Partridge in a Paper Parcel

Mr. Hedworth is a mean shot... this means that most weekends at this time of year there is a knock at my door late on a Saturday afternoon, and on opening I'm greeted by a hand clutching a brace of pheasant or duck, or if I'm lucky a partridge and occasionally what feels akin to winning the lottery a couple of woodcock... I love this time of year. I currently have two duck and two pheasant in the freezer and the same again hanging in the porch; god knows what my neighbours make of me... We ate two little grouse last week, with bread sauce and sauté potatoes and this week was the turn of the partridge. My second favourite game bird... the wonderful woodcock will always win...

Last year I made an Italian dish with the partridge, with a beautiful rich meaty tomato sauce, chestnuts and grapes, a delicious dish. This year I turned to Elizabeth David and a somewhat simpler dish that didn’t involve sieving sauces. Partridge en Papillotes, which involves searing the partridge in butter until crisp, then wrapping up in greaseproof paper with butter, bacon, thyme, salt, pepper and orange peel and cooking in the oven, simple but totally delicious. I made a sticky chestnut and pancetta lentil dish to go alongside and my very own home grown parsnips and beetroot roast until golden. I was so proud when I dug them up to find actual full grown vegetables!

Unfortunately I didn’t quite get my timings right, so we sat down to raw partridge the first time round; everything had to come off the plates, back into their parcels, back into the oven, whilst keeping everything else warm. It was a palava to say the least. Next time I'll just do what Elizabeth tells me and keep my own opinions to myself...

So start with your partridge, cut in half, you can ask whoever you get them from to do this for you, or go at them with a pair of shears like I did. Allow one bird per person, they look pretty tiny but you get a surprising amount of meat from them. Heat a knob of butter in a frying pan and when it is hot add the birds and pan fry them for 8 minutes, start skin size down, until it is crisp and golden, then turn them about half way through. When they are done season them with salt and pepper, some fresh thyme leaves and a few slices of orange peel and leave them to cool.

To make the lentil dish I slowly cooked diced onion, carrot and celery with a sprig of thyme in butter until soft, then added diced pancetta, a chopped clove of garlic and some diced chestnuts and continued to cook until sticky and delicious, about half an hour. I cooked lentils until they were soft in chicken stock and the liquid was all but gone, added some shredded cabbage to cook through towards the end then stirred through the sticky chestnut and pancetta mixture. This turned out to be a bit of a triumph, I'll definitely be making it again!

When the partridge has cooled cut a strip of greaseproof paper large enough to wrap it up, spread some butter where the partridge will sit, add a slice of bacon, then sit the partridge on top, making sure you put the orange rind in too. Fold the paper over the top of the meat and then fold over and over round the edge until the package is sealed. Then pop them in the oven at about 160°C for 15 minutes. When you get them out of the oven make sure you check them so you don't end up sitting down to raw partridge like I did! Let them rest for 5 minutes under tin foil before you serve.

I served them, eventually, with the pancetta and chestnut rich delicious lentils and my very own home grown parsnips and beetroot. The partridge were delicious, rich and gamey, especially the legs, the parcel was full of buttery juices to pour over the bird and you get lovely hints of thyme and orange. Long may the game season continue, I'm filling the freezer to keep me going...

Things on Toast

'Things on Toast' is what I eat when I'm tired and I don't really have any energy to cook. As in 'I can't really be bothered to make anything shall we just have 'things on toast'? A hunt through the fridge usually produces a couple of options; there's often some bacon lying around or chorizo or black pudding. Pork is always a welcome addition, eggs, stray vegetables, herbs... and the resulting meal is two little slices of toast, each with a different topping... It's actually one of my favourite meals, maybe not grand enough for weekend dining or guests, but a pretty lovely treat on a Tuesday in front of the TV... It began as cheese on toast, what better place to start, and has evolved, mainly over the past year, into a whole chapter of options...

One of the first guises of 'things on toast' was Lemony Courgettes, this was a Hugh recipe originally that I read in some supplement a long time ago. It is chopped courgettes cooked in olive oil, slowly, with a chopped clove of garlic added after about 10 minutes. Continue to cook them until very soft and a bit golden, then add lemon juice to taste, salt and pepper and a big handful of chopped mint... This is one of my favourites. The oil goes all green and lemony and delicious and soaks into the toast. I've also made a yoghurt with more chopped mint in it to dollop on the top in the past. This is probably the most complicated of my toast dishes.

Others include Bacon and Broad Beans on Toast. Fry diced bacon, blanch the beans, add the beans to the bacon pan with loads of chopped parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice. That's one of the easiest ones...

The scrambled eggs are self explanatory, but a few tips I have picked up from Elizabeth David; don't add milk, just lightly beat the eggs with a pinch of salt, they are ready before you think they are... Add the eggs to a pan and heat, I then take them on and off the heat as I'm cooking as I'm so fearful of an overdone scrambled egg. Take them off the heat finally before you think they are done, when they are creamy but still loose and a little raw, and continue to stir in the pan until they are soft and silky. Top with fried chorizo chunks.

The Chorizo, Chestnut and Thyme Toast is a new one to the list. Chestnuts fried slowly in butter for five minutes, add some diced chorizo and fresh thyme leaves and fry until the chorizo has turned a little brown but not too crispy. Add to the top of the toast with all the juices.

Wild mushrooms, fried with butter and garlic and lots of chopped parsley... I was given some lovely hedgehog mushrooms in the Autumn, they were pretty special. Sometimes it is just a bit of black pudding, especially if it is a really good one. Puréed fresh blanched broad beans and peas with mint, salt and pepper and olive oil, toast, black pudding and bacon, anyone fancy? Or just the Black Pudding with Broad Beans and Mint... I loved the Duck Hearts on Toast and have since tried duck liver as well, fried in butter with a splash of chicken stock and balsamic vinegar, it is totally delicious and not nearly as scary as it sounds! The combinations are interchangeable, the end result is always tasty... I will continue to expand my things on toast repertoire over the coming year and get back to you with more ideas...

Roast Red-Legged Partridge with Grapes and Chestnuts

It has been an arty week, a busy North East arty week. Hoult's Yard last Thursday to see their new show, including Amy Dover's work which I love. Lazarides on Friday night to see their latest show by Pete Hawkins which I also loved. And on Monday night the Turner Prize announcement at The Baltic, which I was very over excited to be invited to, but may have got a bit carried away with the free bar... I didn't see the streaker in the pink tutu, but did manage to eat a ridiculous amount of canapés, glean where the after after party was and actually manage to get in... but unfortunately don't really remember making my way home... Although it's not every day the Turner Prize comes to town is it...

In between all of this I managed to cook some partridge for myself and The Little Idiot. It was probably a silly idea as we were late in from the show at Hoult's Yard, and the recipe is pretty complicated including sieving sauces and the like, but I persevered and we sat down to dine at 11pm... It was totally delicious though and very much worth the effort. The recipe is from The Observer Christmas food magazine that came out a few weeks ago. There is a section on Italian Christmas food which all sounds delicious. I had two partridge in the freezer that I had plucked a few weeks ago, so we were all set...

Be warned this is serious cooking, I probably should have read the recipe properly before I began. For all my cooking, I'm terrible at skim reading recipes and not getting the gist of them before I start... For these little partridge you start with the sauce and these amounts will serve 2 people.

Heat a pan to a high heat and add 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil, when the oil is hot add about 200g of cooked chicken chopped into pieces. It's a good use for leftovers, and the sauce can be frozen for use another time. You can use any meat also, partridge, lamb, pork, veal, beef, duck, venison or pigeon. Leave the meat to roast on a high heat for 2-3 minutes without touching it until they start to turn golden, then turn them and continue until they are caramelised all over, about 5-10 minutes. Then add one diced carrot, a crushed clove of garlic, a sprig of rosemary and a bay leaf. Roast for another 2-3 minutes, then add a diced shallot and roast for another couple of minutes.

Turn the heat down a little at this stage and add 20g of butter, letting it melt and foam, but careful not to burn it. Then add 125ml of white wine and let it reduce a little so some of the alcohol burns off. Add a teaspoon of flour and a tablespoon of tomato paste and turn the heat up again, cook for a minute and then add 750ml of chicken stock. I had to use stock cubes as my freezer was bare of home-made stock, which would have been much nicer. Stir and scrap up anything sticking to the bottom of the pan and bring the sauce to the boil, then simmer for about half an hour. After half an hour put everything through a sieve and then reduce to a saucy consistency...

I kept the chicken and carroty mush from the sieve and made little patties with a bit of leftover mash and cabbage the next day... It seemed too tasty to throw away.

Next for the partridge. Place a clove of garlic and a sprig of rosemary inside each of them, use one bird per person, wrap them in pancetta and tie them up with string so the legs are tied together. Heat a pan big enough to hold them both, add some oil and then brown them 4 minutes on one leg side, 4 minutes on the other leg side and then 4 minutes on their breast. Finally stand them up on end for one minute and then turn the heat off and leave them to sit on their backs for 5 minutes.

The recipe I followed roasted their own chestnuts, but the vacuum packed ones are just too easy so I used half a packet of them and heated them through in a pan with a splash of water and a knob of butter. They also used swiss chard, but as I couldn't get any I just blanched some shredded cabbage.

Put the partridges in a medium oven for 4 minutes while you heat up the sauce. Add a handful of halved white grapes to the sauce. Pile the chard or cabbage on your plate, sprinkle the chestnuts around, place the partridge on top, free of it's string and then spoon over the sauce.

It is a lot of effort in truth, but really delicious. I've decided partridge is my favourite of the game birds after this, and the flavour of it goes perfectly with the rich meaty, tomatoy sauce. The fresh, clean addition of grapes and a buttery chestnut made this a pretty tasty late night dining experience...

Roast Duck with Chestnut, Chorizo and Cabbage

Autumn food.... Duck, chestnuts, pumpkins, squashes, mushrooms, apples, venison... Everything... its all so very tasty and warming, leaps and bounds better than any other season... I just love it, and aim to do as much cooking as possible while it lasts. There is a lot to try out... Pickling, terrines, confit, stews, sauces, pies... I'm laughing a bit at the thought of it all!

The shooting season has started so it is relatively easy to get hold of wild feathered game; these mallards were the first of the season for me, followed closely by four little partridge which are currently hanging in the porch, their fate yet to be decided... Mr. Hedworth is a good shot and generous too...

Thus a lovely way to spend a Friday night last week was with some roast duck, some lovely fresh new potatoes from my aunts garden, some soft sticky chestnuts and chorizo, a little bit of red wine and the fire on. Did I say that I loved Autumn... You need a really hot oven, about 230°C, so put it on before you begin anything else. Pop a tablespoon of herby butter and half and onion inside each duck. I made my herby butter with some salted butter, chopped sage and thyme, a few crushed juniper berries and some salt and pepper, all mashed together. Settle the ducks in a roasting tin and smear their skin with some more butter, ready to go in the oven.

Begin the chestnut, chorizo and cabbage with a chopped onion, soften it on a low heat with a pinch of salt, for about 10 minutes. Next add a diced carrot, a diced stick of celery, 2 bay leaves and some sprigs of thyme and continue to soften for another ten minutes. After about 5 minutes add a finely chopped clove of garlic. The mix should start to become soft and sticky and caramelly.

At this point you can put the duck in the oven, it needs to roast for 20 minutes, this will give you a  rare bird, depending on its size. You shouldn't cook anything for more than about 30 minutes however or it will just be dry. Keep an eye on it and after about 5 minutes add the juice of half an orange and the same amount of red wine. Continue to baste the bird with the buttery juices every so often as it cooks.

Dice about 100g of chorizo, and about 100g of chestnuts, from a tin or vacuum packed, and add these to the carrot and onion mix and leave to cook for another 5 minutes. Finally add about a quarter of a savoy cabbage finely shredded, turn it into the mixture and continue to cook on a low heat, with a lid on, until the duck is ready. Check it after 5 minutes as it may need a splash of water to loosen it up a bit, I used a few tablespoons from the new potatoes...

When your duck is ready take it out and rest it covered in foil for a good 5 minutes. Finally carve and serve with some new potatoes and a big spoonful of chestnut, chorizo and cabbage.

Wild duck is far less fatty than those you buy in the supermarket and has a deep rich gamey flavour, this one was quite rare and was beautifully soft and pink. It is perfect with the chestnut, chorizo and cabbage, which is sweet, sticky and delicious...

As I cooked two birds we did continue to eat duck for about four days, mixed through some red wine lentils it was delicious, in a little sandwich with bread sauce and leaves it was pretty good too... I even managed to boil up the carcasses to make some duck stock, which I imagine will make a pretty good base for some sort of game pie...

Dark chocolate, chestnut and almond torte

I found this recipe on The Salad Club blog when I was looking for a way to use up chestnuts and produce a pudding at the same time. I made some tiny changes and it turned out really lovely and is still good a week later... It is rich and chocolatey, yet light and lemony, with velvety chestnut chunks.

Pre heat the oven to 150 celcius and butter your cake tin. Ideally you would roast your own chestnuts and shell them... but those vacuum packed ones are really good and easy.



Put a packet of chestnuts in a pan of milk and simmer for 10-15 minutes. The milk that is left after this process smells and tastes amazing, but the recipe doesn't use it, so I definitely need to think of something good to do with it...

While the chestnuts are simmering chop up a large bar of 70% dark chocolate, I used Green and Blacks, and a 100g packet of blanched almonds. They are actually better if chunky, so you don't need to put too much effort in...

Cream 125g of unsalted butter and 200g of caster sugar together in a large bowl until fluffy. Then seperate five eggs and beat the yolks into the butter and sugar one at a time. Keep the whites as they need to go in later.



Next chop up the drained soft milky chestnuts, keep them chunky, like the chocolate and almonds. Add them all to the mixture. Grate in the zest of a whole lemon too.

Whisk the egg whites until they stand up in gentle peaks, I did it by hand and it wasn't as awful as I thought, but obviously an electric whisk makes it easier. When done fold about a quarter of them into the mix, to get it going, then mix in the rest. Be gentle to keep the air in...

Pour the mix into your cake tin and put it in the oven for 40-45 minutes. Take it out when it's done and allow it to totally cool. Break up another bar of dark chocolate and melt it in a pan with a tablespoon of butter. When it's all melted spread it over the torte and it will dry into a rich chocolatey shell. It is maybe more cake than torte, although I did serve it as a pudding after dinner. I don't think you should have cake as pudding generally, but I think this was borderline and no one complained that much...