Guinea Fowl Recipes

ROAST GUINEA FOWL

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan oven) mark 6. Put the guinea fowl in a bowl, add the lemon zest and juice, bay leaves, thyme and peppercorns. Cover and leave to marinate for 1hr.
• Put the bird in a roasting tin, breast side down, stuff with the lemon quarters and the butter, pour the stock over and roast for 50min.
• Turn the guinea fowl on to the backbone, and continue to roast for 20min or until the juices run clear when the thigh is pierced with a skewer.
• Put the guinea fowl on a board and cover with foil. Leave to rest.
• To make the gravy, put the roasting tin on the heat and scrape up the juices in the pan. Add redcurrant jelly, wine and 50ml (2fl oz) water to the pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 3-5 min to make a gravy and season well.

RECIPE: ROSEMARY-BRINED GUINEA HEN

Steps:

• In an 8-quart stock pot, combine 10 cups of the water with the garlic, rosemary and thyme. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer on low for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the remaining 10 cups water, the sugar, salt and peppercorns. Let the brine completely cool.
• Add the guinea hen to the cooled brine, making sure it's completely submerged. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 3 days.
• Preheat the oven to 350º, then line a baking sheet with foil and place a rack on top. Remove the hen from the brine and dry completely with paper towels. Truss the legs with butcher's twine and lay the guinea hen on top of the rack.
• Roast until the hen has reached an internal temperature of 145º, 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and raise the temperature to 450º. Let the guinea hen rest outside, while the oven is heating.
• Rub the butter all over the skin of the bird, then place back in the oven until golden brown and the bird has reached an internal temperature of 165º, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Remove the guinea hen from the oven and let rest for 5 to 7 minutes before carving and serving.

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.

GUINEA FOWL SUPREME WITH A RICH CHICKEN JUS

Steps:

• Place the chicken legs into a large roasting dish and place in the oven at 180CFan for at least an hour to roast. Roast the chicken until there is good colour on the legs and on the skin as this adds great flavour to the jus.
• Once there is a good colour on the chicken remove from the oven and place the chicken and any cooking juices in a large saucepan. Add a little boiling water to the roasting pan and make sure you get all the roasting juices from the pan.
• Add the vegetables and herbs to the saucepan along with the chicken and set over a medium heat, stir until the vegetables have softened, the chicken should look well broken down.
• Add the stock to the chicken and vegetables and simmer for at least 2 hours before straining the sauce through a fine sieve lined with muslin. Leave to strain for an hour to ensure that you have all the liquid from the pan.
• At this stage allow the stock to settle and the fat will rise to the top. Remove as much fat from the stock as possible, either by spooning it off or using a special fat separating jug. You want a clean and clear stock to make your jus with.
• Put the stock into a clean sauce pan and over a high heat reduce the stock by two thirds. Add the wine to the jus and heat vigorously until the jus has again reduced by two thirds or until you have the desired consistency. Remember jus is richer than a simple gravy and you don't need so much.
• Add the apple jelly, butter and season to taste. Do not season with salt before this stage as you don't want a salty stock. Set the jus aside until ready to serve.
• Brush the guinea fowl supreme with a little sunflower oil and season with salt and pepper.
• Heat up a large non-stick frying pan and place each supreme skin side down in the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden.
• Remove the guinea fowl from the pan and place into a roasting pan. Place in the oven at 180CFan for 12-14 minutes until it has reached an internal temperature of 74C.
• Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 10 minutes before serving with the chicken jus and vegetables of you choice.

HOW TO COOK GUINEA FOWL

Steps:

• Thaw frozen guinea fowl in the fridge for 24 hours. If you purchased guinea fowl frozen, it needs to safely thaw in the refrigerator before you can cook it. Keep the guinea fowl in its packaging and put it on a tray in case it leaks as it thaws. If you need to thaw the guinea fowl more quickly, submerge it in cold water for about 2.5 hours. Change the water every 30 minutes and replace it with fresh cold water. Never set frozen guinea fowl on the counter to thaw at room temperature or use hot water to thaw it. It could grow harmful bacteria with these methods.
• Rinse the thawed guinea fowl, pat it dry, and rest it in the fridge for 24 hours. If you don't have time to do this, you can skip this step. If possible, though, set it on a wire rack over top of a plate and leave it uncovered in the fridge. This helps the skin on the guinea fowl dry out a little bit, which means it'll get crispier in the oven. If you can't find a 4 pounds (1.8 kg) bird, get 2 smaller ones. This step is in addition to the 24 hours it took to thaw the guinea fowl if you purchased it frozen.
• Take the guinea fowl out of the fridge 30-60 minutes before cooking it. This will help the meat cook through more evenly than if you were to pop it into the oven straight from the refrigerator. Set it on a wire rack over a plate so that it doesn't sit in liquid. If you reverse engineer the time it'll take to rest, roast, and prepare the bird, you'll know when to take it out of the fridge. For example, it takes about 10 minutes to prep the guinea fowl, 60 minutes to cook it, and 15 minutes for it to rest. With that math, plan on taking the guinea fowl out of the fridge 2-2.5 hours before you want to eat.
• Preheat the oven to 400 °F (204 °C). Because the guinea fowl isn't as large as other birds, it won't take nearly as long to cook. While the oven is preheating, take a moment to gather your ingredients in one place so you have everything you need. This is also a time when you could prep whatever side dishes you're planning to serve. You can finish making them while the bird is roasting in the oven.
• Smash 3 cloves of garlic but leave the skins in place. Simply place the garlic cloves on a clean cutting board and crush them with a chef's knife's flat side. This releases the garlic's aroma and flavor to penetrate the bird as it cooks. If you don't have fresh garlic cloves, use 3 tsp (9 grams) of pre-minced garlic.
• Set the guinea fowl in a large cast-iron skillet. If you don't have a cast-iron skillet, you could use a roasting dish or a dutch oven. Use a skillet that's 2 to 3 inches (5.1 to 7.6 cm) deep so the juices don't spill into the oven. The juices will be used in the pan sauce later on; plus, spilled liquid will burn in the oven and create a huge mess. Don't use a baking sheet or baking stone for this dish.
• Rub the guinea fowl with 2 teaspoons (9.9 mL) of olive oil. Wash your hands first, then pour the olive oil over the bird. Use your hands to massage the oil into the bird's skin. Make sure to get all around its sides and the bottom, too! The olive oil will help the skin crisp up even more while the guinea fowl roasts; plus, it'll impart a great flavor to the bird. Remember to wash your hands after this step. You don't want to touch anything else until you've cleaned your hands to prevent spreading harmful bacteria from the raw chicken to other surfaces.
• Spread the salt, pepper, thyme, and crushed garlic over the guinea fowl. Sprinkle 3/4 tsp (3.5 grams) of sea salt, 1/2 tsp (1 gram) of black pepper, and 2 tbsp (5 grams) of fresh thyme leaves over the bird. Place the 3 cloves of smashed garlic around the guinea fowl in the skillet. If you don't have fresh thyme, substitute 1.5 tsp (1.5 grams) of dried thyme. This is where you could get a little more adventurous if you wanted to. You could add sage leaves, lemon wedges, sliced shallots, chopped onion, bay leaves, dried or fresh rosemary, oregano, or even a drizzle of honey.

GUINEA FOWL TAGINE

Steps:

• The day before cooking, put all the ingredients for the chermoula in a blender and process until smooth. Pour over the bird and marinate in the fridge overnight.
• Next day, heat oven to 220C/200C fan/ gas 7. Scrape the chermoula marinade off the bird and set aside. Heat a little olive oil in a large frying pan and brown the bird on all sides over a high heat. Put the carrots, onions, fruit and reserved chermoula into the tagine and place the guinea fowl on top. Pour in about 400ml water - enough to come 1cm from the top of the tagine base. Cover and cook in the oven for about 45 mins, then turn the heat down to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and cook for another 45 mins.
• About 15 mins before serving, rinse the couscous in cold water and put in a shallow bowl. Season with salt and scatter with the butter and sultanas. Pour on 200ml boiling water. Cover and leave for 10 mins or until the grains are plump and tender. Open the tagine at the table and stir the preserved lemon and mint into the juices. Serve the couscous and harissa separately.