In September, elderberries are in season and they go really nicely with grouse, which is also in season now. By mid September the grouse is no longer the young, tender delicacy that it was at the official start of the season, on the 12th August (also the start of the UK game season; a special date in the calendar), although it's still excellent. One could argue that by this time it's a little more mature and flavoursome than in August, and I do really like it at this stage.

Elderberries are very common among the hedges at this time of year, and pretty easy to spot. They're small, dark red and spherical, and hang in umbrella-shaped clusters from the branches of the elder tree. Grab them by the handfuls, give them a quick rinse and you're good to go. For this dish, the rest of the garnish was inspired by coq au vin, including baby shallots, button mushroooms and a rich red wine sauce made from the grouse carcasses.

Grouse with Pickled Elderberries Recipe

Serves 2

Ingredients

  • 2 whole grouse, oven ready
  • 4 rasher streaky bacon
  • 8 new potatoes, a waxy variety such as Charlotte
  • 100 g bacon lardons, unsmoked
  • 10 button mushroooms
  • 10 baby shallots, peeled
  • vegetable oil, for cooking

For the pickled elderberries

  • 2 handfuls elderberries, picked from the stalks
  • 100 ml water
  • 100 ml white wine vinegar
  • 100 ml caster sugar
  • 100 ml dry white wine

For the sauce

  • 2 grouse carcasses
  • 1 medium carrots
  • 1 stick celery
  • 1 small onion
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 sprig thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 litre homemade chicken stock
  • 1 glassful brandy
  • 2 glassfuls red wine
  • 1 little buerre manie

Method

  1. To make the pickled elderberries, simply add the water, vinegar, sugar and white wine to a saucepan and bring to the boil. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved, then leave to cool to room temperature. Place the elderberries in a bowl or jar and, when the pickling liquid is cool, pour it over the berries. Add enough to submerge them generously. Reserve any leftover liquid for pickling something else, or discard.