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...
