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...

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...

Smokey spinach, chickpea and pancetta stew

I make this quite often as it's pretty easy and makes a good mid week supper. It's a Thomasina Miers recipe originally and is Spanish in origin.

I grew my own spinach last year, but it is currently a slimy frozen mess at the bottom of the allotment, so this lot is out of a bag... I got the allotment last year and actually managed to grow quite a few things, including about a million courgettes. It was still a bit of a mess though and this year I plan to be really organised, grow loads, and turn half of it into a little garden for BBQs and outdoor summer wine drinking.

4 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 onion diced

1 carrot diced

1 stick of celery diced

2 bay leaves – fresh if possible

2 sprigs of thyme

2 cloves garlic chopped

½ - 1 tsp Spanish hot smoked paprika – depending on how hot it is

400g chickpeas drained

150ml tap water

180g pancetta/ lardons

150g spinach

Cook the onion in the olive oil with a pinch of salt until soft and sweet, about 8 minutes. Add the diced carrot and celery, bay leaves and thyme, stir and cook until softened, about 10 mins, season with salt and pepper. Brown the bacon in a separate pan, until turning crispy and brown around the edges. Add the bacon, paprika and garlic to the carrot mix after the 10 minutes.

This is the paprika I use... It is really smoky and hot and delicious. I don't know where I got it from which isn't much help, sorry...

Now leave to cook until really golden and soft and sticky, another 10/15 minutes. When the mix has turned caramelly and sweet add the drained chickpeas and water, leave to heat through for 5 minutes. Then add the spinach and stir through until wilted...

Serve with a warmed pitta, or a homemade flour tortilla, perhaps a dollop of plain yoghurt or sweet cumin yoghurt. You can add 200g of diced chestnuts at the same time as the bacon and paprika if you want, this turns the dish into a sweeter and thicker stew. Both are really good...

Perhaps later this year I will have grown my own carrots, onions, celery, spinach and garlic... I don't know how chickpeas grow, so will have to look into that one, it is perhaps a little cold in Newcastle I suspect. I planted some carrot seeds last year, quite a few of them, but not one ever appeared, so I may need to work on my skills somewhat...