Braised Pheasant Food

BRAISED PHEASANT WITH MUSHROOMS

Steps:

• In a large Dutch oven or pot, heat the butter over medium-high heat and brown the thighs. Take your time and don't crowd the pot. Do it in batches if need be. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
• Remove the pheasant and add the sliced onion and mushrooms. Turn the heat up to medium-high and stir well. You may need another tablespoon of butter, as mushrooms soak up a lot. Cook, stirring often, until the onions begin to brown. Salt everything as it cooks.
• Deglaze the pot with the white wine; turn the heat up to high. Scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. Add the garlic and the pheasant, skin side up. Let the wine cook down by half.
• Pour in enough stock to come up to the level of the pheasant skin without submerging it. Doing this will keep the skin crispy when you finish the dish. Cover the pot and cook in the oven for 45 to 60 minutes; you want the meat to be just barely tender. Uncover, turn the heat to 400°F and cook for another 15 to 30 minutes, until the skin crisps up. To finish, add the parsley, then salt, black pepper and some form of acid -- lemon juice, vinegar, etc -- to taste.

POT-ROASTED PHEASANT

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Dust the pheasants with the flour, then heat the oil in a large flameproof dish. Brown the pheasants all over, then remove from the dish.
• In the same dish, fry the bacon, vegetables, garlic and herbs with 1 tbsp of the dusting flour for 5 mins, until the vegetables start to colour. Put the pheasants and any resting juices back in the dish, pour on the Marsala, wine and stock, add the sugar, then cover and cook for 1 hr 30 mins - 1 hr 50 mins or until the leg meat easily comes away from the bone. Serve with bread sauce.

BRAISED PHEASANT IN REMARKABLE MUSHROOM GRAVY

Steps:

• Dredge pheasant pieces in seasoned flour.
• Heat butter and 2 tbs oil in dutch oven over medium heat. Add about 5 pheasant pieces -- make sure everything's in a single layer and not overly crowded. Cook 3 minutes/side until brown and remove. Repeat with remaining pheasant, adding oil as needed.
• Remove last batch of pheasant and set aside. Add mushrooms. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring often.
• Add onions to mushrooms, cooking for three or four minutes until tender.
• Add 2 tbsp of reserved seasoned flour. Stir well.
• Add wine, stock, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer and make sure to scrape all those bits from the bottom of the dutch oven. Add pheasant pieces.
• Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 1 hour.
• Serve with mashed potatoes or egg noodles.

PHEASANT BRAISED WITH LEEKS, CIDER & APPLES

Steps:

• For the pickled apples, put the salt, sugar, vinegar and berries in a small pan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, add the apple cubes and set aside.
• Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed, high-sided casserole and season the pheasant joints with salt. Brown them all over, rendering out some of the yellow fat into the pan. Remove to a plate and season with pepper. Add the leeks, bacon and thyme to the pan along with a pinch of salt and a good grind of black pepper, and fry until the leeks have softened - about 8 mins. Add the apple slices and cook until starting to colour on both sides.
• Spoon in the brandy and cook until evaporated, add the cider and simmer for a few more mins to cook off the alcohol. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce to a gentle simmer and add the pheasant joints back to the pan, covering with a circle of baking parchment.
• After 15 mins, remove the breasts from the pan to a plate and return the circle of baking parchment to the pan. Cook gently for a further 20 mins, then remove all the pheasant pieces from the pan to a plate and turn the heat up to reduce the sauce. Boil hard for a few min until reduced, then stir in the cream and mace and turn off the heat. Return the pheasant pieces to the sauce - the residual heat will warm it perfectly.
• Divide the pheasant between plates and spoon over the sauce. Garnish with the pickled apples and hazelnuts. Serve with our celeriac colcannon.

BRAISED PHEASANT WITH RED CABBAGE WILD RICE

Steps:

• Make wild rice:
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• In a fine sieve rinse wild rice well and drain. In a small saucepan bring broth to a simmer. In a small flameproof casserole Sauté rice in oil over moderately high heat, stirring, 1 minute and stir in hot broth and salt and pepper to taste. Bring mixture to a boil and bake, covered, in middle of oven 1 hour, or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.
• While rice is cooking, in a 10-inch skillet cook bacon over moderate heat until crisp and transfer to paper towels to drain. Transfer all but 1 tablespoon drippings to a small bowl and reserve for cooking pheasant.
• Heat drippings remaining in skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and sauté onion and cabbage, stirring, until softened. Add vinegar and salt and pepper to taste and sauté, stirring, 1 minute. Chop bacon. Just before serving, stir cabbage mixture and bacon into wild rice.
• Make pheasant while rice is cooking:
• Rinse pheasant under cold water and pat dry inside and out. Cut pheasant into 6 serving pieces, transferring feet, back, neck, and wing tips to a small saucepan. To saucepan add water and bay leaf and simmer, uncovered, 15 to 20 minutes, or until reduced to about 3/4 cup. Strain stock through a fine sieve into a heatproof bowl.
• In a small bowl stir together salt, pepper, and allspice. Pat pheasant dry again and sprinkle evenly with allspice mixture. In a 10-inch heavy ovenproof skillet heat oil with 1 tablespoon reserved drippings over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and sauté pheasant until golden, about 5 minutes on each side. Transfer pheasant to a plate.
• In fat remaining in skillet cook raisins and shallots over moderate heat, stirring, until shallots are softened. Stir in gin and boil until most is evaporated. Stir in wine and boil until reduced by about half. Stir in stock, tomato paste, rosemary sprig, and salt and pepper to taste and bring sauce to a boil.
• Add pheasant to sauce, skin sides down, and braise, tightly covered, in middle of 350°F. oven until breast meat is cooked through and tender, about 10 minutes. Transfer breasts to a clean plate and keep warm, covered. Braise legs and thighs until cooked through and tender, about 10 minutes more. Transfer legs and thighs to plate and keep warm, covered. Stir minced rosemary and grapes into sauce and boil until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.
• Divide pheasant between 2 dinner plates, spooning sauce over it, and serve with red cabbage wild rice.

PHEASANT BRAISED IN GIN AND JUNIPER

Steps:

• Season the pheasant with salt and pepper and truss to help maintain its shape.
• Completely wrap the bird with the pork fat, tying with twine if necessary.
• In a heavy bottomed casserole, sear the bird until golden brown on all sides.
• Remove the pheasant and pour off the fat.
• Add the oil and shallots and saute until just beginning to color.
• Add the juniper, bay leaves, liquids and pheasant, cover the casserole and simmer for 35 to 45 minutes or until bird is tender (check at leg joint).
• Remove the pheasant to a serving platter, discard fat wrap and keep warm.
• Strain braising liquid, discarding solids and skim off fat.
• Reduce mixture quickly over high heat to a light sauce consistency.
• Off heat, whisk in the parsley and butter and season with salt and pepper.
• Carve pheasant into serving pieces, and ladle with sauce and serve immediately.

BRAISED PHEASANT

Steps:

• Rinse pheasant thoroughly.
• Place in a roasting pan; sprinkle with salt and pepper, dredge with flour and dot with butter.
• Add 3/4 cup water and bake at 350F for about 1 1/4 hours or until tender.
• Baste frequently with sauce in pan.