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Easy-to-make recipe for a partridge pot roast

What could be easier than a pot roast when you're short of time - and here's how to make one with the new season partridge. Serves four.

Now the partridge season is well underway there’s going to be some delicious young birds coming your way. Well hopefully. The partridge is smaller than the pheasant but has a wonderfully mellow flavour. Always allow one per person – just half or double the ingredients below to allow for different numbers.

This is a partridge recipe that will happily simmer away in the oven whilst you’re getting on with something else and you can always prepare the vegetables in the morning of course. It’s from Game To Eat, which was set up by the Countryside Alliance to encourage the public to cook and enjoy wild game as an alternative to lamb, chicken, beef or pork.

 Ingredients 

  • 4 oven-ready partridges
  • 50g carrots, peeled and diced
  • 50g whole shallots, peeled
  • 200g smoked bacon, diced
  • 50g cannelloni beans
  • 50g borlotti beans
  • 1 litre game stock
  • salt and pepper

Method

  • Sear the partridges in a stovetop casserole (with fitted lid).
  • Season well.
  • Remove the birds and set aside on a platter. Add the shallots, bacon and carrots to the pan and sauté for a few minutes.
  • Return the partridges to the casserole and add the beans and stock.
  • Replace the lid.
  • Cook in a hot oven at 180ºC for 30 minutes (depending on size).
  • Allow to rest in a warm place.
  • This dish looks very good when it’s served on white china. Place the partridge on top of the beans and then dribble a little sauce over the top.

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Effortless recipe for roast partridge

Here’s another quick and easy recipe for roast partridge to have up your chef’s sleeve for the season ahead. Serves two.

Ingredients

  • 2 oven-ready partridges
  • softened butter
  • salt and pepper
  • streaky smoked bacon
  • onion
  • bay leaves
  • red wine

Method

Prepare the birds by rubbing the butter over them, then seasoning generously. Cover each with two rashers of the bacon and put a quarter onion and a couple of bay leaves into the cavity.

Place in a roasting tin and pour half a bottle of red wine round the birds. Place in the centre of a very hot oven (230°C). After 10 minutes, remove the bacon and baste the birds with the juices in the pan. Return to the oven and cook for a further 25 minutes.

Leave to rest in a warm place for 10 to 15 minutes while you prepare the gravy and finish off the bread sauce.

For the gravy, remove the birds and place the pan on the top of the stove over a medium heat. Stir in a couple of stock cubes, a dash of water and a slug of red wine.

Whisk gently over a low heat until the stock cubes have dissolved completely. If the gravy is too thin, add a teaspoonful or two of cornflour and keep whisking until all lumps disappear and the gravy thickens.

Add a good twist of pepper (no salt – the stock cube will be salty enough).