King Charles is known for his love of game, and has named “groussaka” – moussaka made with grouse instead of lamb – as one of his favourite dishes.

To celebrate the Coronation, game specialist Wild and Game has created a recipe for groussaka to cook at home for the coronation.

Wild and Game sells handy packs of game meat for easy home cooking and currently has grouse breasts in stock, which can be minced to make “groussaka”. If grouse isn’t your thing, the recipe works equally well with venison mince.

Wild and Game also sells whole game birds and uses game as a key ingredient in its range of high-quality pies, pasties, sausage rolls, pates, sausages and ready meals. Its products include familiar recipes such as ale pie, tikka masala and chilli, which are made with game sourced from British suppliers.

“People can be timid about trying to cook with these ingredients, but we aim to make it easy for them, and to demonstrate how delicious game can be,” says Wild and Game co-founder Steven Frampton. “We’re also working to get people eating game all year round, not just in game season – which is why we sell our game frozen.

“That means it’s possible to eat grouse in May, and to cook our groussaka recipe for the Coronation.”

If you’d like to cook a groussaka to celebrate the coronation, here’s how:

Wild & Game’s recipe for “groussaka”

FOR THE FILLING

8 grouse breasts, minced or 500g minced venison

1 courgette, sliced

1 large aubergine, sliced

3 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced

Half a tube of tomato puree – about 100g

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 large glass red wine

½ tsp ground cloves

3 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp mixed dried herbs

1 large onion, diced

2 tins of chopped tomatoes

Olive oil for frying

FOR THE TOPPING

600 ml milk

75g butter

1 onion, halved and pierced with 2 cloves

2 bay leaves

60g flour

3 egg yolks, beaten

100g Parmesan, grated

Salt & Pepper

METHOD

  1. Fry your onions in olive oil until soft.
  2. Meanwhile, put the sliced potatoes on to boil in salted water and cook until just soft enough to spear onto a fork. Drain and set aside.
  3. While your potatoes are cooking, add the meat to your pan and stir till browned.
  4. Add the garlic and spices.
  5. Add the tins of tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs and sugar and simmer 45 mins, topping up with water whenever it starts to look dry. Season to taste.
  6. While your meat is simmering, fry the courgettes and aubergines in olive oil and set aside.
  7. Make the béchamel: heat the milk, cloved onion and bay leaves in a pan. In another pan melt the butter and stir in the flour. Add the milk ladle by ladle, stirring in between additions until smooth, and continue until all the milk is used up. Take off the heat, and whisk in the Parmesan and egg yolks until smooth. Season.
  8. Layer the meat mixture with the vegetables in a lasagne dish, then top with the béchamel.
  9. Cook for 25-30 mins at 180 degrees, checking regularly.

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