Best Pot Roast Pheasant Recipes

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

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 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.

POT-ROAST PHEASANT WITH PEARL BARLEY & STUFFED ONIONS

Steps:

• First, start to make the stuffed onions. Heat oven to 140C/120C fan/gas 1. Lay the whole onions on a large sheet of foil and wrap up to make a parcel. Cook for 1 hr 30 mins or until soft, then remove and leave to cool. Turn up the oven to 180C/160 fan/gas 4.
• While the onions are roasting, heat a medium flameproof casserole dish and add 1 tbsp oil. When the dish is hot, add the pheasant crown and brown on the skin side, then set aside. Add the remaining oil and the onion and fry for 10 mins until soft and starting to brown. Add the garlic and parsnip, cook for a few mins, then add the pearl barley and cider. Simmer until the cider has reduced by half, then pour in the chicken stock and keep on a low simmer for 15-20 mins.
• Remove and discard the core from the baked onions using a teaspoon, making them hollow but still keeping them intact. In a mixing bowl, mix all the stuffing ingredients and season. Spoon the stuffing into the hollow onions, making sure that they are full. Roll any extra stuffing into small balls.
• Add the pheasant crown and any balls to the simmering barley and sprinkle with a little salt, then add the stuffed onions and thyme. Cover with a lid and put in the oven for 20 mins.
• To make the salsa, bring a pan of salted water to the boil and blanch the sprout tops until they are just soft, then plunge them into a bowl of iced water. Drain the leaves and squeeze out any excess water, then chop roughly. Add them to the small bowl of a food processor, along with the mace, chestnuts, garlic, rapeseed oil and lemon zest, and blitz until it becomes a rough salsa texture. Add a little seasoning to taste.
• Once the pheasant is cooked, remove the dish from the oven and transfer the pheasant to a plate to rest. Cover loosely with foil. Return the barley to the heat and stir in the mushrooms, apple and parsley - using the mixture to baste the stuffed onions. When it becomes a rich and reasonably thick stew, remove from the heat.
• Remove the breasts from the crown with a sharp knife and trim a little to neaten them. Spoon the pearl barley onto a large serving bowl or plate, put the pheasant breast on top and serve with the braised onions and extra meatballs. To finish the dish, add a large spoonful of the salsa and sprinkle over the crispy sage leaves.

ROAST PHEASANT IN A CLAY POT

Steps:

• Place clay pot in cold water and let soak for 10 minutes. Drain well.
• Rub the pheasant with olive oil and place the juniper berries inside the birds. Season with salt and pepper inside and out.
• Place the bacon over the breasts and put the birds in the clay pot. Place in a cold oven and set at 450 degrees. Bake for one-and-a-half hours.

POT-ROAST PHEASANT RAGU

Steps:

• Heat a tbsp of Butter and add the Onion, Bacon, Carrot, Garlic to a frying pan and sweat on a medium heat for 5-10 minutes before adding to the bottom of a small casserole dish or large saucepan.
• Add the Pheasant to the pan with another tablespoon of Butter and brown the bird all over, in all sides until lightly golden to seal in the moisture.
• Add the Pheasant along with the Chicken Stock, Wine, tinned Tomatoes, Tomato Puree, Bay Leaves to the Casserole dish. Season with Salt and Pepper and put the lid on the dish. Put the dish on the stove on a high heat, bring to the boil and reduce to it's lowest heat. Simmer for 2 hours.
• Once the Pheasant is cooked Set aside to cool before carving the meat off the bone. Pull the Meat into thin strands, picking through to remove any little Bones, Skin and the Bay Leaves and simmer for another 15-20 minutes.
• Cook the Tagliatelle according to packet instruction in plenty of boiling salted water. Drain and plate up, dolloping over generous spoonfuls of the sauce and a few gratings of Parmesan, if you fancy.