Ingredients:
- 4 grouse (with their livers).
- 4 springs of thyme.
- 4 bay leaves.
- 2 carrots, roughly chopped.
- 2 onions, roughly chopped.
- 8 streaky bacon rashers.
- 100ml/3½ fl oz whisky.
- 300ml/½ pint game stock or chicken stock.
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
For the porridge risotto:
- 50g/2oz butter.
- 2 shallots, finely chopped.
- 100g/3½oz porridge oats.
- 500ml/17fl oz hot milk.
- 50g/2oz Parmesan cheese, freshly grated.
- 8 chicken livers, cleaned and chopped.
- The livers from the grouse, cleaned and chopped.
For the parsnip chips:
- 3 large parsnips.
- Vegetable oil for deep-frying.
Method:
To make parsnip chips:
- Peel the parsnips and slice them very thinly, using a food processor, a mandolin or a U-shaped vegetable peeler.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a large, deep saucepan or a deep-fat fryer until it is hot enough to brown a cube of bread in 1 minute.
- Add the parsnip slices a few at a time and fry for a few minutes, until golden and crisp.
- Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with sea salt, then set aside.
- Preheat oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6.
- Put the grouse in a large roasting tin with the onions and carrots and season well with salt and pepper.
- Lay 2 bacon rashers over each grouse and put a thyme sprig and bay leaf inside the cavity of each bird.
- Roast for 20-25 minutes, until cooked through.
Meanwhile, make the porridge risotto:
- Heat half the butter in a heavy “based saucepan, add the shallots and cook gently until soft.
- Add the oats, then slowly stir in the hot milk.
- Cook gently for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently, until thickened.
- Mix in the Parmesan and season to taste.
- Heat the remaining butter in a frying pan, add the chicken and grouse livers and fry until browned, then stir them into the porridge risotto and keep warm.
- When the grouse are done, remove them from the roasting tin, cover and leave to rest in a warm place while you make the gravy.
- Place the roasting tin on the hob and heat gently.
- Pour in the whisky and deglaze the tin by scraping up all the sediment from the bottom with a wooden spoon.
- Simmer until the whisky has reduced in volume by about two-thirds, then add the stock and simmer again, until reduced to a syrupy gravy.
- Strain through a sieve, then reheat and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
Spoon the porridge risotto into the centre of 4 serving plates and arrange the grouse on top. Pour over the gravy and serve with parsnip chips.
Courtesy of Tony and Giorgio.
