Like any other Christmas I have a cookery book amongst my gifts! This time I have BEST OF BRITISH by Ed Baines . Excellent! The recipe I have chosen to make is Slow cooked Pheasant casserole. I have never cooked Pheasant before and have made it my New Years resolution to expand my range into new areas.

I’m not sure how British this dish is – Apart from the additions of Worcestershire sauce – it is more like French cuisine to me.  Well it’s a “casserole” after all!! But what is most important is that this dish is so tasty ( gamey, smokey, sweet and a hint of peppery-ness from Worcestershire sauce and celery sticks).

Recipe by :  Ed Baines 

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS: 

• 2 pheasants ( I used one medium pheasant and it serves 4)
• 3 tbs sunflower oil
• 225g smoked bacon scraps, diced
• 3 large onions, chopped
• 225 g swede, chopped
• 4 celery sticks, roughly chopped
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 1 large red papper, chopped
• 100g wild mushrooms, chopped
• 1 whole garlic bulb, cloves crushed
• 100g chorizo, cut into thick chunks
• 1 tbs plain flour
• 300 ml chicken stock
• 300 ml red wine
• 1 tbs red current jelly
• 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbs chopped fresh herbs ( parsley and thyme are ideal)
• lightly steams green beans to serve
• mash potato to serve

METHOD: 

1. Preheat the oven to 120C/ 250F/ gas mark 1/2 .
2. Tie the legs of each bird tightly together, heat the oil in a casserole dish and add the pheasants. Brown them all over in the oil and remove from the dish and set aside on a plate.
3. In the same casserole dish, fry bacon, then add all the chopped vegetables, mushroom, garlic and chorizo and stir in the flour thoroughly.
4. Add the stock, wine, jelly and Worcestershire sauce and bring to boil.
5. Add the pheasants, put on the lid and transfer to the oven, cooking very slowly for 3 to 4 hours until the meat is tender.
6. Lift the birds out of the pot, place on a plate and leave until cool to handle. Pull the meat off the bones and return to the casserole , season and add the fresh herbs.
7. Serve in a big fat soup plate with steamed beans green beans, champ potatoes and the cooking sauce ladle over!
8. Mmmmm! the smell and the taste! Enjoy!

*************************************HAPPY 2013!******************************************

01 Jan This entry was published on January 1, 2013 at 4:26 pm. It’s filed under All the Recipes jumbled up!, POULTRY and tagged Casserole, Cooki game, Game recipe, Pheasant. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.