This month’s recipe is great for slightly older partridges and I have served this at a shoot lunch where it went down a treat. I think the slightly exotic flavours are a good foil to the customary fodder. Have you noticed that shoot food is getting better? Just recently we have had some marvellous shoot lunches and I have also noticed that the talk amongst the guns is not just “what choke are you using”, but very foodie. In fact one gun even swapped a recipe for venison with me. Just goes to show someone’s reading!
Piquant Partridge
Serves 2
2 partridge
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger (you can also use ginger paste)
1 small bird’s eye chilli – you decide how hot, finely chopped
3 fat cloves of garlic, crushed
The juice of 1 lime
1 ½ tbsp of soy sauce
1 tbsp light brown sugar
1 tsp grain mustard
1 tbsp sunflower oil
Pre heat the oven to its highest setting.
Put the partridge into a non-metallic bowl. Mix the ginger, chilli, garlic, lime juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, mustard and oil into a thick paste and smear it all over the partridge- sometimes I slash the legs a little to get the spices right into the bird. Cover the partridges with cling film and leave to marinade for an hour or longer if you can in the refrigerator. (It works equally well with pheasant but they will need more ingredients and longer cooking).
Bring the partridge to room temperature, put them into a roasting dish, and roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Leave them to rest for 5 minutes and serve with fragrant rice and a wedge of lime.
Tip: When I chat to a gun at his peg I am really having a look at his spent cartridges. I like to collect the really pukka ones made of paper and fill them with tooth picks and put them at every place setting on the table. It is amazing how little touches like that can really make people smile.
This article by Amy Willcock appears in The
Shooting Gazette November 2009, and is reproduced here with permission.
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