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Guinea fowl breast with wild mushrooms

Tue, 16 November, 2021

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Not quite game, not quite chicken – guinea fowl should be on our plates all the time as it’s free range and inexpensive. With wild fungi in season.

guinea fowl breast with wild mushrooms cuisinefiend.com

Are guinea fowl game birds or poultry?

Guinea fowl is not related to guinea pig. The name similarity is coincidental: in the case of the little rodent, it possibly originates from its price, one guinea in the 16th and 17th century. The bird on the other hand is named after its homeland: West Africa, the part that used to be Guinea Coast.

I have always known guinea fowl were tasty but I didn’t realise what interesting birds they were. They fly and roost in the trees; they are better than a watchdog since they screech at the smallest disturbance; and generally like to make a racket running on the roofs of their pens or coops.

They are halfway between game and domestic poultry. Gamekeepers train them to come home for the night to roost, but the clever birds are mostly independent at finding their own food: grubs, worms and insects. They are not shooting game but tend to appear on the market in autumn, together with pheasants and partridges.

Guinea fowl or pintade as they are called in French, are very popular in France and it was there I first tasted them. Gorgeous roasted!

And they are cheap since their upkeep costs are modest. With that, they are completely free range, a little like lodgers at a farm or small-holding. And they are impressively plumed: given names for their colours to describe different breeds, White, Lavender, Buff Dundottes and Royal Blue.

pan fried guinea fowl fillets with porcini cuisinefiend.com

What does guinea fowl taste like?

Since they are half-game, half-chicken, they taste wonderful: not as bland as cluckers but with no overpowering gamey flavour.

What then could be better to match with this glorious bird than also autumnal, wild mushrooms? It’s the absolutely perfect pairing. Especially if you are fortunate to get hold of some ceps/porcini – even amongst the more common wild fungi they will flavour the whole dish amazingly.

Whole guinea fowl makes a good roast, or even a very fancy one when it’s deboned and stuffed, but guinea fowl breast fillets are no more expensive than free range chicken and as easy to cook while far tastier.

guinea fowl fillets with ceps and pied de mouton mushrooms cuisinefiend.com

How to cook guinea fowl breast fillets?

The method shown below is quick and simple: the guinea fowl fillets are not usually very thick so they can be cooked in the frying pan, in a little oil, seared on both sides for about four minutes on each. Since they’re gamey, they are allowed to be served pinkish in the very centre, but after eight minutes on the hob they will be perfectly cooked through.

While the meat is resting, you can turn your attention to mushrooms.

All you need to know about cleaning them is in one of my past weekly posts. I’ll only say again: don’t wash them if you can avoid it, or they’ll get mushy and shrink to nothing.

If there’s too much oil left in the pan after the guinea fowl (there shouldn’t; they are game-lean), blot it lightly with a bunched up paper towel. Mushrooms will now need a little butter, some wine to deglaze the pan and the whole tarragon sprigs which will render the flavour beautifully.

When the fungi have released their juices and re-absorbed them again, they’re ready. You can return the guinea fowl into the pan for a minute, to reheat the meat and let it permeate with the mushroom flavour.

And the feast is ready, thickly sliced meat topped with ceps, chanterelles, or whatever the autumn forest has given you this time.

how to cook guinea fowl breast fillet cuisinefiend.com

No wild mushrooms?

You can certainly prepare the dish with ordinary cap mushrooms; it will be good but not as mind-blowing as with porcini and girolles. But if you use a decent mix of shiitake, oysters and chestnut mushrooms I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

guinea fowl with mushrooms cuisinefiend.com

More game recipes

Whole guinea fowl, deboned, rolled and stuffed with pork and dried fruit is something for a special occasion.

A brace of partridges wrapped in bacon and roasted is another idea for an autumnal date night. Or a dinner with friends, if you roast a couple of braces.

Wild pigeon is fantastically cheap, very tasty and easy to prepare. Featuring: seared breast of wild pigeon with orange sauce.

More wild mushroom recipes

They hold their own in vegetarian dishes as an excellent source of protein, like spelt risotto with wild mushrooms for instance.

Pappardelle pasta and chanterelles, that’s a classic. And they almost rhyme.

Another recipe for wild mushrooms with quickly cooked meat: turkey steaks with chanterelles. Or any other wild mushroom variety.

guinea fowl supremes cuisinefiend.com



Guinea fowl breast with wild mushrooms

Servings: 2Time: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 guinea fowl breast fillets
  • salt
  • 250g (8 oz.) wild mushrooms: pied de mouton, chanterelles, ceps
  • a small bunch of fresh tarragon
  • 1 tsp. oil
  • black pepper
  • 1 tbsp. butter
  • ½ glass of dry white wine


METHOD

1. Season the guinea fowl fillets with salt on both sides as early in the day as possible. Keep in the fridge and bring to room temperature before cooking.

2. Clean the mushrooms with a soft brush and paper towels; if they are very mucky, wash them briefly in a large bowl of fresh water (for no more than 10-15 seconds) then lift them out and place onto a clean tea towel and pat dry. Slice them chunkily and set aside.

3. Pick the leaves off tarragon sprigs leaving two sprigs intact. Finely chop the leaves and set aside.

4. Heat a heavy frying pan or a cast iron skillet until smoking. Add the oil and swirl around. Place the guinea fowl in the pan skin side down and cook on medium heat for 4 minutes, pressing down with a spatula if they are very rounded. Turn the fillets over and cook on the other side for 4 minutes, pressing down if needed. Transfer to a heated plate, cover loosely with foil and keep in a warm place.

pan roasted guinea fowl breast cuisinefiend.com

5. Turn the heat under the pan to minimum. If there is a lot of fat in the pan, dab it with bunched up paper towels.

6. Add the butter to the pan and let it foam. Add the mushrooms (pied the mouton first if you have them as they need cooking a bit longer than other wild mushrooms), the whole sprigs of tarragon and the wine, and turn up the heat so they are bubbling vigorously.

7. Cook stirring for about 5 minutes until they release liquid and reabsorb it again. When they look more fried than stewed, take the pan off the heat, stir in most of the chopped tarragon and season to taste with salt and pepper.

8. Cut each guinea fowl breast in half or slice it chunkily. Arrange on the plates and spoon the mushrooms over the meat. Sprinkle with remaining tarragon and serve.


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Hello! I'm Anna Gaze, the Cuisine Fiend. Welcome to my recipe collection.

I have lots of recipes for you to choose from: healthy or indulgent, easy or more challenging, quick or involved - but always tasty.


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