Instructions: Remove any excess fat from the cavity of each guinea fowl.

Wash thoroughly inside and out and pat dry with kitchen paper.

Rub the cavity with a little salt.

Cut off the two ends of the oranges stand them on end and carefully slice off the skin (once you have removed one piece of skin you can see where the flesh meets the skin).

Slice the oranges into five or six rounds each.

Remove the tougher outside sticks of the celery until you reach the white dense bulb and slice across thinly.

Put in a bowl mix in the thyme and a small pinch of salt and pepper then stuff the cavity of each guinea fowl with this filling.

Pull the skin at the front of each guinea fowls cavity forward to cover the filling and tightly tie/truss up (qv roast chicken).

Heat a thick bottomed pan and add the olive oil and the guinea fowl the skin of which has been rubbed in salt and pepper.

Seal until lightly golden on all sides then add the garlic butter and sage and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until golden brown.

Add the wine at intervals enough to keep the pan slightly moist at alt times. Place in the oven at 225C/425F/gas 7 for 45 minutes checking every 10 to 15 minutes and just topping up the wine as necessary.

The guinea fowl will be roasted and semi steamed.

When cooked carefully remove from the oven and place upside down on a dish allowing all the juices and moisture to relax back into the breast meat for at least 5 minutes.

While your meat is resting make the gravy.

gravy:
Remove all the fat from the roasting pan and place the pan on a gentle heat. In the bottom of the pan will be your cooked soft sweet whole garlic cloves and some gorgeous sticky marmite stuff when this gets hot shake out the stuffing from the guinea fowl cavity and add to the pan with a glass of wine. As the wine boils and steams scrape all the goodness with a spoon from the bottom of the pan into the liquor.

When it has all dissolved leave to simmer gently.

Squash the cooked garlic out of the skins with a spoon (discard the skins); this will also thicken the gravy slightly as well as giving it flavour.

Pour any of the juices that have drained out of the rested birds into the pan with the gravy simmer and season to taste. Serve the guinea fowl with roast potatoes and any simply cooked green vegetable spinach curly kale pak choy or sprouting broccoli.

This is a gorgeous recipe. The guinea fowl is cooked slowly in a pot so it combines braising and roasting. The richness of the butter used to baste the birds with sage and garlic works superbly with the guinea fowl. The fresh and fragrant flavours of the orange thyme and celery used to stuff the guinea fowl steam in the cavity infusing their flavour into the breast meat. The stuffing is also great as a chunky and tasty addition to your gravy (qv above).

Serves 4

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