Ingredients for 8 servings
- 8 prepared partridges
- 1 tablespoon chopped thyme
- 1 tablespoon salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons butter
Ragout of ceps
- 700 g ceps or other wild mushrooms
- 2 onions
- 3 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Salt
- Pepper
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Pears cooked with lingonberries
- 100 g sugar
- 150 g lingonberries
- 1.5 litres water
- 4 firm pears
Partridge cream sauce
- The carcasses and thighs of the 8 partridges
- 1 chopped onion
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon crushed pepper
- 2 teaspoons crushed juniper berries
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 200 ml white wine
- 50 ml whole lingonberries
- 500 ml cream
- 1 litre water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 tablespoons redcurrant jelly
- Salt
- Pepper
Cut the partridges in half lengthwise along the backbone. Remove the breasts and keep the carcasses and thighs for the sauce. Salt and pepper the breasts and sprinkle them with a little chopped thyme.
Heat the butter in a frying pan. Seal the breasts and then finish cooking them in the oven at 175 °C for eight minutes. Take them out of the oven and let them rest for twenty minutes. Place them in an oven dish. When serving, reheat the breasts in the oven for ten minutes at 200 °C. Cut them in half and arrange them on plates with vegetables such as Brussels sprouts, green beans and sautéed ratte potatoes.
Ragout of ceps
Wash the ceps and cut them into large pieces. Peel the onions and the garlic and slice them thinly. Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok. Fry the ceps on high heat until any water has evaporated. Add the butter, garlic and onion and continue cooking until the onion is soft and everything is lightly browned. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley just before serving.
Pears cooked with lingonberries
Blend the sugar with the lingonberries and the water. Pour through a sieve into a saucepan. Peel the pears and cut them into six pieces. Remove the seeds and put the pieces in the cranberry juice. Cover the surface with a piece of greaseproof paper cut to the size of the saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for two to three minutes, remove from the heat and leave the pears in the liquid overnight. Reheat gently in the juice just before serving.
Partridge cream sauce
Put the carcasses and thighs in a roasting pan and cook in the oven at 200 °C for twenty minutes until the bones begin to brown. Then put them in a saucepan with the chopped onion, thyme, crushed pepper, crushed juniper berries, sliced garlic, white wine, lingonberries and cream. Top up with water to cover. Season with salt and bring to the boil. Skim and then leave to simmer on a low heat for forty-five minutes. Pass through a fine cone strainer (chinois) pressing thoroughly. Melt the butter, add the flour and cook to obtain a light brown roux. Slowly add the partridge stock whisking vigorously to avoid lumps. Cook the sauce on a low heat for twenty minutes. Adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper and redcurrant jelly. The sauce should be slightly acidic and have a pronounced partridge flavour.
