Afternoon….
this Sunday is mrsvaders birthday and I always cook something unusual. Last year was lobster ravioli. This year she has requested pheasant….
I wad thinking along the lines of this this
Any other suggestions?
cheers

Taking inspiration from an earlier thread in which I got ALL SORTS of useful advice from resident wits about buying things in tins and women fishing for my genitals and such like, after a brief search I offer the following:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07ct9TOx0x4[/video]

Bottoms up! 😀

I’m pretty sure Valentine Warner will have a few good pheasant recipes…

That recipe sounds nice – the key (I believe) with pheasant is ensuring the bird was well hung and not to overcook it – it is a very dry bird so overcooking it really spoils it.

And that’s why (I assume) that recipe suggests ham over the bird (stops it drying out) and apricots – adds moisture.

I would also imagine that a paraphrasing of the famous Jamie Oliver roast chicken recipe would work – where you prise up the skin of the breast and shove in lashings of herbed butter. You’ll need small hands with a peasant mind you.

@daftvader – you’ve done ravioli last year which is a pity as that works well with pheasant too. As an alternative to a whole roast bird (which feeds 2 and as per above can dry out) then just the breasts on a vegetable base with sauce works very well (sauce can be red wine or madera based). You can use potato cake/rosti or beetroot (very in these days) as base with some other winter veg on side. Have a google and search for pheasant and/or pigeon.

EDIT: I found this with Pigeon but it would work with Pheasant receipe

EDIT2: Raymond Blanc roast (note oven cook pheasant for only 30 mins) receipe

Hadnt thought about Valentine Warner…. Have to dig his books out… Also have a bottle of mead in the cupboard….

Pan fry the breasts for a minute or two on each side and set aside, add to the pan some shallots and some diced smoked bacon and sweat down, add a glass of white wine and reduce a bit, add a cup of chicken stock, and some double cream, add a handful of wild mushrooms, pop the pheasant back in with a hanful of chopped parsley, and very gently simmer for a few minutes (4 or 5), but don’t over do it!

Serve with mash and greens. 😀

Jambalaya I was thinking of serving with some mini roast beetroot as they go well with orange. and some fondant potato….
That said cbmotorsport that sounds great

@cbmotorsport’s combination is a classic way to cook them .. very tasty

EDIT @daftvader – yes that beetroot / potato fondant is what I had in mind – had that in top restaurants which is where I scammed the idea from !

Pan fried pheasant breast on a mushroom barley risotto:

Fry then sweat onion & garlic.
Add in good chicken stock with the barley.
Have a little spare stock ready to add if needed.
Cook til almost softened, add fresh wild mushrooms and cook a little more.
If using dried, put them in earlier with a bit more stock.
Grate some parmesan, to mix in just before serving.

Pan fry the pheasant breast on both sides for a very short time, just a couple of minutes per side for rare. Even less if your pan is very hot and you like it blue.
Allow to rest while you deglaze the fry pan with a little marsala and pour that dribble of liquor into your risotto. Serve with a little steamed broccoli, nowt else.
Needs a good red wine with body, preferably French or Spanish.

That said cbmotorsport that sounds great

It’s proven and very tasty. I shoot a fair bit and this is often on the CB menu.

You have to open wine to cook it, and you only use a bit so have to drink the rest.

It’s a one pan wonder so no washing up afterwards!

Just don’t overcook them, lots of people are put off pheasant because their first experience of it is dry and overcooked.

I’m getting really hungry now….. All this talk of high cuisine and I’m.about to put a couple of pizza in the oven!

Give it a good once over for shot, you don’t want broken teeth spoiling your romantic dinner 🙂

Yeah woody…. Had that with a pigeon !sarnie once

This is what I do: Tastes good, takes about 5 mins of prep then sits in the oven for 1.5 hours:

Roasting Dish.
Layer of sliced onions for bird to sit on
250ml robust red wine (or just enough to cover the onion layer), bay leaves and peppercorns.
Stuff bird with whole garlic cloves and a strongly flavoured herb, thyme or rosemary etc.
Coat skin with butter or olive oil. Apply liberal amounts of salt and maybe a dried herb like marjoram.
Cover with foil then bake on around 200 for 1.25 to 1.5 hours.

If you can be bothered, the resulting liquids can then be reduced for a quality red wine gravy 🙂

Braised in apple juice, pheasant Normandy 😀

Coq au vin with a pheasant is good, or try a curry?

Do the pan fried recipe above then a confit for the legs is really good, better than duck IMO.

check out the moorland association website for half a dozen reciepes..

We did a decent Tom Kerridge recipe a few weekends back.

Caremelise some carrots in a casserole dish.

add lardons and garlic

add peel of an orange ant thyme and bob the bird ion top with streaky on the breasts

lob in some chicken stock, cover and bung in the oven at 200 for 45 mins

rest the pheasant, strain and reduce the sauce and lob in some chestnuts at the end. serve with game chips. plus he does bread sauce which I hate.

Cheers for all the suggestions… Looking good for either the BBC one with beets and potato or cbmotorsports , p robably also with roast beets and fondant spud… Nom nom nom