Style -- 10 days ago
Recipe of the week – roast grouse
Words: Gentleman's Journal
The red grouse is the king of gamebirds and is most commonly served roasted with game chips and bread sauce. This recipe from The Plowden Arms is a take on this using additional seasonal ingredients…
SERVES 4
Roast Grouse, livers en croute, bread purée, watercress & blackberries
INGREDIENTS
Grouse, 4 Young red grouse (including livers), 50g butter for livers en croute, 50g for basting the birds, ½ tsp thyme (chopped), 4 cloves of garlic, 4 sprigs of thyme, 8 bruised juniper berries for stuffing the grouse, 2 slices white bread, Salt, pepper and a 25ml Brandy, Cooking oil
For the Purée, 6 slices stale/dry white bread, 200ml milk, ½ onion (diced), 3 cloves, 5 black peppercorns, 1 sprig of thyme, 1 clove of garlic, 1 bay leaf
Garnish, Young watercress leafs, 200g water, 200g sugar, 200g blackberries
METHOD
To make the livers en croute
Sauté the livers in a little oil, the chopped thyme, salt, pepper and brandy for one minute on each side. Place in a food processor with 50g diced butter and blitz until a smooth paste.
Use a 6cm diameter cutter to cut four rings out of the two slices of white bread. Fry in oil to crisp up on either side, like fried bread, and put to one side.
To Roast the Grouse
Pre-heat oven to 230°C.
Season the grouse with salt and pepper inside and out, fill the cavities with thyme, garlic and juniper berries. Add oil to a medium-hot pan place the grouse in the pan breast side down, turning when coloured (circa 2 minutes) until the entire bird is coloured all over. Add butter to the pan, allowing it to melt and then spoon over the birds before placing in the oven for 15 minutes. When the time’s up, remove from the oven, place on a cooling rack, pour over the cooking juices and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
To make the bread purée
Heat the milk with the onion, garlic, thyme, bay leaf and peppercorns. When the milk comes to the boil remove the pan from the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes. Meanwhile remove the crust from the bread and place the bread in a food processer to make crumbs. Pass the milk through a fine sieve and add to the bread a little at a time until you have a purée consistency, set the food processor to high power to make the purée smooth.
Poached blackberries
Bring the sugar and water to the boil, leave to simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, allow to cool a little then add the blackberries. Leave the blackberries in the poaching liquor until ready to serve.
To serve
Spoon the bread purée on the plate, spread the croute with the liver mousse and sit on top of the purée. Remove the breasts from the breastbones of the grouse and place onto the croute; garnish the plate with the watercress and the poached blackberries.
Become a Gentleman’s Journal Member?
Like the Gentleman’s Journal? Why not join the Clubhouse, a special kind of private club where members receive offers and experiences from hand-picked, premium brands. You will also receive invites to exclusive events, the quarterly print magazine delivered directly to your door and your own membership card.
