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

Mulled cider with sweet roasted apples

It's the season to start mulling but why not make it cider rather than wine for a change this Bonfire Night

Makes 12-14 servings

1 litre good quality dry still (rather than sparkling) cider
250ml Somerset cider brandy or Calvados
1.5 litres cloudy English apple juice (e.g. Copella)
A thinly pared strip of lemon rind
2 sticks of cinnamon
8 cloves

For the roasted apples
10-12 small Cox’s apples or other small eating apples
About 75g light muscovado sugar
100ml dry cider

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5. Wash and core the apples and score them around the middle. Put them in a baking dish and stuff the centre of each with the sugar. (It’s easiest to do this with the handle of a spoon or fork). Splash over the cider and roast in the oven until soft and beginning to split (45-50 minutes).

Meanwhile put the cider, cider brandy or calvados, and apple juice in a large pan, together with the lemon zest, cinnamon and cloves. Heat through gently then leave over a very low heat without allowing the mixture to boil. When the apples are ready, tip them and their juices into the mulled cider. Taste, adding a little extra sugar if you think it needs it. Serve straight from the pan into heat resistant glasses or cups or transfer to a warmed bowl.

If you want a non-alcoholic version try this:

Mulled cider apple juice

Use the recipe as a basic guideline, adding more sugar or honey if you want it sweeter.

Serves 12

2 x 75cl bottles cider apple juice*
1 orange stuck with 10 cloves
2 oranges, sliced
2 lemons, sliced
6 level tablespoons granulated sugar or honey
5 cm piece cinnamon stick
2 level teaspoons finely grated fresh root ginger or ground ginger

Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and heat to simmering point, stirring until all the sugar has dissolved. Leave over a very low heat without boiling for at least 20 minutes. This can be made in advance, then re-heated just before you want to serve it.

* You should be able to buy cider apple juice in a health food shop or farm shop. If not use a dry apple juice (such as russet) or add a couple of tablespoons of cider vinegar to a good quality blended apple juice.

Thomasina Miers' Mole Amarillo

To celebrate Day of the Dead - or maybe even Bonfire Night - here's a fabulous warming spicy Mexican stew for 10 from Thomasina Miers' Wahaca: Mexican food at Home.

Tommi writes: "We first tried this yellow mole outside Oaxaca’s 20 de Noviembre market, where it was mixed with shredded chicken plus a little corn dough and stuffed inside tortillas, baked into empanadas and served with the outrageously hot chile de agua and onion relish.

We tried it again a few days later at the house of one of our mezcal suppliers; his wife cooked it outside over an open fire and fed fourteen of us; it was so good that some actually wept!

It is not a complicated sauce to make, although I have substituted the chillies they use in Oaxaca for ones more readily available in Britain. I dream about putting this on the Wahaca menu. It is such a wonderfully rich, homely tasting stew.

Feeds at least 10, but freezes beautifully

Time: about 90 minutes

1 onion

2–3 garlic cloves

2–3 bay leaves

sea salt

450g neck of pork, cut into 2–3cm dice

1 large chicken, jointed into 8 pieces

450g new potatoes, cut into chunks

1 large acorn or butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks

450g green beans, cut in half

1 cauliflower, broken into florets

hot tortillas or steamed rice, to serve

For the mole:

6 guajillo chillies

2 ancho chillies

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

8 cloves

10 allspice berries

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 large onion, quartered

2 large tomatoes

5 garlic cloves, unpeeled

1 x 790g tin tomatillos, drained

small bunch of fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican

40g lard

2 tablespoons masa harina

small handful of tarragon, chopped

Fill a large pan with water and add the onion, garlic and bay leaves, season with salt and bring to simmering point. Simmer gently for 10 minutes before adding the pork pieces. Simmer very gently for a further 15 minutes before adding the chicken pieces. Cook for 15 minutes before turning off the heat and leaving to cool.

To make the mole, toast and rehydrate the chillies (there's a useful step-by-step guide here), soaking them for 20 minutes. Now toast all the spices in the dry frying pan until they smell fragrant, about 5–10 minutes. Grind to a powder, then transfer to a blender.

Add the onion, tomatoes and garlic to the pan and dry roast, as described below*. Transfer to the blender as they cook, remembering to slip off the garlic skins. Drain the chillies and add them to the blender with the drained tomatillos and oregano and whiz for 5 minutes to a smooth purée.

Heat the lard in a pan and, when very hot, add the purée, stirring all the time to prevent it spitting. Turn the heat down and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Thin the masa harina with just enough of the chicken stock to make a smooth paste, then add to the mole. Stir in 2 cups of the stock, add the tarragon and cook for 15 minutes over a low heat. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Meanwhile cook the vegetables. Fill a pan with water, add a teaspoon of salt and bring to the boil. Add the potatoes and cook until tender. Remove with a slotted spoon then add the squash and cook until just tender. Remove with the slotted spoon then cook the beans and cauliflower in the same way, removing each when they still have a slight bite. Do not overcook or they will turn to mush in the stew.

Drain the meat and add to the mole. Heat through, adding more stock if necessary. About 5 minutes before serving add all the vegetables to heat through. Serve the stew in shallow bowls making sure everyone gets a piece of chicken and pork and some of the vegetables. Serve with hot tortillas or, if you prefer, with rice.

Note: Traditionally a plant called hoja santa is used in this recipe. If you can get hold of it finely shred 3 large leaves and add them in place of the tarragon. Mexican chillies and tomatillos are widely available now - you can also buy them online from the Cool Chile Co or from Otomi in Bristol which also has a shop in the Clifton Arcade.

* Place a heavy-bottomed frying pan over a high heat and add the onions, tomatoes and garlic, leaving the skins on. Turn the ingredients while they are roasting so they are charred all over. Tomatoes take about 15 mins, onions about 10 and garlic 5-10 minutes.

What to drink: Personally I'd go for a beer like a golden or amber ale or lager with this dish or even a dark Mexican beer like Negro Modelo. Otherwise a rich chardonnay should match well or a syrah, grenache or tempranillo if you prefer a red.

Recipe taken from Wahaca – Mexican Food at Home by Thomasina Miers, published by Hodder & Stoughton, £20. © Thomasina Miers, 2012

Mamma Lucinda’s Pizzoccheri

This recipe, the subject of my Match of the Week, was so delicious I've persuaded Christine Smallwood, whose lovely book An Appetite for Lombardy it comes from, to share it on the site.

The recipe comes from Anna Bertola of Trattoria Altavilla in Bianzone. As Christine says "Anna uses delicious local mountain potatoes and serves very generous portions. You may well only require half of the quantity given here, unless you’ve had a particularly energetic day."

If you don't have the time or inclination to make the pasta from scratch you can buy a dried version from Italian delis such as Lina in Soho.

Serves 6

Pizzoccheri:

600g buckwheat flour

300g white 00 flour

1 tsp salt

400-500ml water, as needed

 

300g potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes

150g Savoy cabbage, cut into wide strips

300g young Valtellina Casera DOP cheese or Fontina, thinly sliced

150g Parmesan, grated

1/2 white onion

150g butter (this may well be authentic but seems an awful lot of butter. Think I'd probably use a third as much! FB)

Salt and pepper, to taste

To make the pizzoccheri, mix the two flours and the salt together. Add the water and knead for about 10 minutes. Roll out to about 3mm thick with a rolling pin. Cut out lengths of about 8cm wide and then cut these widthwise so that you have tagliatelle of about 7mm wide

Cook the potatoes in salted water and after about 5 minutes add the cabbage. When the water returns to the boil, add the pizzoccheri and bring the water back to a gentle boil.

After about 10 minutes drain some of the pizzoccheri, potatoes and cabbage with a perforated spoon, placing them into a baking dish. Place some slices of cheese on top, along with some Parmesan and then continue alternating layers of pizzoccheri and cheese.

Fry the onion in the butter and when browned, scatter over the top of the pizzoccheri. Serve on a pre-heated plate, with freshly ground pepper to taste.

What to drink: A Valtellina red such as the one we tried at Wild Artichokes or a Carterìa Valtellina Superiore Valgella D.O.C.G which is made from Chiavennasca, the local name for Nebbiolo.

This recipe comes from An Appetite for Lombardy by Christine Smallwood which is available to buy off her website for £18.