Pot roasted guinea fowl with roasted baby turnips
A succulent pot roast from Saturday Kitchen with soy-glazed roasted baby turnips.
By Matt Tebbutt
From Saturday Kitchen
Ingredients
For the pot roasted guinea fowl
- guinea fowl: 1 whole guinea fowl
- butter: 25g/1oz unsalted butter
- sage: 1 small bunch fresh sage leaves
- onion: 1 onion, sliced
- pancetta: 100g/3½oz piece pancetta
- garlic: 4 garlic cloves
- chicken stock: 300ml/½ pint chicken stock
- bay leaf: 1 bay leaf
- lemon: 1 unwaxed lemon, zest only
- black pepper: salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the roasted baby turnips and turnip greens
- bonito: 15²µ/½´Ç³ú bonito flakes
- soy sauce: 100³¾±ô/3½´Ç³ú soy sauce
- caster sugar: 1 tsp caster sugar
- mirin: 50ml/2fl oz mirin
- 1 tbsp togarashi (Japanese spice mixture)
- lemon: 1 unwaxed lemon, zest and juice
- turnips: 8 baby turnips with greens
- oil: 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt: pinch salt
- sesame seeds: 1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/Gas 4. Season the guinea fowl all over with salt and pepper.
Place the butter in a casserole dish over a medium heat on the hob and heat until foaming. Add the guinea fowl and cook in the butter until browned all over. Remove the bird from the dish.
Add the sage, onion, pancetta and garlic to the casserole dish. Cook for 5 minutes until coloured then add the bird back to the dish.
Add the stock, bay leaf and lemon zest and put the lid on. Carefully transfer to the oven and cook for 50 minutes to 1 hour (the juices should run clear when the thickest part of one of the thighs is pierced with a skewer). Once cooked, remove the bird and allow to rest. Place the casserole on the hob over medium heat and reduce the liquid by half.
Meanwhile, use a spice grinder to blend the bonito flakes. Add to a pan over a medium heat along with the soy sauce, sugar, mirin and togarashi and cook until the liquid is reduced by one-third. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice and zest.
Chop up the turnip leaves and set aside. Cut the turnips into quarters and toss in the oil and salt. Pace in a hot pan and fry for 8 minutes or until soft, adding the greens halfway through cooking.
To serve, carve the fowl into pieces of breast, leg, and wing. Place the cooked turnips and leaves onto a serving plate then top with the fowl. Dress with the soy dressing and a little of the reduced liquor from the bird pot. Finish with a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
