(Serves 4)

4 whole quails
100ml red wine
50g chilled butter, diced
4 quail eggs
1 fennel bulb
500ml orange juice
20g sugar
1 star anise
20ml wine vinegar
3 coriander seeds
Seeds of 2 cardamom pods
1 medium-sized carrot

Pickle:
500ml water, 175ml white wine vinegar, 1 bay leaf, ¼ lemon juice, 125g sugar, 3 peppercorns, and a sprig of thyme
10g wasabi – see recipe
50ml water
150g mayonnaise
2bsp chopped fresh herbs

Quail:
Separate the breast and the legs. For the breast sear them on the skin side in a hot non-stick frying pan. Braise the legs slowly in some oil in low temperature. Remove the legs from the oil.

In a separate pan reduce the red wine and gradually add the cold butter to form a glaze, add the breasts and legs until they glaze.

Fennel:
Slice the fennel as thinly as possible, and fry without giving colour in a thick bottomed pan in some oil, add the orange juice, sugar, star anise, vinegar, coriander and cardamom seeds. Keep cooking on low heat until the fennel is soft.

Pickled carrots:
Slice the carrots with a potato peeler, to give the carrots a ribbon effect. Boil the pickle, remove from heat, add the carrots and let the pickle cool with the carrots in it. Remove from the pickle with a clean fork.

Wasabi remoulade:
Dilute the wasabi with 50ml chilled water, add the mayonnaise and the chopped fresh herbs. If you are unable to find wasabi (Japanese horseradish), which usually comes in powdered form, use ordinary preserved grated horseradish and some mustard and simply add it to the mayonnaise and herbs.

Quail eggs:
Poach them, in the shell, in simmering water with a teaspoon of vinegar for one minute. Rinse under cold water and shell them carefully.

Assemble the salad with a small heap of salad leaves, the fennel, then the quail legs on top, and the quail breast on top of them. Garnish with the pickled carrot ribbons and the wasabi rémoulade.