Guinea Fowl in English, the Pintade is a delicious meat that has a range of different flavors, depending on the cut. My first experience of Pintade was with a yummy mirabelle sauce, but it works well with many fruity sauces. To take advantage of its range of flavors, I created this three style mix.
Ingredients
- 1 pintade, disjointed and cut into breasts, thighs and drum sticks, leave wings on frame and reserve
- The heart of this dish is the stock made using the pintade frame, 1 bouquet garni, 2 carrots chopped, 1 celery stalk chopped, 1/2 leek chopped, 1 onion salt+pepper, 2 letters of water
- 1 frizzy green cabbage
- 200 gm of Crozet pasta (a small square pasta originally from the savoy region in France)
- 100 ml of cream
- 2 tablespoons of mango vinegar (note: this is not vinegar with mango, it is actually a vinegar made from mango)
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 pear – sliced into two chunks
- 2 slices of fromage d’herve (soft belgian cheese)
- 2 shallots
- 1 bunch of asparagus
- Olive oil for cooking
- Handful of rosemary
- 1/4 glass of dry white wine
- Filo pastry
Method
- First – make your stock, as this will need to simmer away for around an hour
- To do this, heat a heavy based pot, add olive oil and the pintade frame and brown, add stock vegetables and sauté until soft – should smell delicious
- Add water and bouquet garni, bring to the boil then reduct heat and to a simmer
- Next – prepare the the thighs – remove the bone, place under plastic film and pound gently with the handle of a knife or meat mullet until you achieve a relatively even surface
- Place the cheese and pear slice in the middle, wrap and tie with kitchen sting – salt and pepper
- Next – prepare your pintade drums – remove all skin etc from the bottom of the meaty bit until the end (for presentation)
- Poke holes in the drum meat and stuff with rosemary and garlic, rub with olive oil
- Preheat oven to 200°C and bake the drums for around 15 minute – or until nearly cooked through (use a meat thermometer to check this)
- In the mean time begin to prepare the Crozet pasta – in a pot, fill 1/2 with the stock from the pintade and bring to the boil (shouldn’t take long, as stock should already be simmering) add pasta and boil gently
- Dice asparagus, keeping spears for decoration (I cook the spears in the stock for about 5 minutes until soft and a nice green)
- By now it should be about time to remove drums
- Prepare filo pastry by folding with olive oil and wrap around drums
- Place in oven, together with the pintade thighs and bake for around 20-30 minutes – turn drums to get a nice browning of filo all over
- Now is the time to prepare the cabbage – remove to nice leaves and place in stock – to cook very slightly until tender
- Slice the rest of the cabbage vert finely and sauté with olive oil and salt and pepper, add a little stock then a tablespoon of mango vinegar – cover
- Heat a pan with olive oil, once quite hot, add pintade breasts skin side down, cook 9 minutes until nice and colored, then turn and cook other side for around minuted
- By this time your pasta should be nearly cooked, add a dash of cream and salt and pepper to taste
- Prepare the mango sauce for the pintade breasts by sautéing shallots, garlic, white wine, a little stock and asparagus
- Once 2/3 of the liquid has evaporated, add creme and stir until thickens
- Remove the filo encased drums, as well as the pear and herve fill thighs from the oven
- Remove breasts from pan
- Serve the breast on a bed of cabbage, and top with mango and asparagus sauce
- Serve thigh on a bed of Corzet pasta
- Serve drums directly on plate
- Decorate with sauce and asparagus spears
- Bonne appetite!