Brasato Di Funghi Con Aglianico Del Vùlture Food

FAGIANO ARROSTO ALLA SAVERIO DI NULVI

Steps:

• Pierce the casings of the sausages and poach them for 5 minutes in barely simmering water. Drain and cool the sausages. Remove their casings and mince.
• In a sauté pan over a medium flame, warm 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and brown the minced, poached sausages, rolling them about in the fat and crisping them. Add the onion, softening it a bit in the fat, before adding the pheasant livers, breaking them up and amalgamating them with the sausage and the onion. Sprinkle on the sea salt and generously grind pepper over all. Add 1/3 cup of the moscato, letting it evaporate. Add the zest and the sage, combine the components well.
• Fill the cavities of the pheasants with the stuffing. Bind their legs with butcher's twine.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• In a shallow terra-cotta or enameled cast-iron casserole over a lively flame, warm 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and, one at a time, seal the birds, browning them well on all sides, then removing them to a holding plate.
• After the birds are sealed, lay 4 slices of pancetta over each of their breasts. Rinse the still-hot casserole with the remaining 1/3 cup of moscato and 1 cup of the red wine, stirring, scraping at the residue, and permitting the liquid to reduce for several minutes. Replace the birds in their casserole, cover them with the herb branches, and roast the pheasant for 1/2 hour or a bit longer, only until the flesh under a leg joint is rosy. Roasting a pheasant to grayness seems a sad thing to do. Remove the birds to a holding plate.
• Place the casserole over a lively flame, add the remaining cup of wine, stirring, scraping at the residue, permitting it to reduce for 5 minutes. Whack each bird in two at its breastbone. Lay the halves over a warmed, shallow platter and pour the pan juices over all.
• Having, perhaps, begun the feast with the crostata di patate di Biddamanna (page 228), one might present the luscious birds with a dish borrowed from Basilicata-brasato di funghi con aglianico del Vùlture (page 150) or the spiced chestnuts from Nicola Taurino (page 148). In any case, have at the ready warm bread for the juices and jugs of the same good red wine in which the birds were cooked.

BRASATO DI FUNGHI CON AGLIANICO DEL VùLTURE

Steps:

• With a mezzaluna or a sharp knife, mince the lard, parsley, and garlic together to a fine paste.
• Over a medium flame in a large sauté pan or terra-cotta casserole, warm 4 tablespoons of the oil and, in it, soften the pancetta. Add the garlic/lard paste and the crushed chile, sautéing for a minute or two. Add the prepared mushrooms to the perfumed fat, sprinkling on sea salt and grinding pepper generously, and gently sauté them, permitting them to dispel their juices for several minutes. Add the tomatoes and the wine and bring to a simmer.
• Cover the pan with a skewed lid and, over a gentle flame, allow the mushrooms to reabsorb their juices and to drink in the wine. Braise them for 20 to 30 minutes or until they are plumped and have taken on the tint of the wine.
• Over a medium flame, warm 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a small sauté pan and sauté the crumbs, tossing them about. Present the mushrooms and their juices, dusted with the crumbs, as a first course. A beautiful bread and wine are all they require. Serving them as companion to some other dish is to distract from the pleasure of them.