Traditional Roast Grouse with Bread Sauce and Pate Croutons

By Angus Fordyce of Cavens House

For more information see:

www.cavens.com

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 oven-ready grouse

Grouse liver, if available. Alternatively use Brussels pate

Butter, for putting inside each grouse and spreading on bird prior to roasting, and the pate

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

Handful of lardons or diced bacon

4 slices of white bread

2 tbsp red wine

200ml game or chicken stock

Salt and pepper for seasoning

4 sage leaves

Bread sauce (ingredients and recipe below)

To serve:

Watercress and Game chips

Method:

1 Preheat the oven to 200°C.

2 Rub the grouse breasts with butter and season with salt and pepper. Then place a knob of butter and a sage leaf in each cavity.

3 Roast in preheated oven for 20 mins basting a couple of times. This will cook the birds to medium. Adjust the time as to how you prefer your meat cooked.

4 While birds are roasting, melt a little butter in a pan and fry off the diced onions until cooked but not coloured, then add diced liver (if you have it) and cook on high heat for couple of minutes.

5 Once cooked, whizz in a food processor to a paste or pate. If you haven’t got the grouse livers a good quality Brussels pate will work as well.

6 Next, fry the bread on the hob to make nicely browned bread. Cut into diamond shapes to make large croutons and spread with liver pate.

7 Remove grouse from oven once cooked and put on warm plate to rest.

8 Reserve the roasting juices to make a wine gravy. Place a roasting tray, with the juices, over a medium heat and add the red wine to de-glaze the pan. Add bacon lardons for extra flavour.

9 Next, add the stock and leave it to bubble for a few minutes. Add a little cornflour to thicken gravy, if desired.

10 Serve the grouse on or off the bone with the pate croutons, gravy and bread sauce and garnish with watercress and some game chips.

Bread Sauce recipe

Ingredients:

Half an onion

2 cloves

2 bay leaves

1 pint milk

6 whole black peppercorns

A little grated nutmeg

Pinch salt

100g white breadcrumbs

A small knob of butter

Method:

1 Add the milk to a pan and heat.

2 Stud the half onion with cloves and place in the milk pan. Add the bay leaves, nutmeg and black peppercorns. Bring to the boil and simmer for a couple of minutes.

3 Turn the heat off and leave for at least 20 minutes for flavours to infuse. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

4 Pass through sieve and discard onion, bay leaves and whole peppercorns.

5 Add the bread crumbs and simmer over a low heat stirring occasionally. Add a little knob of butter and serve warm.