Roast Grouse with Pears and Pinenuts
This recipe is taken from Leiths latest cookery book, Leiths Meat Bible. Grouse season starts 12 August
Wine of the Month: We recommend Lea and Sanderman’s 2008 Sans Barrique Chardonnay to accompany this dish
SERVES 4
Ingredients:
knob of unsalted butter, softened
2 oven-ready grouse, feet removed,
neck and giblets reserved
4 rashers of green streaky bacon
75 ml white port
150 ml Brown Chicken Stock
2 sprigs of thyme
15 g unsalted butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper
sprigs of watercress, to garnish
For the pears
2 large ripe pears
50 g unsalted butter
1½ tablespoons soft light brown sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon honey
finely grated zest and juice of ½ a lemon
30 g pine nuts, lightly toasted
1. Heat the oven to 230ºC/450ºF/gas mark 8.
2. Smear the butter over the grouse and season. Lay the bacon over the breasts of the birds. Place in a roasting pan with the neck and giblets. Roast for 10 minutes.
3. Remove the bacon from the grouse and discard the bacon. Pour the port and stock around the grouse, add the sprigs of thyme and return to the oven for a further 15 minutes.
4. Peel the pears and cut into quarters. Remove the cores and cut each quarter into 3 slices.
5. Melt the butter in a large shallow pan and, when foaming, add the sugar, water, honey, lemon juice and zest. Stir gently to dissolve the sugar. Lay the slices of pear in the pan and spoon the buttery sauce over them. Increase the heat slightly and cook the pears until they are caramelized on both sides and the sauce is very thick and sticky. Stir in the pine nuts and keep warm.
6. Remove the grouse from the oven and allow to rest in a warm place. Strain the cooking liquor into a saucepan. Discard the neck, giblets and thyme and bring the liquid to the boil. Cook rapidly until it is reduced to half its original volume. Whisk in the butter, season with salt and pepper and pass the sauce through a fine sieve.
7. To serve, cut the grouse in half through the breastbone and place on warmed plates with the sauce poured over them. Put pears on each plate and garnish with watercress.
