Luca Lazzari
Sous Chef
I love guinea fowl, faraona as we call it in Italy. I like its taste and the fact that it reminds me of my childhood, since “faraona arrosto” (roasted guinea fowl) was one of my mother’s favorite recipes.
So I was very happy when my beloved (and infinitely patient) fiancée Gabriella bought a guinea fowl, cleaned and cut into pieces, and ask me to cook it. But… Houston, we have a problem: I never cooked this bird in my entire life… However, the task was not overwhelming, I just took a look around and picked up a recipe, then simplified it and... buon appetito!
Here is my easy recipe to prepare a more then decent guinea fowl au vin, mes amis, Luca’s style. And don’t be misled by its exotic name: guinea fowl was known to the ancient Romans, then disappeared from Italian desks but was served again to us pizza-eaters during the 16th century.
The ingredients I used were extra virgin olive oil (2 tablespoons), 40 g butter, 150 g pancetta, 1 onion, 800 g guinea fowl cut in pieces, 40 g plain flour, 350 ml red wine, nutmeg, salt, pepper.
Finely slice the onion, cut the pancetta with a knife in little dices, warm the olive oil in a saucepan, then add the butter and melt it. Add and sauté the onion on medium fire, then add the pancetta and fry it for about 4 minutes. Flour the guinea fowl pieces, season them with salt and pepper, then put them in the pan and grate some nutmeg on them. Cook the meat for about 5 minutes, turning it a couple of times. Add the red wine and stir it to mix it with the sauce already in the pan. Cover with a lid and cook for about 1 hour, maybe less, until the fowl is cooked. If needed, add some warm water during cooking. At the end, put the meat in a serving dish, then spoon the sauce in a sauce bowl and serve it (I left out the fat in excess).
You can eat the guinea fowl drinking the same good red wine you used for cooking: in my case, it was a Lambrusco di Sorbara, a typical wine from Emilia-Romagna.
Buon appetito!
So I was very happy when my beloved (and infinitely patient) fiancée Gabriella bought a guinea fowl, cleaned and cut into pieces, and ask me to cook it. But… Houston, we have a problem: I never cooked this bird in my entire life… However, the task was not overwhelming, I just took a look around and picked up a recipe, then simplified it and... buon appetito!
Here is my easy recipe to prepare a more then decent guinea fowl au vin, mes amis, Luca’s style. And don’t be misled by its exotic name: guinea fowl was known to the ancient Romans, then disappeared from Italian desks but was served again to us pizza-eaters during the 16th century.
The ingredients I used were extra virgin olive oil (2 tablespoons), 40 g butter, 150 g pancetta, 1 onion, 800 g guinea fowl cut in pieces, 40 g plain flour, 350 ml red wine, nutmeg, salt, pepper.
Finely slice the onion, cut the pancetta with a knife in little dices, warm the olive oil in a saucepan, then add the butter and melt it. Add and sauté the onion on medium fire, then add the pancetta and fry it for about 4 minutes. Flour the guinea fowl pieces, season them with salt and pepper, then put them in the pan and grate some nutmeg on them. Cook the meat for about 5 minutes, turning it a couple of times. Add the red wine and stir it to mix it with the sauce already in the pan. Cover with a lid and cook for about 1 hour, maybe less, until the fowl is cooked. If needed, add some warm water during cooking. At the end, put the meat in a serving dish, then spoon the sauce in a sauce bowl and serve it (I left out the fat in excess).
You can eat the guinea fowl drinking the same good red wine you used for cooking: in my case, it was a Lambrusco di Sorbara, a typical wine from Emilia-Romagna.
Buon appetito!