What to cook for supper? We have guinea fowl but no pumpkin so I can’t test cook recipe number 5647. My mother cooks a fabulous recipe with game and grapes, a classic double – we’ll try that. For guidance and inspiration I leaf through books on Renaissance cookery. Mum looks up Jane Grigson, dad reads from Le Ricette Regionali Italiane as I scan the fridge to see what’s at hand. Some limp celery, a Bacchus-sized bunch of grapes from Naples. Dad suggests garlic – mum some juniper berries.
I pick a bay leaf from the tree outside the kitchen door. We have a few juniper berries picked on the mountain yesterday by Hannah. I find ten walnuts in a box of muesli for the finishing touch.
Serves 4
XL bunch of white grapes, halved and deseeded
5 cloves of garlic, chopped in half
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
10 whole juniper berries
1 bay leaf
glass of white wine
10 walnuts, roughly chopped (optional)
1 guinea fowl, cut down the breast then flattened out
olive oil
You’ll need enough grapes to cover the base of an ovenproof dish three grapes deep. Add the garlic, celery, juniper berries, bay leaf, wine and the walnuts if used. Place the guinea fowl, skin side down, on the grapes. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle on a little olive oil. Cook at 200C/400F/gas 6 for 1 hour – middle oven.
Halfway through cooking turn the bird over to brown the skin and move the rack up in the oven. When cooked leave somewhere warm to rest before cutting into portions with poultry shears or a heavy knife. Serve with bulgar or runny polenta to soak up the juices.
