Pot-roasting is a good idea with guinea fowl, as it tends to dry out in the breast department. The juices from the bird combine with the cream and wine to make a moreishly rich sauce. By chicory, in case there is any confusion, I mean what most of the world calls endive: the tight, flame-shaped bundles of green-white leaves.

Serves 2-3

1 guinea fowl, about 1.2kg
Sea salt and black pepper
½ lemon
50g butter
2 tbsp oil
4 plump heads of chicory, halved lengthways, with the hard cores removed
4 tsp sugar
2 plump cloves of garlic, peeled and halved
100ml dry white wine
2 twigs of fresh thyme
4 rashers streaky bacon
150ml double cream
Handful of chopped parsley, to serve

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Season the bird inside and out. Squeeze the ½ lemon and keep the juice to one side. Put the squeezed shell inside the bird.

Heat the butter and oil in an ovenproof casserole dish. (You want one with a lid that will just hold the bird when it is placed on top of the chicory.) Add the guinea fowl and cook over a medium heat until brown all over. Remove and put to one side.

Add the halved chicory, cut side down, and cook in the fat for 2 minutes until it starts to wilt and caramelise. Turn over and give it 2 minutes more, then throw in the sugar and garlic.

Put the bird on top and add the wine, lemon juice and thyme. Turn up the heat and bubble for 5 minutes, then drape the bacon over the breast. Pour the cream around the outside and bring to a bubble. Cover and place in the oven for 45 minutes. Remove the lid and return to the oven for a further 15-20 minutes, until the juices in the legs run clear.

You can carve at the table, or joint the bird first and serve it from the pot. If you’re doing it this way, lift the bird onto a board, pull the legs away and, with a sharp knife, slice through the joint connecting them to the body. Put them back in the pot. Remove the bacon and keep to one side. Cut down on either side of the breast bone to remove a breast and wing, cutting through the joint that attaches the wing to the carcass. Put the bacon on top and scatter with parsley.

Rice or mash would be good for mopping up juices – or even a piece of bread.

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