Guinea Fowl Breast Recipes

GUINEA FOWL SUPREME WITH A RICH CHICKEN JUS

Steps:

• Place the chicken legs into a large roasting dish and place in the oven at 180CFan for at least an hour to roast. Roast the chicken until there is good colour on the legs and on the skin as this adds great flavour to the jus.
• Once there is a good colour on the chicken remove from the oven and place the chicken and any cooking juices in a large saucepan. Add a little boiling water to the roasting pan and make sure you get all the roasting juices from the pan.
• Add the vegetables and herbs to the saucepan along with the chicken and set over a medium heat, stir until the vegetables have softened, the chicken should look well broken down.
• Add the stock to the chicken and vegetables and simmer for at least 2 hours before straining the sauce through a fine sieve lined with muslin. Leave to strain for an hour to ensure that you have all the liquid from the pan.
• At this stage allow the stock to settle and the fat will rise to the top. Remove as much fat from the stock as possible, either by spooning it off or using a special fat separating jug. You want a clean and clear stock to make your jus with.
• Put the stock into a clean sauce pan and over a high heat reduce the stock by two thirds. Add the wine to the jus and heat vigorously until the jus has again reduced by two thirds or until you have the desired consistency. Remember jus is richer than a simple gravy and you don't need so much.
• Add the apple jelly, butter and season to taste. Do not season with salt before this stage as you don't want a salty stock. Set the jus aside until ready to serve.
• Brush the guinea fowl supreme with a little sunflower oil and season with salt and pepper.
• Heat up a large non-stick frying pan and place each supreme skin side down in the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden.
• Remove the guinea fowl from the pan and place into a roasting pan. Place in the oven at 180CFan for 12-14 minutes until it has reached an internal temperature of 74C.
• Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 10 minutes before serving with the chicken jus and vegetables of you choice.

POT-ROASTED GUINEA FOWL WITH SAGE, CELERY AND BLOOD ORANGE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Remove any excess fat from the cavity of each guinea fowl. Wash thoroughly inside and out and pat dry with paper towels. Rub the cavity with a little salt. Cut off the two ends of the oranges, stand them on end and carefully slice off the skin (once you have removed one piece of skin you can see where the flesh meets the skin). Slice the oranges into five or six rounds each. Remove the tougher outside ribs of the celery until you reach the white, dense bulb and slice across thinly.
• Put in a bowl, mix in the thyme and a small pinch of salt and pepper, then stuff the cavity of each guinea fowl with this filling. Pull the skin at the front of each guinea fowl's cavity forward, to cover the filling, and tightly tie/truss up.
• Heat a thick-bottomed pan and add the olive oil and the guinea fowl, the skin of which has been rubbed in sea salt and pepper. Cook until lightly golden on all sides, then add the garlic, butter and sage and cook for 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Add the wine at intervals, enough to keep the pan slightly moist at all times. Place in the oven for 45 minutes, checking every 10-15 minutes and just topping up the wine as necessary. The guinea fowl will be roasted and partially steamed.
• When cooked, carefully remove from the oven and place upside down on a dish, allowing all the juices and moisture to relax back into the breast meat for at least 5 minutes. While your meat is resting, make the gravy.
• Remove all the fat from the roasting pan and place the pan on gentle heat. In the bottom of the pan will be your cooked, soft, sweet, whole garlic cloves and some gorgeous sticky stuff--when this gets hot, scoop out the stuffing from the guinea fowl cavity and add to the pan with about 2/3 cup of wine. As the wine boils and steams, scrape all the goodness with a spoon from the bottom of the pan into the liquor. When it has all dissolved, leave to simmer gently. Squash the cooked garlic out of their skins with a spoon (discard the skins); this will also thicken the gravy slightly, as well as give it flavor. Pour any of the juices that have drained out of the rested birds into the pan with the gravy, simmer and season to taste. Serve the guinea fowl with roast potatoes and any simply cooked green vegetable--spinach, kale, bok choy or broccoli.

POT-ROAST GUINEA FOWL WITH CABBAGE & BACON

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Heat the butter in a large flameproof casserole and brown the guinea fowl all over. Remove and set aside.
• Add the lardons to the pan, cook for 2-3 mins until beginning to turn golden. Add the celery, carrot and onion and cook for 5 mins. Then stir in the cabbage and cook for 5 mins more.
• Add the juniper berries, wine and stock, then sit the guinea fowl on top. Bring to a simmer then cover tightly and roast in the oven for 1 hr 15 mins, until the bird is cooked through.