Every time Adam Naylor sings, God kills a partridge

Regular viewers of my blog (I know you're out there somewhere) may remember my "Rich Man's Chicken Kiev" recipe, the pheasant breast for which was provided by my mate Adam Naylor who shot the bastard. This week he's donated a recipe of his own for roast partridge. He even provided the photo. This is weird actually; it feels like that bit from kids' saturday morning TV shows in the 90s where they showed the crap drawings the kids had sent in.

I haven't actually tried this recipe myself yet but it looks very nice and it follows the golden rule of game which is to add plenty of fat to keep it moist. Perhaps I'll give him a guest column.

Ingredients:

• 1 partridge
• 1 tbsp redcurrant jelly
  
• 100ml red wine
• A generous amount of streaky bacon to cover the bird
• A few sprigs of rosemary
• Butter
• A quarter of an onion
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  

Method:

1. Turn the oven on at 200 degrees.
2. Prepare the partridge for roasting. Chop up the onion roughly, season the cavity and add butter and a few rosemary sprigs in there. Put a bit of onion and butter in the neck cavity too. Season the skin well and smear a LOT of butter over the bird, particularly on the breasts. Wrap the partridge with the bacon completely (as per the photo below), pinning the rashers into place with some rosemary sprigs.
3. Roast the bird for about 40 minutes. Adam notes that you should keep an eye on it as it may dry out; I'd suggest basting it once halfway through. As with other poultry, you know it's cooked if the leg juices run clear (though if you're really worried you can use a meat thermometer).
4. When the bird is cooked, let it rest in a warm place covered with tin foil. I'm going to ad lib here and recommend that you turn it upside down as it rests so that the juices run back down into the breast.
5. Make the gravy. Put the roasting tin on the hob with the rosemary sprigs, bring it to a high heat and add a splash of red wine. Deglaze the bottom of the pan by bringing it to the boil and stir in the redcurrant jelly. Let it continue to boil until it's reduced to a consistency you like.
6. As you can see in the picture, Adam served his bird with peas and mashed potatoes.