Recipe: Roasted Guinea Fowl with Peverada (Faraona Arrosto con la Salsa Peverada)

the appetizer:

Venezia: Food and Dreams by Tessa Kiros, includes recipes like Spider Crab (Granseola in Bella Vista); Fried Mozzarella Toasts (Mozzarella in Carrozza); and Roasted Guinea Fowl with Peverada (Faraona Arrosto con la Salsa Peverada).

Roasted Guinea Fowl with Peverada
Faraona Arrosto con la Salsa Peverada

Serves 4

This is quite lovely, noble-looking and most of all, easy to make. It is rather like doing a roast chicken with a bit of stuffing sauce on the side. Compare as for the chicken, keeping the liver if your guinea fowl comes with one. This is particularly lovely with cabbage or the roast pumpkin and mushrooms (page 248 of the book). I have seen many different versions of the sauce; some elaborate with vinegar, crumbled bread, anchovies, onions, or various spices, and it works very well next to any roast poultry. If you bird doesn't come with a liver, just increase the chicken liver accordingly.

1 guinea fowl (about 2-1/2 pounds)
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
2 teaspoons chopped sage
1 large garlic clove, chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped pancetta
5 long, thin slices cured pancetta
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup white wine

Salsa Peverada:

1/4 pound chicken livers
3/4 ounce guinea fowl liver
1 thick slice (about 3 ounces) soft salami, skin removed, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
Juice of one small lemon
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Rinse the guinea fowl inside and out and pat dry with paper towels. Season lightly inside and out. Mix together the butter, rosemary, sage, garlic, and chopped pancetta, and stuff inside the bird.

Lay the sliced pancetta over the bird widthwise, so that the top and sides are covered, and then tie up with string. Put half the olive oil in a roasting pan, put the bird in the pan and drizzle with the rest of the oil. Roast for 15 minutes or so, until golden and sizzling on the bottom, then pour in half the wine. Turn down the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and roast for another 40 to 45 minutes, adding the rest of the wine about 30 minutes, once it is bubbling nicely. Once or twice baste the bird with the pan juices. Poke a fork into the thickest part of the thigh and check the juices are clear (cook for 10 to 15 minutes more if needed, but it's important not to overcook it and dry it out). Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes before untying the bird and cutting up into portions.

Meanwile, make the peverada: clean the livers of any sinew and then chop them well. Put all the ingredients in a small saucepan with salt and simmer for 10 minutes or so, until the livers are cooked. Add a good couple of grindings of pepper. Serve a spoonful of this warm, along with a portion of roast guinea fowl with its lovely pan juices.

from:
Venezia: Food and Dreams
by Tessa Kiros
Photography by Manos Chatzikonstantis
Andrews McMeel 2009
Hardcover; $34.99
ISBN-10: 0740785168
ISBN-13: 9780740785160
Reprinted by permission.

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Recipes
- Spider Crab (Granseola in Bella Vista)
- Fried Mozzarella Toasts (Mozzarella in Carrozza)
- Roasted Guinea Fowl with Peverada
  (Faraona Arrosto con la Salsa Peverada)