ROASTED PARTRIDGE SOUP

Celebrate game season with a delicious rich and exotically spiced soup

• 2 whole partridges
• 1/2 bottle full-bodied red wine
• 2 tablespoons Arabica Ras el Hanout spices
  
• 2 onions
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons good olive oil
• 4 sticks celery with the leaves
• 4 carrots
• 1/2 cup green lentils
• 2 potatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 litre water
• Salt, to taste
• Handful of flat leaf parsley leaves

Serves 4

Cut the partridges in half, place in a bowl, rub with the Arabica Ras el Hanout spices, add the red wine and then leave to marinade in the fridge overnight or a minimum of 2 hours.

Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees centigrade / Gas mark 7. Take the partridges out of the marinade and place them on a roasting tray. Drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil and roast in the over for 15 minutes. Remove them from the oven and set aside.

Peel and slice the onions. Slowly cook them in a large, heavy bottomed pan over a low to moderate heat in the remaining olive oil until they become soft and translucent. Peel the garlic, slice them thinly and add them to the onions. Add liquid used to marinade the partridges.  Roughly dice the carrots, celery and potatoes. Add them to the pan and cook for a further couple of minutes. Add the lentils, bay leafs, seasoning and the water .Turn up the heat and once it reaches boiling point, lower the heat to a gentle simmer, cover with a lid and leave to cook for 50 minutes. Finally, add the partridges and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Serve in four deep bowls and add a few leaves of chopped parsley to each. Have plenty of warm hot crusty bread on hand to dunk into the thick, rich soup.