I have been taking a break from the blog and cooking in general to recharge the culinary batteries, and try and seek new inspiration from a number of foodie sources including books, cookery competitions on T.V. and researching produce and concepts.
I will apologise upfront, this is not a simple or quick recipe, it was prepared over nearly 3 days but, broken down in stages the amount of time actually spent in the kitchen is only a few hours!
This dish is inspired by an entry in the book NOPI, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully. Its a gorgeous book, full of dishes from the restaurant of the same name but subtly simplified to make them more accessible, but nonetheless they are still complicated.
Having read the recipe, description and processes my mind started to wander and think about my interpretation of what seemed a very tasty, but complex Filo Pie, with its origins from Morocco and the Savoury/Sweet Pastilla.
Our family LOVES game, especially Partridge and a recent trip to our local meat supplier Casey Fields Farm Shop in Ashampstead had allowed the purchase of a few birds which were really fantastic value for money. The plan was to section the birds, roast the carcass, make a Partridge Stock and confit the meat. 
The work was planned to start on a Friday evening, but due to over running work wise I started on the Saturday morning, I have done some butchery over the years so the sectioning was done pretty quickly and I soon had a pile of breasts and legs which were placed in a dish with Garlic (about 3 chopped cloves), Juniper Berries (about 10, crushed), Maldon Salt (2 Tablespoons) and Selim Pepper (from Steenbergs), and some Fresh Thyme and covered with cling film before sticking the in the fridge until the following Morning.
The carcass’s were placed in a roasting dish, treated with Olive oil, Fresh Thyme and Maldon Sea Salt, before placing in a 160 degree (fan) over for about 2 hours to cook. After 75 minutes I put a halved red Onion in as the birds finished roasting.
Once the roasting was complete, the carcass’s were put in a large pot along with the aromats and about 5 litres of water. I looked at the recipe for guidance as to flavours, it used Chicken Stock so I added some dried Porcini Mushrooms, Tomatoes, the roast Onion, Peppercorns, Star Anise and a ‘faggot’ of herbs, Bay, Parsley and Coriander. I didn’t add Salt until later, and to taste, and then sieved the stock removing all the solids, that was the Partridge Stock done!
First thing on the following Sunday morning I was up early and got the Partridge Breasts and Legs cooking, after washing off the Salt and marinade ingredients, at about 115-120 degrees, in plain oil. Ovens differ so you want to see the ‘occasional’ bubble rising to the surface and may need to adjust the above temperature a bit.
I let the meat cool down in the Oil for about an hour before removing, covering and sticking in the fridge whilst other stages were completed. The original recipe called for a layer of ‘Catalan Spinach’, which needed some Pine Nuts to be roasted and coated in Smoked Paprika, which only took a few minutes. There was also a Sweet/Sharp component made from some currants, steeped in warm Sherry Vinegar and Brandy until plump.
As you can see, there is quite a lot to do, a number of processes to complete and some great flavours being developed with the home made stock and various elements of the dish.
The stock was just the base for the intense and complex flavoured sauce that the Confit meat was going to be added to. Caramelised Onions and various other flavours were added to a pan and cooked down before adding some of the stock, which was then left to simmer for about an hour or so! If you want the recipe then the book NOPI is where to get it from , it’s a great investment for any keen cook. I used the recipe as a guide as I wasn’t using Chicken, so missed some of the stages that were not needed.
The second layer of the Pastilla was the “Catalan Spinach’, a creamy cooked down delicious combination of the Pine Nuts and Currants, Garlic along with Spinach and Double Cream. You need to ensure the mix is not too wet, otherwise the final result may make the dish soggy. 
So, we have sectioned some Partridge, Roast the carcass’s and made a tasty stock, salted and marinaded the Legs and Breasts, and then done the confit treatment. Prepared the various ingredients for the Catalan Spinach and started to make the final sauce for the meat. Give yourself a MASSIVE pat on the back and SMILE, I certainly did!!
Again I did not follow the recipe and strained the sauce, then reduced it added salt and kept tasting until I felt it was rich and velvety. I picked the meat off the legs and pulled the breast apart into small pieces and then added the sauce to coat, not drench the meat.
We are almost done, and now its Filo time! I have two ‘favourite’ pan’s, from Netherton Foundry in Shropshire, they are made of spun iron, very robust and made to last. The ‘Prospector’ pan was to be my cooking vessel for the Pastilla (I used my Netherton frying pan to complete the sauce) so started by brushing some melted Ghee on the base (to help crisp the pastry), before layering several sheets of Filo pastry at 180 degrees to each other, slathering more Ghee on each layer as you can see above. Its quite delicate so be gentle with your brush as it can tear!
I used about 8 sheets of Filo for the size of pan I was using, overlapping each time to create overhangs that could be played back over, and then filled with the Partridge layer, you can see from the picture above that the mixture is not too wet, but the meat is well coated nonetheless. The Spinach layer was added on top of this.
Finally, lay a sheet in the middle of the Pastilla and gentle tuck the sides all around your pan, as you can see above. Your tucking in a blanket before gently bring the outer layers back over the top, brushing Ghee on each layer as its sealed, and you should end up with something similar to the picture below. Give yourself ANOTHER pat on the back!
Breaking down the dish into various stages slightly simplifies the cooking but it’s still a challenging dish to make and to be honest, I was pretty tired after what was a 2 day cooking event! I made things more difficult but choosing to use a Partridge Confit and kept double checking the processes to make sure nothing was missed, and where adjustments were made, everything was on track. The Pastilla needs to cook in the over for about 45 mins to 1 hour.
Pastilla is a Sweet/Savoury dish so needs finishing with a coating of icing sugar after it has been turned out of the pan (so the bottom is on the top). What was it like, my chief taster was very sceptical and was not sure that it was going to be any good, dead wrong, it was absolutely delicious and quite a surprise. We had some Harissa roasted Butternut Squash and a Cous Cous Salad with Feta, Pomegranate and Herbs and felt very satisfied.
So here is my Confit Partridge Pastilla, yes its a bit of work but break into stages and even I managed it, take a leap of faith and have a go yourself.
I’m off to Argentina in a few weeks for a trip with my employer and if there is anything good food wise to write about, it will get posted shortly after.
………………………..Until next time L8ers……………………………
I was sitting in Cafe Lucca in Bath and my heart was pumping for a couple of reasons, I had just walked up the hill from the station which is something not attempted before, and I was going to be spending a day learning from a food hero Angela Hartnett MBE, who also happens to have a Michelin Star, no mean feat!
It was a really tasty plateful, Pancetta, Boiled Eggs that had been coated in Parmesan and stuck under the grill, Roasted Tomatoes, Toast and Marmalade with a pot of Assam Tea, it was all very tasty.
So the menu for the day included Pumpkin Tortelli, Partridge with Turnip and Mushrooms and Plums with Ricotta, seasonal dishes that as we found out, would require a lot of skill and technique to prepare, no ready made Pasta, that was to be done by hand along with preparing the Partridges, they were whole, Heads, Wings and Guts!!
Angela is an absolute delight, taking the 12 of us students through the process of making the pasta by hand, understanding the look and feel once it was ready to roll, cut and shape as required, imparting lots of tips on the way it was great fun. We were grouped into fours and encouraged to interact our group starting chatting away sharing experiences as we went on.
I have made Pasta by hand before in Italy, but it was over four years ago (sorry, my food experiences have meant that I am never trying a particular country or region for that long)! It was a really good session, I had never used a Pasta Machine before similar to others in the group so it was interesting to see the difference not having enough Flour in the mix made, it was slightly too wet and produced interesting results when put through the Pasta machine.
I’d never heard of Tortelli before, they are like a rectangular Raviolli, where you place the stuffing close to the edge nearest you, flip over, egg or milk wash the front and sides, and in between the covered filling and flip over the other side like a blanket, mine were by no means perfect but the looked ok once finished.
Before preparing the Pasta, we had quartered a Pumpkin, seasoned and placed on oiled baking trays for a session in the oven to soften. Angela encouraged us to answer questions and shared many of the experiences working with the likes of Gordon Ramsey and Marcus Wareing which was really interesting and very amusing indeed !!
I LOVE Partridge, in fact our 11 year old son loves Partridge too, and cooks it himself when available (with parental assistance of course). We were each given one to prep after being shown how to do it by Angela, removing the legs in the right place, (you can go further down the joint towards the body which makes for an unstable cooking experience as it wobbles in the pan)!
We were prepping and cooking for several hours, it was hard work but really good fun. One of the students had come all the way from Norway to attend the 1 day course, she owned a Bakery and had been to the school before to learn advanced bread making techniques which the owner Richard Bertinet is a master at, this is an awesome cookery school and Richard attracts some seriously good chefs to come along and share their knowledge and experience.
We worked tirelessly from about 10:00 till 12:30, then a break for refreshments, and a quick snack of Cheese and Ham Toasties with Bechamel using Richards famous Bread, they were very tasty indeed. The ‘Baker Girls’ or Bertinet Backstage are the great team that assist, wash up, clean and generally help things go smoothly and as usual, they did an exceptional job.
Earlier, we had removed the legs from the Partridge ready for a bath in Duck Fat, Garlic and Thyme, we were going to confit the legs and add to a Salad with Pickled Walnuts. Before the ‘Duck Fat Bath’, the legs were fried in Olive Oil to colour, there was lots going on during the course, loads of different cooking techniques were learnt on the way it was excellent value for money and everyone was sweating in the heat of the kitchen.
The Partridge Crowns got the Pan treatment, in LOADS of Butter and Thyme, a few minutes before hitting the oven for finishing off.
Angela was more than happy for us to video, take pictures, selfies and was a real joy to spend time with, her knowledge and experience is just something you don’t often get the chance to access, I need to practise my photography from a selfie perspective although we were right by the hob, and everything was hot in the kitchen.
Where to go to celebrate my Birthday? It took less than 10 seconds to reach a decision and a booking at the local Michelin starred restaurant, ‘The WoodSpeen’ was completed online. I’ve eaten here before with a good friend, but only for lunch and we had their lunchtime special which was very good, this time it was to be the ‘Full Monty’ a la carte.
Sat at our table an Amuse Bouche arrived, Courgette Soup with Black Olive. I am not sure about Courgettes, I eat them a lot but they tend to be part of a dish and not going solo, the soup was really very tasty, quite a surprise but a good one. We had been given some lovely home made bread and polished off the dish before more bread arrived, very good attentive service.
For starters I opted for the Roasted Scallops, with Chicken Thigh, Cauliflower and Hazelnut, OMG it was so very tasty. The Scallop was perfectly cooked, the Chicken tender as it could be and really rich the whole dish just sung ‘eat me’.
My partner in crime opted for the Woodspeen Smoked Salmon, Beetroot, Goats Curd and Apple which was apparently delicious and was demolished quite effortlessly, with a big smile of satisfaction to finish.
We were then surprised with another Amuse Bouche, Buratta with Heritage Tomatoes and Olive Crumb, another exceptional taste bomb that really cleansed the taste buds, this was going really very well indeed.
I adore fish and the Bass did not disappoint, with Clams, Squid Ink Gnocchi, Fennel and Champagne Sauce. Everything was cooked perfectly and the Champagne Sauce is THE best I have ever had, seriously tasty and moorish, I could have drunk it out of a cup it was that tasty.
Steak was the choice for Mrs R, with Garlic Mushrooms, Onion Ring, Triple Cooked Chips and Bearnaise. We usually find steaks are ‘OK’, either the meat is not the best or the cooking is not quite right, this was spot on perfect, and the chips, oh my we thought we had found the best chips locally and they are very good, but these WERE the best, praise indeed.
It was my birthday so I WAS having a dessert, the Pina Colada sounded really nice. Coconut Parfait, Macadamia Crumble, Pineapple and Lemongrass Sorbet. I was in heaven, it was yum yum yum the tastes and textures dancing around on the tongue it was a perfect end to a perfect meal.
If you ask anyone who has followed the TV food series ‘Great British Menu” over the years despite the 100’s of great dishes presented to the judging panel consisting of Pru Leith, Oliver Peyton and Matthew Fort, there is probably ONLY ONE dish that everyone remembers, ‘Stargazy Pie’.
‘Does anyone not eat meet’? started the banter as we took advantage of the Sourdough and Brioche toast prepared by Richard Bertinets’ able team, I was back at the Bertinet Cookery School in Bath for the 5th time, it’s VERY good and the range of different guest Chef’s, convivial nature of the location, and limited number of attendees make for an excellent experience. Mark Hix was our tutor for the day and everyone was bubbling with excitement as to what we were going to cook.
After a demonstration of handling Partridge, removing the legs, taking the crown off, removing the thighbone from the legs and starting a game broth we quickly prepared the ‘Far Breton’, an amazing dessert made with Prunes steeped in spiced Rum, a speciality of Normandy.
Dessert done, we focussed on the rest of what was going to be a very special lunch for us all. Mark explained his philosophy of using everything in his cooking method, and providing some fascinating facts as to how much produce that could be used to good effect, ends on the scrap heap.
Having had the demonstration earlier it was now our turn to prepare the partridge, Mark gave us a quick repeat of the process again and we all set to the task in hand, slicing and cutting within a few minutes we all proudly had our crowns prepared and more flavour in the Broth pot.
Our Roasted Partridge was going to sit on ‘Yorkshire Toast’. You will have to go on the course and hope Mark shows you how to prepare it, think of Bread Sauce fried in breadcrumbs! I now have three of his books and the recipe is not in any of them so I feel kind of honoured to have learnt something that is not mainstream, and tastes seriously good.
No apologies for some of the pictures, all the processes we went through ensured we wasted nothing and continually added flavour as much as possible. Remember the Partridge legs I mentioned earlier, that we removed and took out the thigh bone. They needed poaching for about 15 minutes so they also went into the Broth pot. They were then going into a mixture of Buttermilk and spices before being floured and frying to crisp up.
There is always a break or two during the cookery school sessions, and the ‘Bertinet Girls’ produce some amazing delights to whet the tastebuds. As these beauties came out the oven the room filled with the smell of chocolate and fudge, and as we drank Coffee and Tea they were demolished in minutes!
The Partridge legs cooked and dried, then got the Buttermilk treatment with some added spices. The legs are often ignored or wasted, we were going to have them as a tasty snack, dipped in a Membrillo sauce which we made later in the session.
Our menu for the day was going to be;
I didn’t manage to get a ‘pretty’ picture of the Partridge legs as they were gone in seconds, Richard fried them and presented them ‘chef style’ on a plate. Dipped in the Membrillo sauce they were absolutely delish, washed down with some wine which started to flow for those that wanted as we neared dinner.
As we finished the various courses, the table was prepared for lunch by Richards’ team. He epitomises a ‘convivial’ lunch, long table, wine, and the result is a party like atmosphere despite the fact we had all been on our feet for several hours, listening intently to Marks wisdom as we prepared our gourmet menu.
The Partridge broth was completed by adding the ‘garnish’ and served by the lovely team that support Richard, Fionn and Co., who work tirelessly making coffee and tea, cakes and helping clear up and making the day go so smoothly. It was just amazing, full of flavour, texture from the Mushrooms and Celery, and supported by lots of fresh homemade Bertinet bread.
Next was the Partridge on ‘Yorkshire Toast’ with Elderberries. At the start of the day we had a debate on whether Game was popular with the students, several found Game Ok, some not so keen and part of the experience was to prove that when cooked properly, it was delightful. Guess what? It was Bl@@dy delicious both succulent and tender, lovely flavour and enhanced by the Yorkshire Toast and Elderberries, we all complemented the Chefs in the kitchen and patted ourselves on the back, the party was in full swing.
Julian Rolfe 