Autumn? Let's light up the Big Green Egg!

STARTER

Red-legged partridge cooked in salt dough with grilled parsnip, ceps and hazelnuts

MAIN COURSE

Wild boar stew with pancetta wrapped grilled potatoes

DESSERT

Apple pie with roasted chestnuts and goat’s yoghurt curd

Wild boar stew - one day in advance

Ignite the charcoal in the Big Green Egg and heat, with the Stainless Steel Grid, to 250°C. Cut the wild boar stewing steak into small 2 cm cubes and the thick slice of pancetta into 1 cm cubes. Peel the shallots and the garlic. Slice the shallots into coarse rings and chop the garlic into slices. Wash the carrots, peel the ginger root and then cut it into ½ cm thick slices. Peel the celeriac and cut into 1 cm cubes. Crush the peppercorns in a mortar.

Place the Cast Iron Dutch Oven on the grid, close the lid of the EGG and wait until the pan is hot. Add the sunflower oil and subsequently the pancetta cubes and shallot rings. Fry the shallots until transparent. Now add the wild boar stewing steak and fry on all sides until light brown.

Add the garlic, carrots, ginger root, celeriac, peppercorns, cinnamon stick, prunes and sprigs of thyme. Mix well and pour the beer into the pan. Close the lid of the EGG and bring the liquid to the boil.

Take the Cast Iron Dutch Oven from the EGG. Lift the grid, place the convEGGtor with the grid on top. Place the Cast Iron Dutch Oven back on the grid, close the lid of the EGG and heat to a temperature of approx. 120°C. Leave to stew for about 4 hours until the meat is soft.

Check if the meat is soft (continue stewing if necessary), remove the lid from the Cast Iron Dutch Oven and close the lid of the EGG. Leave to stew for another 15 to 20 minutes, allowing the liquid to reduce and the wild boar stew to gain that delicious Big Green Egg flavour.

Take the Cast Iron Dutch Oven from the EGG, turn off the EGG and leave the stew to cool. Place the lid on the pan and store in the refrigerator.

Apple pie - one day in advance

To prepare the curd; line a colander with a clean tea towel that doesn’t smell of soap and place it over a bowl. Pour in the yoghurt and leave to strain in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

Partridge

Place the ingredients for the salt dough in a mixing bowl and knead until a firm and smooth dough is formed. Add extra water or flour if necessary.

Take the red-legged partridges from the refrigerator. Peel the shallot and garlic and finely cut both. Remove the leaves from two sprigs of thyme, finely chop and mix with the shallot and garlic. Sprinkle the cavity of the partridges with pepper and salt and fill with the shallot mixture. Tie the legs of each partridge together with butcher’s twine to make sure that the filling can’t fall out. Pat dry the vine leaves and remove the skin of the partridges. Wrap each partridge in 3 slices of pancetta and then in the vine leaves.

Divide the salt dough into two equal-sized pieces and roll these out on a flour sprinkled worktop into two large circles that are each big enough to fold around a partridge. Place a partridge on each dough circle, fold the dough around it (leave the legs free) and gently press the seams of the dough together. Cover and store in the refrigerator until needed.

Wash the parsnips and cut them into 5 mm thick slices. Bring a pan with lightly salted water to the boil, add the parsnip slices and cook them al dente in about 2 minutes. Drain, drip dry and place them in a bowl. Remove the leaves from the last sprig of thyme, chop finely and sprinkle over the pre-cooked parsnip. Sprinkle with olive oil and pepper and salt to taste. Brush clean the ceps and halve them lengthwise. Coarsely chop the hazelnuts. Store the parsnips and ceps in the refrigerator until needed and keep the coarsely chopped nuts in a sealed food container.

Wild boar stew

Wash the potatoes, then peel and crush the garlic. Put everything in a pan, add one litre of water, 20 g of salt and the rosemary, and bring to the boil. Boil the potatoes for approx. 15 minutes until done. Drain the potatoes and leave to cool.

Partridge

Ignite the charcoal in the Big Green Egg and heat, with the Cast Iron Grid with the Baking Stone on it, to 200°C. Place the salt dough-covered partridges on the Flat Baking Stone, close the lid of the EGG and leave to cook for approx. 25 minutes.

Remove the partridges from the EGG and use the EGGmitt to take out the Baking Stone. Place the parsnip slices and halved ceps on the grid and grill them for approx. 2.5 minutes on each side until the parsnip shows a nice grill pattern and the ceps are done.

Put the grilled parsnip slices and ceps back in the bowl, sprinkle with hazelnut oil and gently mix. Divide the parsnip slices and ceps among the plates. Mix the balsamic vinegar into the oil that has remained in the bowl to create a tasty dressing.

Cut into and break open the top of the salt dough. Remove the vine leaves, cut off the legs and fillets from the carcass. Place one leg and one fillet on each plate, add a dash of balsamic dressing and sprinkle with the coarsely chopped hazelnuts.

Wild boar stew

Remove the Baking Stone from the grid using the EGGmitt. Remove the stainless steel grid, place the Cast Iron Grid in the EGG and heat the EGG to 180°C. Take the Cast Iron Dutch Oven with the wild boar stew from the refrigerator.

Place the Cast Iron Dutch Oven, with lid, on the grid to heat up the stew for approx. 25 minutes.

Wrap a slice of pancetta around each potato. Place them on the grid, next to the Cast Iron Dutch Oven, and grill them on all sides until the bacon is golden brown and crispy.

Remove the Cast Iron Dutch Oven and the potatoes from the EGG (and extinguish it). Divide the wild boar stew among the plates or place the pan on the table, on a fireproof surface, and serve it with the pancetta wrapped potatoes.

Apple pie

Remove the pie from the tin and cut it into nice slices. Mix the sugar into the curd and serve with the apple pie.