Sponsor Recipe
Roast Partridge with Porcini Bread Sauce
Rachel Green
SERVES 4
• 4 whole partridges , plucked & dressed
• A few thyme sprigs , leaves stripped
• 75g butter
• Olive oil
• 8 slices of Prosciutto
• 150ml red wine
• 50ml port
• 200ml rich beef stock
• 1 tbsp redcurrant jelly
• Sea salt flakes
• White pepper
• Cornflour & cold water paste ( if needed )
FOR THE PORCINIW BREAD SAUCE
• 20g dried porcini
• 1 small onion
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 large bay leaf
• 500ml full-fat milk
• ground nutmeg
• 25g butter
• 2 tbsp double cream
• 100g sourdough crumbs
TO SERVE
• cooked greens
• Sourdough crumbs , fried until golden
• Preheat the oven to 220 ° C / 200 ° C fan
1 Before cooking the partridges , rinse the dried porcini , soak in 120ml of boiling water and leave to one side . 2 Put the partridges , thyme leaves , 50g of butter and a little olive oil in a large sauté / frying pan and fry the birds on all sides for around 6-8 minutes , until golden in colour . Using a slotted spoon , remove the partridges from the pan and place in a roasting tin . Season well , cover the partridges with the prosciutto slices and roast in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes . Once cooked , remove from the oven and place on a board . Cover with foil and allow to rest for 20 minutes . 3 While the birds are cooking , make the porcini bread sauce and the port sauce . 4 To make the bread sauce , stud the onion with the cloves and put in a saucepan with the bay leaf , milk and a good pinch of nutmeg . Heat the milk to just below boiling point . Remove from the heat and leave to infuse for a minimum of 30 minutes . 5 To make the port sauce , pour the wine , port and beef stock into the sauté / frying pan used to fry the partridges , bring to a simmer over a medium heat and allow to reduce by half – this should take around 10 minutes . Stir in the remaining 25g of butter along with the redcurrant jelly . Season with some salt and white pepper and thicken if required using a little cornflour and cold water paste . Drain the sauce through a sieve and keep warm . 6 Drain the porcini mushrooms ( saving their soaking water ) and chop finely . Tip the chopped porcini and 25g of butter into a saucepan . Allow to cook slowly for 8 minutes , stirring continuously . Discard the studded onion and bay leaf from the infused milk and add the milk to the porcini pan along with the cream , sourdough crumbs and half the porcini water . Allow to cook over a very low heat , stirring until the sauce has thickened which should take around 10-12 minutes . Season to taste and add a little more porcini water if the sauce is too thick . 7 Serve the partridges on hot plates with your favourite cooked greens , with the bread sauce and port sauce poured over . Sprinkle some cooked sourdough crumbs on top .
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