Pot Roast Pheasant With Celery White Wine Fennel Seeds Food

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.

POT-ROAST PHEASANT

Steps:

• Start with the potatoes. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Trim the wider side off the potato and cut into 2 thick slices, so each side sits flat in the pan. Heat the oil in an ovenproof frying pan and fry the bacon for 2 mins until crisp. Push the bacon aside; then, over a very high heat, brown the potato slices really well for about 3 mins on each side.
• Add the thyme, splash in the stock and place in the oven while you cook the pheasant.
• Season the pheasant really well. Heat the oil in a casserole dish and add the pheasant pieces. Spend about 10 mins making sure the meat is well coloured on all sides, using tongs to turn the pieces when needed.
• Remove the meat from the dish and add a splash more oil. Sizzle the bacon for 1 min, then add all the vegetables and the thyme. Turn up the heat and brown the vegetables really well. Nestle the legs amongst the vegetables and sit the breast on top. Place in the oven, uncovered, to roast for 25 mins.
• Remove the dish from oven, lift out the breast and leave somewhere warm to rest. Pour the chicken stock over the legs and return to the oven for 20 mins to braise. Meanwhile, gently reheat the carrot purée in a pan, stirring in a touch of butter.
• Remove the legs from the dish and set aside. Use a potato masher to squash the veg into the sauce to thicken. Season well and strain the sauce into a bowl. Remove the potatoes from the oven, and finely chop the bacon from the potato pan into small bits - you are now ready to carve the pheasant and plate up.
• Neatly cut each breast away from the carcass. Slice into 2 and cut each leg through the joint into 2 pieces. Cut each potato in half on an angle. Smear a large spoonful of carrot purée along one side of the plate. Lean the pheasant pieces against each other and lay a piece of potato alongside. Scatter the pheasant breast with the chopped bacon, spoon over the sauce and serve.

POT ROAST PHEASANT WITH CELERY, WHITE WINE & FENNEL SEEDS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 2 ½ . Over a medium high heat, melt the butter with the olive oil in a flameproof casserole dish large enough to fit both pheasants snuggly. When it is foaming, add one of the pheasants and fry until crisp and golden all over. Transfer to a plate and repeat with the other bird, also transferring in to a plate.
• Reduce the heat to a minimum, add the shallots and cook for around 10 minutes or so until they are soft and translucent. Add the celery (reserving the leaves), garlic and fennel seeds, stirring well to coat in the buttery juices. Season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Pour in the wine, return the pheasants to the pan and bring up to a simmer. Cover with a lid or tightly fitting piece of foil and transfer to the oven. Cook for an hour to an hour and a half, until the meat from the birds in falling away from the bone.
• Turn off the oven. Remove the pheasants from the pot and pulling off the legs and carving off the breast in one piece. Transfer the meat to a serving platter, cover loosely with foil and return to the oven to keep warm.Recipe: Fenland Celery

POT-ROAST PHEASANT WITH CIDER & BACON

Steps:

• Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Melt the butter in a large non-stick flameproof dish. Season the pheasants, add to the dish and brown on all sides. Remove from the dish and set aside.
• Add the bacon, onion, celery and sage to the dish and cook for 10 mins until the onion is soft and the bacon is crisp. Carefully pour off any excess fat.
• Return the pheasants to the dish and scatter over the apples. Pour over the cider and the chicken stock, bring to a simmer, cover with a lid and cook in the oven for 25 mins until the birds are cooked through.
• Remove the birds from the dish and keep warm. Return dish to the hob over a high heat. Let the liquid bubble until reduced by half, then add the cabbage, cover with a lid and cook for 3 mins. Add the cream, check the seasoning, and continue cooking for 1 min more. Serve the pheasant on top of the cabbage mixture with some mashed potato, if you like.

POT-ROAST PHEASANT WITH FINO & PORCINI

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Soak the dried porcini in 100ml boiling water for 10 mins until softened and then drain, reserving the mushroom stock.
• Cover each pheasant in four overlapping slices of prosciutto and tie them each in place with a piece of string. Heat the oil in a high-sided, heavy-bottomed skillet or frying pan over a medium heat. Season the pheasants all over and brown them one at a time in the pan, starting with the breast side for a few mins, and then turning until they are golden all over - this should take about 8 mins. Tuck the bay leaves into their cavities, then put them into one large or two medium-sized flameproof, lidded casseroles.
• Keeping the pan on the hob, lower the heat and add the butter. When it has melted, add the juniper berries, thyme and shallots, then season. Fry gently for 5-10 mins, until the shallots are golden brown. Add the flour to the pan and cook, stirring for 1 min. Then turn up the heat and pour in the sherry, scraping the bottom of the pan to pick up any crust. Cook for 1-2 mins, stirring, then add the stock and mushroom water, and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 mins, or until reduced by a third, then pour into the casserole with the pheasants.
• Cover the casserole tightly with foil and put the lid on top of the foil. Roast the pheasants in the oven for 20 mins, then uncover the pot and put back in the oven for a further 15-20 mins or until cooked through (a little pinkness is okay). Lift out the pheasants onto a platter, cover with foil and rest them for at least 10 mins.
• While the pheasants are resting add the grapes, porcini and cream to the liquor in the casserole and cook over a gentle heat for 10-15 mins (if your casserole is not flameproof, tip the cooking juices into a saucepan instead). While this is cooking, carve the breasts and legs off the birds, put in a roasting tin and cover with foil. Just before serving, return to the oven at 150C/130C fan/gas 2 for 3 mins to heat through. Serve the meat with a generous spoonful of the sauce and the side dishes.

A POT-ROAST PHEASANT WITH CELERY ROOT MASH

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Warm the oil and the cubes of pancetta in a Dutch oven or other large, heavy pot set over medium heat. When the pancetta fat starts to color, add the pheasants and brown them lightly on all sides.
• Peel the garlic cloves and slice each one in half lengthwise. Add them to the pot with the sage leaves, then pour in the Marsala. Let it come to a boil, cover the pot with a lid, and put in the oven for forty minutes. Turn the pheasants once during cooking.
• To make the mash, peel the potatoes and celery root and, keeping them separate, cut them into large pieces, as you would for boiled potatoes. Put them in separate pans of cold water and bring to a boil, starting the potatoes ten minutes before the celery root. As soon as both are tender, drain them, mix the potatoes and celery root together, and mash with the butter. I do this with a potato masher, followed by a good whipping with a wooden spoon, but you could do it in a stand mixer if you don't mind the washing up.
• To serve, divide the mash among four warm plates. Lift the pheasants from the pot and put them on a chopping board. Using a heavy chef 's knife, cut each one in half lengthwise (this sounds scary if you have never done it before, but you will find one good push should do it). Place half a bird on each pile of mash, then spoon over the hot juices and pancetta from the pan.