Poppy seed cake and guinea fowl (but not together!)

Those of you who pay very close attention may remember that last year I made an attempt to make hamentashen for Purim. I wasn't altogether delighted with the results. They tasted quite nice but I could only find American recipes, so you ended up with my take on an American variant of an Eastern European pastry.

I decied that for Purim this year I would make a poppy seed cake, rather than poppy seed paste filled hamentashen. Off I went, trawling the online recipes (not absolutely sure quite why I buy cooking books!). And I found this.

I have never caramelised oranges before.  It was quite good fun.  Except that I don't think I caramelised the sugar properly, or enough, before adding the oraneg juice.  In it went - and the sugar instantly turned to toffee!!  Took ages to simmer it back into a liquid state.  And I think I sliced the oranges a bit too thickly.  Next time, I might also remove the peel and just caramelise the orange flesh.

The cake itself was lovely, though.  Not too sweet (I cut the sugar content down a bit). The Builder loved his share.  And the boys in the office are happily munching through their almost healthy Purim cake treat!

In pursuit of my ambition to become a more adventurous eater, I bought a guinea fowl from Chatsworth last weekend. I have never eaten guinea fowl previously, much less cooked it. I took down my Game Book (Clarissa Dickson Wright) from the cooking book shelf - and found guinea fowl conspicuous by its absence. Turned out it was in her Sunday Roast book instead. I don't think she cares for it much.  Undaunted, I looked in other meaty books and on various websites. Eventually I decided to wrap it in bacon, cover it in foil and to bake it in a low oven (about 120d) for a couple of hours, then to remove the foil, crank the oven up and roast it for 30 minutes or so to crisp it up. Which I did on Sunday of this weekend just gone

The recipes all suggest one bird per person.  This seems a bit excessive to me. I could possibly have eaten half a bird, had I been indulging in a meat feast, but certainly not a whole one. And I don't think I had bought a particularly large bird.  We had ours with roast potatoes and a mountain of vegetables and so only had the wing quarter each, with a gravy made with the pan juices.

It was extremely tasty, although I'm not sure that I would have argued had you roasted it for me and told me I was eating a small chicken. It was very chickeny in flavour. The leg quarter may have been a bit stronger, though.  Certainly, when I made stock with the carcass it smelled slightly gamier than a chicken stock.

I took the leg and thigh meat and shredded it and put it in a casserole with finely chopped leek, cabbage, carrots and mushrooms, which I covered with the stock. I then casseroled that for a few hours at about 100d. I could have done it in the slo-cooker, but I was about and I do prefer the texture of oven slow cooked food. I tend to use the slo-cooker when no one is going to be at home. The Builder is happily chomping his way through the result.

Guinea fowl has joined partridge on my list of things I had never eaten before but which I will most definietly eat again!

Those of you who know my feelings on the subject of eating venison may be surprised to learn that I also bought a small amount of stewing venison when I bought the guinea fowl. It's in the freezer waiting for me to have time to ponder an appropriate recipe.  I'll report back!

(I might have another bash at hamentashen next year - can't be absolutely impossible to get hold of an Eastern European recipe, surely?)