Name: Guinea fowl with roast chestnuts
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 1 h 55 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 1 guinea fowl or chicken, about 1.3kg/3lb; 1 lemon; 2 bay leaves; several thyme sprigs; 3 tbsp olive oil; 500g potato unpeeled, cut into chunks; 3 garlic cloves unpeeled and bruised; 200g chestnut mushroom halved if large; 200g cooked chestnut; 150ml white wine; 150ml chicken stock; 1 tbsp bramble or redcurrant jelly

1 guinea fowl
or chicken, about 1.3kg/3lb
1 lemon
2 bay leaves
several thyme
sprigs
3 tbsp olive oil
500g potato
unpeeled, cut into chunks
3 garlic cloves
unpeeled and bruised
200g chestnut mushroom
halved if large
200g cooked chestnut

For the sauce

150ml white wine
150ml chicken stock
1 tbsp bramble or redcurrant jelly

Method

step 1
Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Season the guinea fowl or chicken inside and out, halve the lemon, then put inside the bird with the bay leaves and 2 thyme sprigs. Set in a roasting tin, drizzle with a little olive oil, then roast for 15 mins.
step 2
Meanwhile, strip the remaining thyme leaves from their stalks. Mix the potatoes, thyme, garlic and remaining oil, then season. Put potatoes around the bird, then return to the oven for 45 mins. Stir the mushrooms into the potatoes along with the chestnuts. Roast for a further 15 mins until mushrooms are cooked. Spoon vegetables onto a warm platter. Nestle the cooked bird back among veg. Keep warm while you prepare the sauce.
step 3
Boil the pan juices on the hob, add the wine, stock and jelly, then bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the jelly. Boil hard until the sauce is slightly thickened. Taste and add more seasoning if necessary, then pour into a jug and pass round for everyone to help themselves.