The wife of a chef...

I'm married to a woman who isn't exactly the most gastronomically adventurous person in the world. But on one of the rare occasions last week where we actually had the same day off, I offered to cook her an exciting meal. The approach I used was to cite the innumerable times when she had mentioned to coworkers that her husband is a chef. Their response was usually along the lines of, "Wow, you're married to a chef? He must cook all kinds of good food for you." Her answer would generally be, "Not really. He's usually at work when I'm home at dinnertime." And on those nights when I am actually at home, we either go out (since the last thing I want to do on my day off is cook), or sit around and eat junk food. But finally, I convinced her to let me cook her something that wasn't pasta, stir-fry chicken, or stir-fried chicken pasta. She's not a big red-meat eater, so I didn't want to push her too fast. I told her I'd make her something that she'd probably order in a restaurant if they didn't have chicken. But the deal was, I wouldn't tell her anything else about the dish and she'd have to at least try it. Okay, she agreed. My simple menu for the evening was this:
Herb-roasted yukon potatoes, haricot vert, and a pair of grilled quail on a nest of crispy soba noodles, with a rosemary vincotto sauce. I wanted to show her that there was in fact a possibility for life outside of chicken.
For the potatoes, I cut the yukons into fairly uniform wedges, dusted them with rosemary, thyme, S&P. Popped them in the oven at 450*F for about 25 mins.
The quail, season with S&P, grilled on both sides, then placed in oven with potatoes. Potatoes had been in for about 15-20 mins already. I cooked the quail for about 5 mins for my wife, as she'd probably freak a little if she saw pink in the quail. Even though med rare is perfectly acceptable for most non-chicken fowl. I left my quail in for maybe no more than 2 mins, just to get it warmed through, but still nicely pink.
For the sauce. Approx. 1/4-1/2 cup of vincotto, sprig of rosemary. Placed in small saucier (large SS measuring cup works well), and allowed to reduce to about half. Since vincotto is already a reduced wine, care should be taken to not allow it to burn.
For the haricot vert. Boil in salted water until tender. Shock in ice water. When time to start plating, toss the green beans in a little butter, stock or if you must...water (blech), season with S&P, and heat through.
For the soba. Cooked a small amount of soba noodles in the normal fashion. Heated a small amount of vegetable oil to just before smoking. Again, I used a small oddsize SS measuring cup for this application. I believe the measuring cup was a 1 1/2 cup size. A larger measuring cup would have been better at preventing the oil from boiling over when I placed the soba into it, or less oil. Oh well, live and learn. I fried them in 2 small batches, probably no more than 10 noodles each as it was just a garnish. In the measuring cup, they fried into nicely formed interwoven circles. It's nice when something you conceive in your head actually works out in practice. I fried the soba in the oil until crisp. Removed from oil onto paper towels and seasoned with sea salt.

The plate-up. Simple. Potatoes, haricot vert, then little bit of sauce. The soba nest on top of the sauce, which will keep it from sliding around. Quail on top of the soba, brush or drizzle a little of the sauce on the quail. And your desired garnish. I garnished it with a sprinkle of fleur de sel.

It was quite a hit. Simple, safe, and technically not CHICKEN.