Quintessentially English

I came across a remarkable pair of plump breasted partridges in Mulberry Meat Market in Chinatown recently and I really fancied knocking up something reminiscent of English country cooking. After a brief glance at the Beeb's comprehensive food section, I noticed that Stein and Fearnley-Wittingstall advocate the use of chestnuts and cabbage in partridge dishes. Rather handily, I had a half can of chestnut puree in the fridge, so I set about creating something of my own with these two chaps as an inspiration, and I came up with:

Duo of partridge with chestnut cream and buttered cabbage.
(Serves 2)

It's a bit complicated, this one, so I broke it down into 2 day-stages.

DAY 1 - Prep the birds, and make the bird stock.

You will need:
2 whole partridges (including giblets and head and feet intact)
1/2 an onion, chopped
1/2 stick celery, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
sprig of thyme
1/2 clove garlic, chopped
5 juniper berries, crushed
5-6 whole black peppercorns
cold water

Remove giblets and take the heads, necks off the birds. Then cut away the backbone, leaving you with 4 plump legs with nice curly feet, and two breast sections of bird. Keep the breast meat on the ribs, it will retain flavour and moisture much better during and after cooking. Refrigerate the meat.

Chop the heads, neck, other bony bits and giblets and brown gently in some olive oil in a small saucepan over a medium heat. When they have some colour, add the vegetables, garlic, thyme, juniper and peppercorns. Stir regularly, and when the veg has some colour also, add cold water to just cover the bones and veg, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 30 minutes. Strain the stock into a container with a lid and let it settle. The fat and impurities will collect and solidify at the top. This should be removed the day after with a spoon, before using. You should have around 2-3 cups.DAY 2 - Complete your dish

You will need:
1/2 an onion, chopped
1/2 stick celery, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
sprig of thyme
1/2 clove garlic, chopped
5 juniper berries, crushed
the two partridge sections
warmed partridge stock (about 2-3 cups)
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 tin of chestnut puree*
4 partridge legs
1/2 a leek, mostly white parts
half a green cabbage, shredded
2 tbsp butter
ground black pepper

*You can find chestnut puree at most good grocery stores.

Gently sweat the first 6 ingredients (the same as for the stock preparation) in some olive oil, stirring all the time until the veg is just soft. Season the inside and outside of the breast section with salt and pepper, and make some room in the saucepan so you can brown the breasts. Place the breasts skin side down and get some colour on them before turning over and repeating for the insides. Add the stock so that the meat and veg are just covered. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove the meat and set on to a plate to rest for 10 minutes while you complete the next steps.Reduce what's left in the saucepan over a fierce heat. When you have about a cup of the liquid left, stir in the cream and reduce again slightly. Add the chestnut puree. You might want to break it up a bit before adding it to the pan. Whisk aggressively until the chestnut puree chunks 'melt into' the sauce. Reduce to a spoon-coating consistency and adjust the seasoning.

While the sauce is thickening, pan-fry the legs: Season the legs on both sides, and brown on both sides. Hopefully you left plenty of skin on the legs so it browns quickly and crisps up. When the legs are almost cooked through, about 1 1/2 minutes each side, add a knob of butter and when it starts to foam, spoon over the legs to further crisp the skin and leave a slightly nutty flavour. Remove to a plate to rest for a bit.
Heat a touch of olive oil in a saucepan, add leek and fry until soft. Add shredded cabbage and stir for a minute. Add about 1/2 cup tap water and stick a lid on. Leave to steam for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and lots of ground black pepper and swirl in 2 tbsp good butter at the end.

TO PLATE: Pile some cabbage on to a plate, remove the breasts from the ribcage, (2 per person) and place on top of the cabbage. Cover with the chestnut cream. Place the crispy legs on top (I like to have the knarled fried claws pointing skyward from the plate, for extra effect.)