Recipes / Autumn/WinterSomething FancySpecial OccasionsSunday LunchRoastChicken & PoultryGame / Roast Partridges with a Blackberry Pan Juices (Nigel Slater)

Autumn/Winter, Chicken & Poultry, Game, Recipe, Roast, Something Fancy, Special Occasions, Sunday Lunch

Cook: 40 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Roast Partridges with a Blackberry Pan Juices (Nigel Slater)

One of the best things about autumn is the start of game season and the re-emergence of gamebirds on the butchers' shelves. One of my favourite is partridge: it is a milder, less gamey flavour than many others and a very quick roast to cook. In this recipe, the partridge is complimented with tangy blackberries, toasted bacon and the sweet madeira wine. This is the perfect way to cook partridge and, as Nigel Slater puts it "a plate redolent of autumn.". It is a fiddly little bird to eat, so fingers may be necessary to ensure you don't miss any of the succulent meat.

Ingredients

Method

Ingredients

  • SERVES 2
  • 2 Partridges
  • 4 Rashes of Bacon
  • 1 tablespoon Juniper Berries
  • 1 tablespoon Fresh Thyme Leaves
  • Salt and Pepper
  • 150 ml Madeira Gravy
  • Blacbkerries

Method

one. Preheat the oven to 200ºc. Using a pestle and mortar, mash the thyme leaves with the juniper berries, butter and a hefty pinch of salt and pepper. Spread the butter over the birds, but particularly on the breasts.

two. Wrap two bacon rashes around the bird (stretch out if necessary), in order to cover the birds, particularly the breasts. Roast in the oven for twenty minutes, then peel off the bacon, setting it aside if it is crisp, leaving it in the roasting tin if not. Return the birds to the oven for ten minutes.

three. Remove the baking tray from the oven and set the birds somewhere warm (a warmed plate with an upturned bowl over the top, or some tin foil). Put the roasting tin onto the stove over a moderate flame. Drop the jelly and blackberries into the tin and let it soften for a few minutes. Squash the berries lightly with the back of a spoon or a fork. Add the madeira, season with salt & pepper to taste, stir to dissolve the pan crustings, bring to a vigorous simmer. Serve the partridge on warm plates and spoon over the blackberry gravy.

Serving Suggestion. Bread Sauce. Vegetables such as kale or tenderstem broccoli and plenty of napkins for finger wiping

Possible Amendment.