Roast Partridge Recipe
By Published: April 5, 2013
- Yield: 4 Servings
This dish makes a lovely Sunday lunch or smart main course; however table manners aside, nothing beats picking up the bird at the end and nibbling off those last juicy bits from the legs & wings!
Ingredients
- 4 young partridge plucked and gutted
- 8 sprigs rosemary
- 2 bulbs garlic
- Butter
- 4 slices smoked streaky bacon
- Salt
- pepper
- 1/4 loaf stale white bread crusts removed
- 1 pint whole milk
- 1 shallots
- 20 Cloves
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 1 pinch nutmeg
Instructions
- This couldn’t be simpler, spread the legs wide to even cooking time. Cut your bulb of garlic in half across the equator and stuff ½ up the cavity of each bird along with 2 sprigs of Rosemary. Season the top of the bird and spread with a little butter and lay bacon over the breasts.
- Roast in a pre-heated oven (200c) for 20 mins then rest for 20 mins with a cloth over the top. This allows the juices to relax back into the meat, making it juicy and succulent.
- Meanwhile, for the bread sauce – peel the shallot and stud with the cloves. Pour milk into a saucepan and heat with the shallot and the thyme. Just before boiling point, turn off and leave to infuse. In a food processor, whizz up the bread until you have crumbs (use the pulse button as its not so fine). Stir the bread into the milk (onion & thyme removed) and warm to thicken. Add nutmeg and salt & pepper to taste.
- Serve with all the trimmings: Game chips (potato slices crisped up in hot oil), roast potatoes (yes as well!), good quality redcurrant jelly and slow braised red cabbage. Pour the roasting juices over the meat.