Guinea Fowl with whiskey cream sauce:
Serves 4

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Ingredients:
2 guinea fowl, weighing about 1 kg each
6 tablespoons whiskey
2/3 cup chicken stock
2/3 cup heavy cream
20 baby leeks
salt and ground black pepper
fresh thyme sprigs, to garnish
mashed sweet potatoes, to serve

Method:
Preheat the oven to 400F. Brown the guinea fowl on all sides in a roasting pan on the stove, then turn it breast up and transfer the guinea fowl are golden and cooked through. Transfer the guinea fowl to a warmed serving dish, cover with aluminium foil and keep warm.

Pour off excess fat from the pan, then heat the juices on the stove and stir in the whiskey. Bring to a boil and cook until reduced. Add the stock and cream and simmer again until reduced slightly. Strain and season to taste.

Meanwhile, trim the leeks so that they are roughly the same length as the guinea fowl breasts, then cook them whole in boiling salted water for about 3 minutes or until tender but not too soft. Drain the leeks in colander.

Carve the guinea fowl. To serve, arrange portions of mashed sweet potatoes on warmed serving plates, then add the carved guinea fowl and the leeks. Garnish with sprigs of fresh thyme, and season



Roast Pheasant
Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 hen pheasant
2 tablespoons butter
4 ounces bacon
salt and ground black pepper
matchstick, to serve

The stuffing
2 tablespoons butter
1 leek, chopped
4 ounces peeled, cooked chetnuts, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parseley

Gravy
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/4 cups well flavoured chicken stock
4 litres chicken stock
1/4 cup port

Method:
Preheat the oven to 375F. Season the pheasant inside and out with plenty of salt and pepper.

Carefully loosen the skin covering the breast and rub the butter between the skin and flesh.

To make the stuffing, melt the butter in a saucepan and, when foaming, add the leek. Cook fot about 5 minutes, until softened but not coloured. Remove the pan from heat, and mix in the cooked chopped chestnuts, parsley and seasoning to taste.

Spoon the stuffing into the body cavity of the pheasant and secure the opening with skewers. Arrange the bacon in a a lattice pattern over the breast. Place in a roasting pan.

Roast the pheasant for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, until the juices run clear when the bird is pierced with a skewer in the thickest part of the leg.

Remove the pheasant from the oven and cover closely with aluminium foil, then let stand in a warm place for 15 minutes before carving.

Meanwhile, heat the juices in the roasting pan on the stove and stir in the cornstarch to form a paste. Gradually pour in the stock and port, stirring continuously. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes, until the sauce is slightly thickened and glossy.

Strain the sauce into a sauce boat or serving tray and keep warm while you carve the pheasant, then serve the pheasant with the stuffing and gravy. Crisp, fired matchstick fries would make a good side dish.