Roast Partridge with bread and cheese
Roast partridge with sour dough bread, strong cheese, hawthorn jelly and bread sauce.
Ingredients
- 4 partridge
- drizzle rapeseed oil
- 4 bay leaves
- 4 slices of sour dough bread
- 100 grams Ogleshield cheese or other racelette type cheese
- hawthorn jelly for brushing
- 1 zest blood or ordinary orange
- sea salt and pepper
For brining
- 1.5 litre water
- 90 grams sea salt
- 2 tbsp juniper berries
- 4 cloves
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp black pepper corns
For bread sauce
- 300 ml milk
- 2 tbsp double cream
- 61 yellow onions
- 2 pinch ground cloves
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tsp English mustard
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 75 grams stale bread cut into 2.5 cm cubes
- 200 grams cavolo nero or red kale roughly chopped
- drizzle rapeseed oil cavolo nero
- 1 tbsp cider vinegar cavolo nero
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients for the brine into one pot, bring to the boil and stir to dissolve the salt. Leave to cool and chill.Place the partridge into the brine and make sure they are submerged.Leave in the fridge for 1 hour 15 minutes.
- Drain the birds and discard the brine. Pat them dry and leave to one side.
- To make the bread sauce: Put all the ingredients in a pan (except the sour dough bread) and bring to a simmer. Cook gently for 10-15 minutes so the onion is soft. Remove the bay leaf.Transfer the mixture to a blender and blitz until the onion is completely blended in. Add the bread cubes and allow to soak for a couple of minutes before blitzing until smooth. Taste and add more seasoning if required. (for very smooth sauce pass through a sieve) Keep warm
- Heat oven to 200c/Gas mark 6Lightly coat the partridge in oil and season. Place a bay leaf in each cavity and place on a tray resting on a piece of sour dough. Roast in the oven for 12-15 minutes until lightly coloured they should be pink inside.
- Brush each bird with the hawthorn jelly and return to the oven for a further 3 minutes.Leave the birds to rest for 1 minutes in a warm place.
- For Cavolo nero: Heat a frying pan and add a film of oil. Add the greens and season with salt. Cook over a medium to high heat, tossing regularly to prevent scorching. Once the leaves begin to wilt add the cider vinegar and cook briefly until it evaporates. Remove greens from the pan and set aside.
- To assemble: Spoon some bread sauce on each plate. Flake shavings of cheese over the top, they will melt as they land.Place the birds on the top, then add the cavolo nero along with dollops of hawthorn jelly.Scatter over the orange zest and serve with fondant potatoes.
- Admire your dinner for no longer than it take you to pour a chilled vermouth.