Parelhoen met witloof & Trappist (guinea fowl with endives & beer)

For ➍
1 guinea fowl (1.5 kg)
salt & pepper
50 g bacon, cubed or sliced
50 g butter
10 shallots, sliced
3 dl Belgian beer, white or blond, blond Trappist recommended*/**
1 ts thyme
3 juniper berries
2 sprigs parsley
1 ts sugar*
6 endives***

Rub the guinea fowl with salt and pepper.
Heat the butter in a pan and bake the bacon for 5 m. Remove the bacon and brown the guinea fowl in the fat. Remove fowl and brown the shallots.
Add beer, thyme, laurel, berries, parsley (and sugar*). Mix.
Add bacon and heat the mixture.
Add the guinea fowl and let it stew on low heat for 45 m.
Heat some water to cook the endives for 10 m.
Add vegetables to the guinea fowl for the last 10 m of the cooking.
Remove the fowl and vegetables. Thicken the sauce, push through a chinois.
Cut guinea fowl into pieces. Put a piece on a warm plate with some sauce and with vegetables. Serve with boiled potatoes*** and blond Trappist beer.

*When using white beer or blond Trappist, don't add sugar. Blond Trappist should be a triple, like Westmalle or Leffe. When Belgian beers are not available, use pale ale instead...
**Add 10 cl fond de gibier to make a smoother sauce.

***Do not use hydroculture endives for a better taste. To have a smoother sauce, cut 1 additional endive into small chunks and put in the sauce from the start.
***Or serve with parsnip mash.

Trappist monasteries were founded by the Cistercian monastery of La Trappe in medieval France. Of the world's 171 Trappist monasteries, only 7 produce beer. 6 of them are in Belgium, brewing the highly valued Trappist following strict prescriptions.
Read the cooking fowl tip. Try the quick version. Read a classic recipe to braise the endives.
Read the braising endives without water tip.
Read the cooking endives @ microwave tip.

Guinea fowl salad

For➍
1 guinea fowl
1 focaccia
⅛ cauliflower
1 beetroot
1 jar green asparagus
150 g bacon
4 eggs
1 bunch watercress
1 scallion
3 tbs green peas
8 small potatoes
2 dl corn oil
2 egg yolks
1 tbs white wine vinegar
1 tbs mustard
sugar
olive oil

Cut the bacon into strips. Fry until crispy.
Cut fillets of the guinea fowl and cut it into strips, season with salt and pepper and fry until golden brown in olive oil.
Cut cubes from the focaccia, season with salt and pepper and fry in oil.
Peel and wash the beets, cut into cubes and cook until al dente.
Clean the cauliflower, pull them into florets and cook until al dente.
Poach the eggs in water with salt and vinegar.
Boil the potatoes in their skins, peel and halve them. Cut the vegetables finely and mix them with the potatoes.
Make a dressing with the corn oil, egg yolks, white wine vinegar, mustard and sugar. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve the vegetable salad on a plate. Top with a poached egg and a few strips of guinea fowl. Finish with the focaccia cubes, the dressing and some chopped chives.

Guinea fowl with mustard sauce

For ➍
4 fillets of guinea fowl, 150 g
butter
15 cl poultry stock, warm
15 cl cream, kitchen temperature
2 tbs mustard
1 apple, peeled & diced
salt & pepper
1 kg potatoes
1 kg tomatoes

Prepare mash from potatoes. Keep warm.

Skin and clean the tomatoes. Remove all juices. Dice the meat. Mix into potato mash.

Season the fillets with salt and pepper and fry in browned butter over high heat. Reduce heat. Cook fowl for 10 m. Remove from the pan and keep warm.

Stir the stock and cream through scrapings and fat in the pan. Boil for 2 m. Add the mustard. Season with salt and pepper. In a separate pan, brown the diced apple.

Serve the guinea fowl with the diced apple, a dash of potato & tomato mash.

Quick guinea fowl with endives

For ➍
4 guinea fowl fillets*
2 tbs butter
2 sliced shallots
1 kg of witloof, endives, roughly chopped or cut lengthwise
(1 ts sugar)**
3 juniper berries
1 tbs white or blonde beer
4 tbs of jenever (gin)

Heat the butter in a skillet. Brown the fillets.
Add shallots, witloof, (sugar)** and juniper berries. Add 1 tbs of beer. Stew for 20 m.
Add 4 tbs of jenever (gin), turn up the heat for 2 m.

*Use chicken fillets instead.
**Optional.

Read the braising endives without water tip
Read the cooking endives @ microwave tip.
Try the Belgian classic version.