Whisk Wednesdays—Pintade à la Cévenole (Guinea Hen with Mushrooms and Chestnuts)

Photographing poultry is not easy. Desserts are so much prettier.
Try this:
Click here for images of chicken. Click here for images of dessert.
I rest my case.
This is the last in the series about poultry (next week is frog legs!), and the recipe calls for guinea hen (or guinea fowl). I like my white meat, and this bird is generally dark meat so I had a feeling I wouldn't like this meal.

For this dish, you will have to sauté and set aside many times, which for some reason reminded me of square dancing calls (not that I square dance, but I have watched relatives!).

Circle right.
Bacon, blanch and fry.
Set aside.
Pearl onions, peel and sauté.
Set aside.
Mushrooms, sauté.
Set aside.
Guinea hen, dry, dredge and sauté.
Set aside.
With half the wine, deglaze.
Half Sashay.
Add Bouquet Garni, lardons, pearl onions, and mushrooms.
Split Two.
Cover and bake.
Promenade.
Pan drippings, reserve.
California Twirl.
Chestnuts, sauté.
Set aside.
Arrange chestnuts, lardons, pearl onions, mushrooms, and guinea hen in casserole and bake.
Couples Circulate.
For the sauce, shallots, sauté.
Rollaway.
With the last of the wine, deglaze.
Dosado to a wave.
Pan drippings, pour in.
Weave the Ring.
Reduce.
Pass thru.
Whisk in butter and serve.
Alamo Style.
Recipe

Serves 6 (picture shows half a recipe)

¾ pound slab bacon, sliced ¼ inch thick
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ pound pearl onions, peeled
1 pound oyster mushrooms, trimmed, rinsed, and dried
¾ pound button or quartered large mushrooms, trimmed, rinsed and dried
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 guinea hens, 2 pounds each
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cups red wine
1 Bouquet Garni
¾ pound whole shelled chestnuts
3 shallots, chopped fine
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

Flour for guinea hens
Unsalted butter, softened, for parchment paper
You can find the recipe for Pintade à la Cévenole (Guinea Hen with Mushrooms and Chestnuts) in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home. To see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesdays group fared with their recipe, click here (or check out the sidebar) and then click on each blogger!

Tasting Notes
This dish needs whole chestnuts. (Do.not.use.puréed.chestnuts.that.smell.like.cat.food.) I learned this week I'm not a fan of guinea hen and puréed chestnuts. I may try making this dish again using chicken and whole chestnuts (as called for in the recipe).

The sauce is the star of the dish. It's a beurre rouge that is rich, velvety and easy.

Ladies do and the gents you know,
It’s right by right by wrong you go,
And you can’t go to heaven while you carry on so,
And it’s home little gal and do-si-do,
And it may be the last time, I don’t know,
And oh by gosh and oh by Joe.
—(Ernest Legg, WV)

Next Class
• Cuisses de Grenouille aux Herbes (Herbed Frog Legs) from Chocolate & Zucchini

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Running total: $1,161.36 + $22.93 (guinea hen) + $23.72 (other ingredients) = $1,208.01

Butter used so far: 10 pounds, 4 tablespoons

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::Whisk Wednesdays::
We're cooking our way through a cooking school curriculum using the Le Cordon Bleu at Home cookbook. The "classes" are based on the Le Cordon Bleu curriculum found online and used as a guideline. Not all the items in the curriculum are in the cookbook, but most are. Where the items are not in the book, we try to find a suitable substitution. Find out more here.