roast partridge with cobnut stuffing recipe

Partridge has a great flavour. The key when cooking is to keep the flesh moist. Do this by covering the breast with streaky bacon and stuffing the cavity with this delicous nutty mix. Lay each bird on a slice of bread to atch all the gamey juice.

For 4

• 4 partridges: reds or stronger-flavoured native greays, dry plucked, preferably not plastic-wrapped
• 8 rashers streaky bacon
• 4 half slices of crusty white bread, buttered

For the stuffing

• 1 onion, chopped
• 25g butter
• 75g cobnuts
• 150g breadcrumbs
• 1 apple, diced
• 1 egg, beaten
• salt and black pepper
• a little milk

Preheat the oven to 175°C/gas mark 3-4.

To make the stuffing, sweat the onion in the butter for 10 minutes over a gentle heat. Roughly chop the cobnuts and mix them into the breadcrumbs with the apple and beaten egg, salt and pepper and softened onion. If the mixture is too dry, add a little milk.

Stuff the birds with this mixture, cover the breasts with the bacon and sit them on a half slice of crusty white bread, butter side up, in a baking tray. This will fry and soak up the juices as it cooks.

Roast in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.

After roasting, allow the birds to rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.