Stuffed Breast Of Guinea Fowl Caramelized In Hydromel Wine Food

PEPPER-SEARED GUINEA FOWL WITH NEW POTATO CREPE

Steps:

• Using a sharp boning knife, remove each breast half from the guinea fowl and cut into 6 boneless breasts with wing handles. Do not remove the skin. Cover breasts and refrigerate until ready to roast.
• Again using the boning knife, cut down through the leg joint removing all 6 legs form the fowl. Carefully remove skin, fat, and tendons. Make a deep cut, lengthwise, down each leg and scrape the meat away from the bone. Cut the leg meat into strips 2 inches long by 1/4-inch thick. Cover and refrigerate.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Place guinea carcasses in a roasting pan in preheated oven and roast for 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven. Drain off all fat. Using a cleaver, crack carcasses into small pieces and set aside. Place roasting pan over medium-high heat. Add wine and cook, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes to deglaze pan.
• Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the mirepoix and sachet and saute for 3 minutes. Add the reserved roasted guinea bones, scrape mixture from the pan and reserve. Add wine and cook for 10 minutes. Raise heat and add 3 cups of chicken stock.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and strain through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan. Skim all fat and any particles from the top. Return to medium heat and cook for about 15 minutes, or until reduced to 1 1/2 cups. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Peel potatoes. Place them in a medium saucepan with water to cover over medium-high heat. Add salt to taste. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 12 minutes, or until potatoes are tender when pierced with the point of a sharp knife. Drain well. Cut, crosswise, into thin slices. Set aside.
• Peel onion and slice it, crosswise, into thin slices. Set aside.
• Remove leg meat from the refrigerator. Season lightly with salt and pepper to taste. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. When very hot but not smoking, add the meat and saute for 4 minutes. Stir in the remaining cup of stock and cook for about 15 minutes, or until meat is very tender and the liquid has reduced to a glaze. Remove from heat and scrape into a mixing bowl. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in the same saute pan over medium heat. Add onion and saute for 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Stir in potatoes and saute for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add to meat. Stir in 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
• Lay the crepes out on a clean, flat surface. Using a pastry brush, lightly coat one side with melted butter. Divide potato stuffing into 6 equal portions and place a portion in the center of each crepe. Fold the sides of the crepes over the filling. Starting from one open end, roll up each crepe to make a firm but not tight cylinder. Again, brush them with melted butter. Place on a small nonstick baking sheet and set aside.
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Remove breasts from refrigerator. Season generously with coarse salt and cracked pepper. Heat vegetable oil in a saute pan large enough to hold the 6 breasts over medium-high heat. When very hot, place the breasts, skin-side down, in pan. Sear for 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Turn and cook for 4 minutes. Remove to a baking sheet and place in the preheated oven along with the crepes. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until meat is just cooked and crepes are golden.
• Melt the tablespoon of butter in the same saute pan over medium heat, stirring constantly to scrape up solids from the bottom of the pan. Add morels and saute for 6 minutes, or until tender. Lay the crepes out on a clean, flat surface. Using a pastry brush, lightly coat one side with melted butter. Divide potato stuffing into 6 equal portions and place a portion in the center of each crepe. Fold the sides of the crepes over the filling. Starting from one open end, roll up each crepe to make a firm but not tight cylinder. Again, brush them with melted butter. Place on a small nonstick baking sheet and set aside.
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
• Remove breasts from refrigerator. Season generously with coarse salt and cracked pepper. Heat vegetable oil in a saute pan large enough to hold the 6 breasts over medium-high heat. When very hot, place the breasts, skin-side down, in pan. Sear for 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Turn and cook for 4 minutes. Remove to a baking sheet and place in the preheated oven along with the crepes. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until meat is just cooked and crepes are golden.Melt the tablespoon of butter in the same saute pan over medium heat, stirring constantly to scrape up solids from the bottom of the pan. Add morels and saute for 6 minutes, or until tender. Add reduced stock, remaining 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer and cook for 2 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Reduce heat to very low to keep sauce warm.
• Remove crepes and breasts from oven. Lay one crepe in the center of each of 6 warm dinner plates. Angle a breast against each crepe. Spoon a generous portion of sauce over the crepe and fowl. Garnish with a sprig of fresh parsley and serve immediately.

POT-ROASTED GUINEA FOWL WITH SAGE, CELERY AND BLOOD ORANGE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Remove any excess fat from the cavity of each guinea fowl. Wash thoroughly inside and out and pat dry with paper towels. Rub the cavity with a little salt. Cut off the two ends of the oranges, stand them on end and carefully slice off the skin (once you have removed one piece of skin you can see where the flesh meets the skin). Slice the oranges into five or six rounds each. Remove the tougher outside ribs of the celery until you reach the white, dense bulb and slice across thinly.
• Put in a bowl, mix in the thyme and a small pinch of salt and pepper, then stuff the cavity of each guinea fowl with this filling. Pull the skin at the front of each guinea fowl's cavity forward, to cover the filling, and tightly tie/truss up.
• Heat a thick-bottomed pan and add the olive oil and the guinea fowl, the skin of which has been rubbed in sea salt and pepper. Cook until lightly golden on all sides, then add the garlic, butter and sage and cook for 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Add the wine at intervals, enough to keep the pan slightly moist at all times. Place in the oven for 45 minutes, checking every 10-15 minutes and just topping up the wine as necessary. The guinea fowl will be roasted and partially steamed.
• When cooked, carefully remove from the oven and place upside down on a dish, allowing all the juices and moisture to relax back into the breast meat for at least 5 minutes. While your meat is resting, make the gravy.
• Remove all the fat from the roasting pan and place the pan on gentle heat. In the bottom of the pan will be your cooked, soft, sweet, whole garlic cloves and some gorgeous sticky stuff--when this gets hot, scoop out the stuffing from the guinea fowl cavity and add to the pan with about 2/3 cup of wine. As the wine boils and steams, scrape all the goodness with a spoon from the bottom of the pan into the liquor. When it has all dissolved, leave to simmer gently. Squash the cooked garlic out of their skins with a spoon (discard the skins); this will also thicken the gravy slightly, as well as give it flavor. Pour any of the juices that have drained out of the rested birds into the pan with the gravy, simmer and season to taste. Serve the guinea fowl with roast potatoes and any simply cooked green vegetable--spinach, kale, bok choy or broccoli.

STUFFED BREAST OF GUINEA FOWL CARAMELIZED IN HYDROMEL WINE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Remove the breasts from the guinea fowls and set them aside. Chop up the carcasses and legs and brown the pieces in a roasting pan in the oven, this should take about 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and place in a large stock pot.
• Coarsely chop up all the vegetables and put them in the pot with the browned carcass pieces. Add the garlic, the bouquet garni, the fresh thyme, and the tomato paste. Cover with water by about 2-inches. Bring to a simmer, and cook until reduced by half. Keep in mind that the slower the simmer, the better tasting the glaze will be. Once simmered, strain the contents to keep only the juices and the broth and viola! The base for your sauce.
• In a frying pan, melt the butter and incorporate the honey. When the mixture becomes thick and foamy, quickly brown the 4 reserved breasts on both sides, taking care not to let the honey blacken. Finish cooking the breasts in the oven on a baking sheet, about 10 minutes. To the pan, add the chopped shallots and cook for 2 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the hydromel wine, reducing for 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1 cup of the sauce base and cook until the mixture has slightly thickened. Add the dried cranberries at the last moment.
• Set the guinea fowl breasts on a plate dress it with gravy.