We had a retreat at work, and guess who came?

Jose Andres!!! Food and poverty — what more can I ask?

Grilled lemongrass-ginger quails

(Adapted from The Spices of Life)

Serve 6 as main dish or 10-12 as appetizer

6 quails
1 stalk lemongrass
1 thumb-sized ginger
10 garlic cloves
4 tbs brown sugar
4 tbs fish sauce
4 tbs olive oil

1. In a deep bowl, combine all ingredients except quails.
2. Use a hand blender to process until mixture forms a smooth paste.
3. Use a scissor to split quails in half.
4. Place quails on a baking tray.
5. Marinate quails with lemongrass-ginger paste.
6. Cover and set aside for 2 hours.
7. Preheat oven to 400 F.
8. Bake for 15 minutes.
9. Broil for another 5 minutes.
10. Serve hot with corn side dish (receipt below).

Corn side dish

1 package of frozen corn
2 tbs canola oil
2 tbs rice vinegar
4 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs mirin
2 tbs sugar
Coriander (finely chopped)

1. In a saucepan, stir-fry corn with oil for 5-10 minutes.
2. In a small bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients.
3. Pour mixture over cooked corn.
4. Serve warm.