Pheasant breast recipes: pheasant cassoulet & pheasant in white wine sauce
PUBLISHED: 11:19 06 March 2021
GFA PHEASANT DISHES
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A slow cook pheasant cassoulet recipe & a faster pheasant in white wine sauce recipe - both supplied by the Game for Anything kitchen & ideal for frozen pheasant breasts
GFA PHEASANT DISHESSupplied by the Game for Anything kitchen
With another game bird season written up in the game book and a freezer bursting with some fantastic meat, it is now time to start thinking about how to use it. While we are big fans of making extra special dishes using game, we are more than happy to use it in our midweek meals too.
When we are plucking and butchering our birds, we like to freeze the breasts, legs and whole birds in portion sizes that will then be used in the coming months. We ensure that they are clearly marked up with the bird, portion size and date. This will save playing the UFO (Unidentified Frozen Object) game at a later date.
Pheasant and partridge meat is incredibly versatile because it works well with subtle flavouring (enabling you to get the taste of this wonderful game meat) while also being able to stand up to strong spices in dishes like curries. Again, it works well quickly pan-fried, but is more than happy when slowly cooked over many hours.
This is a great time of the year to be batch-cooking dishes such as cassoulet, venison bolognese and a whole variety of stews and casseroles.
GFA PHEASANT DISHESPheasant in white wine sauce - Serves 4 - Ingredients
4 pheasant breasts
200ml water & some olive oil for frying
1 chicken stock cube & 1 vegetable stock cube
250ml white wine
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 shallots, finely chopped
100ml double cream
150g button chestnut mushrooms, sliced
GFA PHEASANT DISHESPheasant in white wine sauce - Serves 4 - Method
1. Place the water, 200ml of the wine and the stock cubes into a saucepan and bring to the boil, then reduce by half.
2. Trim the pheasant breasts and cut into 1cm cubes.
3. Place the olive oil, chopped shallots and a splash of cold water into a frying pan and gently heat with the lid on.
4. Cook the onions until softened, but try not to allow them to colour.
5. Add the crushed garlic and fry for 2 minutes. Next, add the sliced chestnut mushrooms and cook for a further 5 minutes.
6. Place the cubed pheasant into the pan and cook over a medium heat until the pheasant is cooked through, then add the stock reduction, the remainder of the wine and the cream.
7. Bring to the boil, ensuring it’s all combined.
Serve with: rice and peas
GFA PHEASANT DISHESPheasant Cassoulet - Serves 4 - Ingredients
4 pheasant breasts
4 good-quality herby sausages
8 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, sliced
2 celery sticks, finely sliced
2 carrots, finely diced
2 onions, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tin of tomatoes
GFA PHEASANT DISHES100ml red wine
100ml water
½tbsp caster sugar
¼tsp dried chilli flakes
½tsp hot paprika
1tsp smoked paprika
1tbsp tomato purée
GFA PHEASANT DISHES1 bay leaf
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 tin of butter beans, drained
Salt & pepper
Olive oil for frying
You may also want to watch:
Pheasant Cassoulet - Serves 4 - Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
2. Add the sliced bacon to an oven- and hob-proof casserole dish, and fry on the hob until cooked. Remove from the dish and set aside.
3. Place the sausages into the casserole dish and brown them on all sides. Then, remove from the dish and set them to one side with the bacon.
4. Add a splash of olive oil to the casserole dish, along with the finely chopped onions, and gently fry these for 5 minutes until softened. Now add the crushed garlic and fry for a further 2 minutes.
5. Trim the pheasant breasts and cube into pieces about 1cm thick.
6. Place the pheasant in the casserole dish with the onion and garlic, and cook until the meat is slightly browned.
7. Return the bacon and sausages to the dish, then add the celery, carrots, tomatoes, red wine, water, sugar, chilli flakes, paprika, tomato purée, bay leaf and thyme.
8. Stir thoroughly and bring to the boil.
9. Place the lid on, and move to the oven to cook for 1 hour.
10. After an hour, add the beans, and cook for a further 30 minutes.
11. Remove from the oven and season with salt & pepper to your taste.
Serve with: home-baked bread
Both of the recipes featured this monthin this month’s Sporting Shooter form part of a range of recipe cards that Game for Anything has begun supplying to their local shoots.
If you’d like some GFA cards to hand out to the Guns at your shoot, or if you’d just like to find out more, please contact one of the GFA founders, Chris Marney, at chris@gameforanything.co.uk or Mark Robson at mark@gameforanything.co.uk
