Roasted Stuffed Pheasant With Fresh Corn Sauce Food

EMERIL'S FAVORITE ROAST PHEASANT

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F and position the oven rack in the bottom third of the oven.
• Season the cavities and the outside of each pheasant liberally with salt and pepper. Divide the chopped onion and carrot equally among the cavities of the pheasants. Squeeze the juice from both halves of the orange and set aside. Cut 1 of the squeezed halves into 3 pieces, and tuck inside of the cavities along with the veggies. Insert 1sprig of thyme into the cavity of each pheasant.
• Arrange the pheasants in a large roasting pan, breast sides up. Lay 2 strips of bacon over the top of each pheasant, cutting the bacon into pieces if necessary to cover as much of the pheasant as possible. Roast for 15 minutes, then remove the bacon strips and continue roasting for approximately 30 to 40 minutes, or until the juices run clear. (It is important to not overcook the pheasants, as they are very lean birds.) Remove the pheasants from the oven and transfer to a serving platter, loosely tented, while you make the sauce.
• Using a spoon, carefully remove as much extra fat from the pan as possible. Place the roasting pan over high heat and, when hot, deglaze with the reserved orange juice and Madeira, using a wooden spoon to scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. When the orange juice and Madeira have reduced by half, add the chicken stock and continue to cook until sauce has reduced enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 3 to 4 minutes. Swirl in the butter and remove from the heat. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
• Remove the back bone from each pheasant, then cut along the breast bone to divide the birds into two halves. Serve 1/2 pheasant per person, napped with some of the sauce and with some of the Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding.
• Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet over high heat. Add the onions and cook until golden brown and tender, 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, 1/2 teaspoon of the garlic, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the Essence, 1 teaspoon of the salt, and 3/4 teaspoon of the pepper, and cook, stirring, until the mushrooms are tender and have given off their liquid, about 5 minutes. Add the beer and cook, stirring, to deglaze the pan and until the mixture is almost dry, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.
• In a large bowl, combine the eggs, cream, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons of Essence, remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, and whisk well to combine. Add the mushroom mixture and cheeses and stir well. Add the bread cubes and let sit until the bread has absorbed the liquid, 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Butter a 9 by 13-inch baking dish with the butter. Add the bread crumbs, shaking to cover the bottom evenly. Pour the bread pudding mixture into the prepared pan and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 1 hour and uncover. Continue baking until risen and firm in the center, and golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool slightly before serving.
• Combine all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight jar or container.
• Recipe from "New New Orleans Cooking", by Emeril Lagasse and Jessie Tirsch. Published by William and Morrow, 1993.

ROASTED PHEASANT: PHEASANT ALLA FIORENTINA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Heat a large saute pan over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add the pancetta to the hot oil and render its fat. Once it begins to brown, add the ground pork and prosciutto and cook, while stirring, about 4 minutes. When the pork is no longer pink, add the garlic and sage and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute more. Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup white wine, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the bread crumbs. Remove the stuffing mixture to a bowl and allow to cool.
• Season the cavity of the birds with salt and pepper.
• Divide the stuffing evenly between the two pheasants' cavities.
• Roast the pheasants 25 minutes. Add 1/2 cup white wine to the bottom of the pan. Turn the oven heat up to 425 degrees F and cook another 25 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted in the thickest part of breast registers 160 degrees F. Allow to rest 10 minutes before serving so the juices can redistribute.
• Remove the dressing from the bird and serve along side. Garnish the dish with fresh sage leaves.

PAN ROASTED PHEASANT WITH SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS AND FIGS IN A CHAMBOURCIN GLACE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat canola oil in a saute pan over medium high heat. Season pheasant with salt and pepper. Brown legs and thighs evenly and place in oven for 20 minutes. Bring figs and wine to a low boil in a heavy saucepan. Reduce and simmer to 1/3 of original volume. Remove pan from oven, removing leg and thigh. Return to burner for 45 seconds. Sear skin side of pheasant breast for 1 minute. Flip and return thigh and leg. Finish in oven for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove pheasant from pan and plate. Add 1/2 of the butter to pan and saute shallots until light brown. Add Shiitakes and cook to tender, about 1 minute. Add figs and wine to pan with stock, rosemary, reduce to thicken. Season and whisk in remaining butter and serve.

CUMIN-SEARED HALIBUT WITH SWEET CORN SAUCE

Steps:

• For the sweet corn sauce: In a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, add the canola oil, onions, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Sweat on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions are softened, 7 to 10 minutes. Add the wine, if using, and cook until it evaporates, about 5 minutes.
• Add the corn kernels, reserved cobs and stock. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 10 minutes.
• For the halibut: Meanwhile, in a large plastic bag, combine 5 teaspoons of the canola oil, the cumin, lemon zest and juice, salt and pepper with the halibut fillets and allow to marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
• Discard the corn cobs, thyme and bay leaf from the sauce. Carefully pour the mixture into a blender and puree on high speed for 4 to 5 minutes. The natural starches will activate and thicken the sauce. Pour the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean saucepan. Simmer over low heat until it reduces by half, about 15 minutes.
• To finish the halibut, in a medium sauté pan, heat the butter and remaining 3 teaspoons canola oil over high heat until the butter melts and the oil is hot (a little smoke indicates it's ready). Place the halibut fillets in the pan skin-side up and cook until a nice crust forms on the bottoms, about 4 minutes. Carefully flip the fillets and cook 3 minutes more. Lower the heat and continue to cook until the internal temperature registers 140 degrees F, about 4 minutes. Let rest, covered with foil, for a few minutes. Serve topped with the sweet corn sauce.

STUFFED PHEASANT BREASTS WITH WILD-MUSHROOM SAUCE

Steps:

• Separate legs and thighs from each bird. Remove and reserve skin, then cut meat away from the bones, being careful to remove small bones and gristle. Set aside.
• Skin, then bone the breasts. The procedure is exactly the same as for a chicken: With the bird lying on its back, use a sharp knife to make a deep incision just beside the breast bone. Then pull the meat - called the supreme - away from the carcass. Repeat the procedure for the other breast, and for remaining pheasant. On the inner side of each breast there will be a small fillet. Remove the stringy nerve from each of them. Using a broad knife blade, pound the small fillets slightly to flatten and set aside.
• Cut deep pockets into each of the supremes for stuffing, taking care not to pierce all the way through. Set aside.
• Use skin, carcass, heart, gizzard and wings to prepare a stock, as one would prepare chicken stock.
• Rinse caul fat under cold water for several minutes, then drain well.
• Prepare the stuffing. Put dark meat from legs and thighs through a meat grinder, or grind in a food processor. Add egg whites, season with salt, pepper and paprika, and pass through a fine mesh sieve, using a stiff plastic scraper, or, if available, use the fine mesh sieve attachment of an electric mixer. Combine meat and egg mixture with the creme fraiche in a mixing bowl and whip with an electric beater for several minutes, or until the mixture is very elastic.
• Saute pheasant livers in butter for about two minutes.
• Open each supreme, carefully add stuffing and in the center of each place half of a sauteed liver. Close supremes so that no stuffing seeps out, and cover the opening with the flattened fillets from Step 2. Wrap each stuffed supreme in a single layer of caul fat. This can be done several hours ahead, then refrigerated. Remove pheasant from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before cooking.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Salt and pepper each supreme, then brown on both sides in butter. Place su-premes in a shallow, buttered pan, cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. While pheasant is cooking, prepare sauce and figs.
• To serve, cut each packet on the bias into five or six thin slices, arrange on warm plates and serve with shallot and wildmushroom sauce. The caul fat should have cooked away, and so need not be removed for serving.

ROAST PHEASANT WITH WILD RICE STUFFING

Steps:

• Wipe the pheasants with paper towels and leave them to air-dry overnight (or longer) in a cool place. Soak the rice overnight in water to cover. Drain.
• Bring the chicken broth to a boil and slowly add the rice. Cover and simmer for one hour over low heat. Remove the rice from the pan and place it on paper towels to dry.
• Melt the butter and saute the onions until they are soft. Add the mushrooms and celery and cook until the mushrooms begin to yield their juice.
• Remove from the heat and add the grapes, Sherry and salt and pepper to taste. Mix in the wild rice. Stuff into the cavity of the birds and truss.
• Place the birds on a spit and roast, turning occasionally, for 40 minutes or until they are tender.

ROASTED PHEASANTS WITH OYSTER STUFFING

Steps:

• Drain oysters, reserving liquid; coarsely chop oysters. In a large bowl, combine the oysters and liquid, stuffing mixes, 3/4 cup broth, onion, celery and egg substitute. Loosely stuff into pheasants. Skewer or fasten openings. Tie drumsticks together. Place breast side up on a rack in a roasting pan. , Combine Worcestershire sauce and remaining broth; spoon over pheasants. Sprinkle with poultry seasoning. Place three bacon strips over each pheasant. , Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours or until a thermometer reads 180° for poultry and 165° for stuffing. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes before removing stuffing and slicing.

GRILLED STUFFED POBLANOS

Steps:

• Prepare an outdoor grill for indirect grilling, lighting burners on just one side or pushing lit coals to one side. Preheat to medium-high heat (375 to 400 degrees F (180 to 200 degrees C)). Lightly oil grill grates over lit side.
• Grill poblanos and corn, covered, turning occasionally, until poblano skins and corn are charred, about 10 minutes. Keep grill lit.
• Transfer poblanos to a large bowl, cover, and let stand for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, let corn stand until cool enough to handle; cut kernels from cobs.
• Remove and discard poblano skins, keeping stems intact. Make a lengthwise slit down one side of each poblano, starting at stem and being careful not to cut through to other side. Remove and discard seeds and membranes.
• Stir together beans, corn kernels, cilantro, oregano, garlic, salt, cumin, and black pepper in a large bowl. Spoon about 1/2 cup bean mixture into each pepper, enclosing pepper around the filling.
• For the cheese sauce, melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat; whisk in flour. Cook, stirring until lightly browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in milk; simmer, stirring, until slightly thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Gradually whisk in cheese until melted. Remove from heat and keep warm, stirring occasionally.
• Lightly oil grill grate over unlit side of grill. Grill stuffed poblanos, covered, until filling is heated through, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Serve immediately with cheese sauce; pico de gallo; and (if using) cilantro, lime wedges, and/or radishes. Garnish with chili powder.