Pheasant Pate Jamie Oliver Food

PHEASANT STEW WITH CHESTNUT DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Cut the legs off the pheasants and chop in half at the knee.
• Cut off the breasts and wings in one piece, then chop in half. You'll have 16 pheasant pieces in total. Reserve the carcass.
• In a bowl, mix the flour with a few pinches of sea salt and black pepper, and toss in the pheasant pieces to coat. Leave for a while so the flour sticks to the skin.
• Peel and chop the onions and carrots, then trim and chop the celery, reserving the peelings. Peel and halve the garlic.
• To make pheasant stock, chop the carcasses in half and put them in a saucepan with a third of the veg and garlic, and all the peelings.
• Add water to cover, and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 1 hour, skimming off any floating bits.
• Pass through a fine sieve, discarding the vegetables and peelings, then reserve.
• Melt the butter in a large sauté pan over a medium heat. Cut the bacon into lardons, then add to the pan with the floured pheasant pieces.
• Brown slowly on all sides, adding more butter as required.
• Add the remaining vegetables, garlic and bay leaves, and cook until soft and fragrant.
• Pour over the madeira and top up with stock to just cover the meat. Simmer gently for 45 minutes, adding stock if the liquid reduces.
• Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas 4.
• To make the chestnut dumplings, mix the ingredients in a bowl, crumbling in the chestnuts.
• Mix with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, then add a pinch of salt and pepper, and just enough cold water to bind everything.
• Dust your hands with flour and roll into about 25 Brussels sprout-sized balls.
• Pour the stew into an ovenproof pot. Drop in the dumplings, poking them under the surface of the stew.
• Cover tightly with a lid or tin foil and bake for 30 minutes, or until the dumplings are fluffy and have soaked up the liquid. Serve with braised red cabbage.

VELVETY DUCK LIVER PARFAIT

Steps:

• Cut away and discard any large sinews from the livers, then set the livers aside. Heat about a third of the butter in a large frying pan, then gently fry the shallots and garlic for 3-4 mins unti l soft. Turn up the heat, add the livers, then fry until just browned on all sides. Add the brandy and port, boil down as quickly as possible - if the sauce catches light for an instant, then all the better. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool completely.
• Season the livers generously, then tip the contents of the pan into a food processor with the tomato purée and remaining butter, and blitz until smooth. Push the mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl, taste for seasoning, then tip into a serving dish, banging the dish down on the tabletop to smooth out the surface. Place in the fridge to set.
• Once the mixture has set, make the topping. Gently melt the butter in a small pan or in a bowl in the microwave, then leave for a min to settle and separate. Pour the yellow butter that has risen to the top into another bowl and discard the milky liquid. Leave the yellow butter to cool slightly, then mix in the thyme and peppercorns. Pour the mixture over the parfait and leave to set in the fridge. Serve with plenty of toast, sliced gherkins and chutney. Will keep for 2 days in the fridge.

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.