Recipes

Roast supreme of guinea fowl with sherry and grapes

Roast supreme of guinea fowl with sherry and grapes

A perfect autumnal dinner party recipe from James Ramsden's lovely book Do Ahead Dinners.

James says: "Guinea fowl remains an inexplicably underused bird – it’s got something of the pheasant about it (but without the propensity to dry out), it’s no more expensive than a decent chicken, and it’s lovely to cook with. So I say we should be cooking with it more.

Supremes are the breasts with the wing still attached. If you can’t find any, then buy two whole guinea fowl and cleave in half down the middle, cooking for 15 minutes longer."

Serves 6

2 tsp finely chopped thyme leaves

1 tsp finely chopped rosemary

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed to a paste

100g/3½oz/7 tbsp butter, softened

salt and pepper

6 supremes of guinea fowl

olive oil

200ml/7fl oz/generous ¾ cup medium-dry sherry

100ml/3½fl oz/7 tbsp chicken stock

200g/7oz grapes, halved

Up to a day ahead:

Beat the thyme, rosemary and garlic into the butter and season with salt and pepper. Ease the skin of the birds away from the flesh and carefully spread the herb butter underneath the skin. Put in a roasting pan, cover and chill.

2 hours ahead:

Take the guinea fowl out of the fridge.

1 hour ahead:

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas mark 6.

Drizzle the guinea fowl with olive oil and roast for 30 minutes, or until the juices run clear when the thickest part is pierced with a thin sharp knife. Remove to a warm place to rest. Put the roasting pan over a high heat and add the sherry, scraping up all the sticky bits in the pan. Simmer for a couple of minutes, then add the stock and the grapes. Simmer for another 5 minutes and taste for seasoning.

Dinnertime:

Serve the guinea fowl with the grapes and a good spoonful of gravy.

And James's tips for varying the recipe and using up leftovers:

Tart: Bit tarty already, this, though if you feel the urge to wrap the guinea fowl in Parma ham then follow that urge.

Tweak: Roast whole grouse for 12 minutes at 220°C/425°F/Gas mark 7 and then follow the same recipe for making the grape gravy.

Tomorrow: Thinly slice leftover guinea fowl and toss through a green salad with a handful of croutons.

What to drink: Although sherry is included in the dish - and would match with it - I don't think most people would expect sherry with their main course. Instead look for a heavyweight white like a grenache gris from the Roussillon or a pinot gris from Alsace. If you want to drink red I'd go for a dark, plummy pinot noir or a medium-bodied modern Spanish red like a young rioja or other tempranillo.

This recipe is from Do-Ahead Dinners by James Ramsden, published by Pavilion. Recipe photography by Yuki Sugiura

Supreme of guinea fowl with broad beans, fresh morels and herb gnocchi

Supreme of guinea fowl with broad beans, fresh morels and herb gnocchi

A smashing recipe from Chris and Jeff Galvin's Galvin: a Cookbook de Luxe which you could make to impress on Father's Day. It's one of those books that teaches you to cook like a Michelin-starred chef - so also a great present for any Dad who fancies himself in the kitchen.

Chris and Jeff write: This is one of those delightful dishes where all the ingredients come into season at the same time. If you can't get fresh morels, use any good wild mushrooms in season

Serves 4

2 guinea fowl crowns (the main body with the legs taken off)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 quantity of Herb Gnocchi (see below)
3 tablespoons olive oil
40 small fresh morel mushrooms
160g shelled broad beans, blanched and thin outer skin removed
sea salt and freshly ground white pepper

For the herb paste
90g softened unsalted butter
80g curly parsley, chopped
100g fresh white breadcrumbs

For the sauce
1/2 garlic clove
50ml white wine
1 sprig of thyme
300ml Brown Chicken Stock (see the book or substitute your own home-made stock)
1/2 lemon

First, make the herb paste to go under the guinea fowl skin. Put the butter, parsley and breadcrumbs in a blender or food processor and blitz until they combine. Transfer to a piping bag.

Prepare the guinea fowl. Remove the wishbone and wings from the birds (these are used in the sauce later), then push your fingers between the skin and breasts to loosen. Pipe the herb paste into this cavity on both birds and spread it out evenly.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large, ovenproof frying pan until smoking hot. Seal the guinea fowl on both breasts in the pan until golden brown. Transfer the pan to an oven preheated to 200°C/Gas Mark 6 and cook for 25 minutes, basting regularly. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 15 minutes. Once rested, remove the breasts from the crowns and keep warm.

Meanwhile, to make the sauce, chop the wing bones into very small pieces. Heat a heavy-based saucepan, just big enough to hold the bones in a single layer, until it is very hot. Add the chopped bones to the pan with the garlic and reduce the heat slightly. There is no need to add any oil as the wings will start to release fat as they cook.

Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, ensuring the pan is hot enough to roast the bones but not so hot that they burn. You are looking for the wing pieces to turn a deep golden yellow colour. Add the white wine and thyme and cook until reduced by three-quarters. Add the chicken stock and cook for 10–15 minutes or until the mixture has reduced to a light coating consistency. Season with salt, if necessary, and finish with 1 or 2 drops of lemon juice. Pass the sauce through a piece of muslin or a fine sieve.

Just before serving, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a frying pan, add the gnocchi and sauté for 2–3 minutes or until golden all over. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

Heat another tablespoon of the olive oil in a small saucepan, add the morels and sauté gently for 2–3 minutes or until tender. Season with a little salt. At the same time, reheat the broad beans in a pan of boiling salted water. Drain, then sauté the beans in the remaining olive oil for 30 seconds and season with salt.

To serve, slice each guinea fowl breast into 3 and place in the centre of each serving plate. Surround with the gnocchi, morels and broad beans. Finally spoon over a little sauce and serve immediately.

What to drink: This is the perfect dish to pair with a fine red burgundy or other top Pinot Noir. Premier cru Chablis or another subtly oaked Chardonnay would also be a good match.

Herb Gnocchi
Makes 20

1 large Desiree potato, weighing about 400g
100g fine sea salt
1 small free-range egg
35g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
50g Italian ‘00’ flour
1 tablespoon of chopped mixed herbs (chervil, parsley and tarragon)
8g sea salt
freshly ground white pepper

Wash the potato well and prick it with a fork. Place the fine salt on a small baking tray, put the potato on top and place in an oven preheated to 190°C/Gas Mark 5. Bake for about 11/2 hours, until tender. Remove from the oven, cut the potato in half and use a spoon to scoop out the flesh. Pass it through a fine sieve into a bowl; you should have about 200g sieved potato.

Lightly beat the egg with the Parmesan, them work this mixture into the potato with a spatula or wooden spoon. Make sure the mixture is well combined but be careful not to overwork it. Add the flour, herbs and salt and a few twists of pepper and mix together to make a dough. Turn the dough out on to a work surface and shape into a long sausage, about 1.5cm thick. Cut it into 20 pieces.

Add the gnocchi to a large pan of boiling salted water. They will sink to the bottom initially but when they rise to the top, they are cooked. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, refresh in iced water and then drain well.

Galvin: a Cookbook de Luxe is published by Absolute Press at £25. Photograph ©Lara Holmes. For more about the Galvins' restaurants see www.galvinrestaurants.com

 

 

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