Partridge with Poached Pear and Cranberry Sauce

Serves 2

This is a Guest Recipe by Mitzie Wilson who was Editor of BBC Good Food.

I am in raptures having discovered this delicious dish - it is just delicious!

I had four partridge breasts in the freezer and this meant that I had to cook the dish slightly differently.

We served this with our wonderful nutty, pink fir apple potatoes from the garden and seasonal sprouts.

Partridges are absolutely tiny but have an incredible slight gamey flavour

and you can be sure that we shall be cooking this one again very soon!

Ingredients

3 William Pears (Or four Conference pears) peeled, sliced in half and carefully cored.

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 generous knob of butter

2 partridges (or four partridge breasts)

2 onions, quartered or 8 shallots

50g pancetta cubetti (or you could chop up some streaky bacon

2 teaspoons flour (or use potato thickening granules

3 tablespoons Brandy

150ml White Wine

75 ml stock (optional) and not necessary if cooking the fillets

Bay leaves to decorate

1 tablespoon Cranberry Sauce (We bought this from Waitrose - amazingly tangy!)

AND THIS IS WHAT YOU DO.....

1. Pre-heat the oven at 190C / Gas 5.
   
   
2. Cut the pears in half and, using a teaspoon, scoop out the core.   Dice one pear.
   
   
3. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the partridges on all sides for 5 minutes, (or the breasts)  then place in a shallow ovenproof dish.
   
   
4. Add the onions, bay leaves and pancetta to the pan and fry for 5 minutes.
   
   
5. Add the diced pear and pear halves, cut side down and fry for 1-2 minutes, then arrange the mixture around the birds.
   
   
6. If you are cooking the breasts, you can in fact cook this on top of the stove for about 15 minutes and not use the oven at all.
   
   
7. If cooking whole birds, place in the oven to roast for 25-30 minutes until tender and the juices run clear when pierced with a skewer.
   
   
8. Remove the partridges and pears, cover with foil and leave to rest.
   
   
9. Scrape all the contents of the roasting dish into a pan, sprinkle with flour or thickening granjles and heat for 1 minutes until thickened.   
   
   
10. Gradually add the brandy, the wine and the stock and bring to the boil, simmer for 2-3 minutes then strain.
    
    
11. Arrange the partridges on a serving dish with the bay leaves and pears, and fill the centres with cranberry sauce.
    
    
12. Pour the Jus from the pan into a serving jug.