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Guinea fowl with caramelised fennel and orange
I recently rediscovered guinea fowl thanks to the shelves of Sansepolcro’s Co-op being stripped bare in the shopping frenzy before the All Souls – Tutti Morti – national holiday, and it has given me a fit of the raptures. I had always thought it a bit dry, but this time I cooked it under the watchful and buona-forchetta eye of my friend Lori Alessandrini who made sure I removed it from the oven before it got dried out – about 20 minutes earlier than usually recommended. And for people like me who love the skin – I would happily eat the skin and leave the rest (not recommended for downsizing) – it had fantastic, crispy skin, was gorgeously moist and tender, but left very little fat in the tin.
- 1 guinea fowl
- 2 plump bulbs of fennel
- 1 orange
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Heat the oven up to 200º / 180º fan / gas mark 6
- Slice the fennel into ½ cm rings; put in a bowl, season well with salt and pepper, and add two teaspoons of olive oil.
- Mix really well with your hands to make sure it’s really well covered, and lay it on a baking tray (with a lip).
- Slice the oranges into slightly thinner rounds and lay them on the fennel.
- Cut the guinea fowl into 6 pieces, season with salt and pepper, and lay them, skin-side up, on top of the orange and fennel.
- Roast them until the skin is golden and crispy – about 30 – 40 minutes. Remove the guinea fowl and keep warm. Turn oven up to 220º / 210º fan / gas mark 8 and return orange and fennel to the oven to caramelise. Do your best not to burn it.
Diva notes.
Guinea Fowl
You can roast the bird whole if you prefer or you don’t want the faff of cutting it up.
It would be very good for a – and possibly even the – Christmas meal.
If you can’t get guinea fowl, this would be good with partridge, duck or chicken.
Vegetarians and vegans
The fennel / orange combination works very well as a veg dish.
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