’s Edminster Student Union Building.

Tickets are $65 per person or $60 for NIC Alumni Association members. Call (208) 769-5978 or purchase online at www.nic.edu/alumni.

Chef Nelson shared his recipe for this year’s centerpiece dish:

Wild Mushroom and Rice Stuffed Quail

From Chef Eddie Nelson, North Idaho College Dining Services

½ cup dried wild mushrooms

½ cup diced yellow onion

Olive oil

1 ½ cups long-grain white rice

1 sprig thyme

3 cups chicken stock

4 partially deboned quail

Salt and pepper to taste

8 strips of bacon

Soak dried mushrooms in a hot water bath until they are rehydrated, then dice.

Sweat the onions with a little olive oil. Add rice to the onions and stir until coated with moisture.

Add the diced mushrooms, thyme sprig and chicken stock. Cover and place in a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven, place on a cookie sheet and refrigerate (remove the sprig of thyme from the rice).

Season the inside of the quails with salt and pepper. Stuff ¾ cup of rice in the cavities of each of the quails. Wrap 1 strip of bacon around the middle of each bird and another around the length of each one (this will help the quail hold its shape).

Roast in a 425-degree oven until the internal temperature of the rice is 165 degrees.

Yield: 4 servings