Roast Partridge Recipe with Red Currant Sauce
Serving a single roast partridge for a meal always feels so special and indulgent, and I have the perfect rich and bold red wine and redcurrant jelly sauce to serve with it.
Servings 2 Servings
Calories 743kcal
Ingredients
For the Partridge:
- 2 Oven-Ready Partridges
- 2 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
- 1 Lemon
- ½ teaspoon Coarse Sea Salt
- 50 g Softened Butter 3 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon
For the Red Currant Sauce:
- 500 ml Red Wine 2 Cups
- 1 Large Echalion or Banana Shallot 70g
- 1 Garlic Clove
- 1 tablespoon Cooking Oil
- 1 Sprig Fresh Thyme
- 1 Star Anise
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 175 ml Chicken Stock ¾ Cup
- 1-2 tablespoon Red Currant Jelly
- 1 Pinch Sugar
- 50 g Cold Butter 3 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon
Instructions
Making the Sauce:
- Reduce the red wine in a 15cm or 6" saucepan from 500ml down to 100ml; this will take around 20 minutes.
- Peel the shallot, chop it in half lengthways and then slice it into half-moon shapes about 2-3mm (⅛") thick.
- Bash the garlic clove with the side of a knife.
- Heat a second 15cm or 6" saucepan over a medium heat and add the cooking oil when it is hot. Add the chopped shallots, garlic clove, sprig of thyme, bay leaf and the star anise, and cook for 15 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Pour in the reduced wine mix and cook for another 3 minutes.
- Add the red currant jelly and pour in the chicken stock, and reduce the liquid by two-thirds.
- When reduced, have a taste and add salt and a pinch of sugar as required. Pass the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve and return it to the pan.
- Just before serving whisk in the cold butter to enrich the sauce.
Roasting the Bird:
- Zest the lemon.
- Strip the leaves from the thyme sprigs.
- Mash the Butter for the partridge with the lemon zest, coarse sea salt and thyme.
- Using your fingers carefully, from a cavity beneath the skin and breast of each bird, taking care not to rip the skin.
- Divide the butter mix into two and then place half beneath the skin of each bird using your hands to massage it across the breast evenly.
- Place the birds on a roasting tin and drop them in the oven at 200°C or 390°F and cook for 15-20 minutes. or until the leg meat reaches 67°C or 153°F on a meat thermometer.
- Remove the birds from the oven and place them on a board upside down, and cover them with foil whilst resting for 5 minutes. The bird should increase in temperature to 70°C or 158°F during resting. This is the perfect time to whisk the butter into the sauce.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 | Calories: 743kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 49g | Saturated Fat: 26g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 19g | Trans Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 110mg | Sodium: 1049mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 13g
