Pot Roasted Guinea Fowl with Fennel, Potatoes
and Blood Oranges
Pot Roasted Guinea Fowl with Fennel, Potatoes
and Blood Oranges
Serves 4
Here is another Guest Recipe from Jamie Oliver - this is a wonderful combination of ingredients and if guinea fowl is not available, you could always use chicken or pheasant and likewise, if blood oranges are out of season, ordinary ones will do or you could use Mandarin oranges.
I don't have any Gin and so substituted with Medium Sherry, which was perfect.
Note: that for this dish, you have to make the initial preparations one day in advance.
Ingredients
2 x 1.2kg (2½ lbs) guinea fowl, pheasants or small chickens (poussins)
1 wine glass of Gin (or Sherry)
1 tablespoon Fennel seeds (ground in a pestle and mortar)
1 small handful of fresh rosemary, leaves picked
1 small handful of fresh thyme, leaves picked (dried will do)
1 whole bulb of garlic, crushed
Zest and juice of 5 blood oranges
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 kg (4½lbs) potatoes, peeled and halved (or cut into slices, which is how I prepared them)
2 large bulbs of fennel, trimmed, and each cut into eight pieces, herby tops reserved
1 large handful of black olives, stones removed
AND THIS IS WHAT YOU DO.....
- Cut the guinea fowl legs away from the breast meat. This is because they take different lengths of time to cook and you want to get it perfect. We then cut the rest of the bird into sections.
- To make the marinade, bash up the fennel seeds in a pestle and mortar, mix in the gin, or Sherry, and the zest and juice of the oranges with 5 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with black pepper only.
- Now, get yourself a small clean bin liner (because they're nice and tough) or a sandwich bag. Make sure there are no holes in it. Push the guinea fowl legs and breasts down into one corner of the bag, then add the marinade. Squeeze out as much air as you can and tie a knot in the bag. Put it in a bowl or on a large plate and keep it in the fridge for a day, turning the bag over when you remember.
- When you are ready to cook, pre-heat the oven to 230C/Gas 8.
- Parboil your potatoes in boiling, salted water for about 5 minutes, then add the fennel. Continue to boil for 5 minutes more and drain.
- Take the guinea fowl out of the fridge, drain away the marinade to a jug as you will need this later, and place the meat on a board.
- Using a piece of kitchen towel, blot off any excess moisture from the meat.
- Now put the legs into a big roasting tray and roast for 20 minutes.
- Take the tray out of the oven - you should have a nice bit of fat in the bottom - and put the legs on a separate plate.
- Meanwhile, put the potatoes, fennel and the rest of the thyme and rosemary into the tray and give it a really good shake about.
- Then, put the legs back in the tray, along with the breast meat, which should be skin side up.
- Pour some of the marinade over the vegetables, reserving half of this.
- Roast in the oven for about 30 minutes until both the skin of the breast meat and the potatoes are golden. You may need to cover in foil for part of the cooking process to prevent the meat from browning too much.
- Remove from the oven, sprinkle with the olives and allow to rest for five minutes.
- To serve, cut the guinea fowl into chunks. Divide a bit of everything between your plates and sprinkle with the herby fennel tops. We served this with Brussels sprouts and carrots and made a thick gravy by adding a spoonful of gravy granules (Bisto) to the marinade juices and poured that onto the meat joints.