Best Roasted Pheasants With Oyster Stuffing Recipes

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.

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 MUSHROOM DUXELLES AND ROASTED VEGETABLES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place 1/2 teaspoon of the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook for about 15 seconds. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms have given off their liquid and most liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Stir in the parsley, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper to taste.
• Use your fingers to carefully loosen the skin over the breasts on each pheasant. Place some of the mushroom duxelle under the skin of each bird. Place 1 head of roasted garlic into the cavity of each bird. Rub the remaining teaspoon of olive oil over the skin of the pheasants. Season with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together. Place in a large roasting pan and surround with the carrots, potatoes and onions.
• Roast for 15 minutes, stopping once to run a spatula under the pheasants to prevent them from sticking. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Roast until the juices run slightly pink when pricked with a fork in the thickest part of the leg, about 30 minutes longer. Let stand for 10 minutes. Remove the string. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper. Cut the pheasants in half and serve with the roasted vegetables.

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.

STUFFED ROAST PHEASANT WITH SHERRY WILD RICE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
• Place the rice, 2 cups of the water, salt to taste and the bay leaf in a small saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. Bring to a boil and stir and simmer for 45 minutes, or until done. Remove the bay leaf and drain. Set aside.
• Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a saucepan, add the chopped onions and celery. Cook, stirring, over low heat until the vegetables are wilted, about 5 minutes. Add the Sherry, the drained rice and salt and pepper to taste. Blend well and let cool.
• Spoon the rice mixture into the pheasant cavity and truss.
• Place the pheasant in a shallow roasting pan, season with salt and pepper to taste. Rub with the oil. Lay the pheasant on one side and scatter the neck, the gizzard and onion halves around it.
• Place the roasting pan in the bottom rack and bake the pheasant for 20 minutes, basting occasionally. Turn the pheasant on its other side and bake for 20 minutes more, basting occasionally. Reduce the heat to 400 degrees and remove the fat from the roasting pan. Place the pheasant on its back. Add the remaining tablespoon of butter, the chicken broth and the remaining quarter cup of water and roast, basting occasionally, for 20 minutes more, or until browned all over.
• Place the roasting pan on top of the stove; untruss the pheasant, remove from the pan and set aside for carving. Bring the gravy in the pan to a boil for 30 seconds, stirring and scraping to deglaze.
• Carve the pheasant; serve with hot gravy and the stuffing.

ROASTED STUFFED PHEASANT WITH FRESH CORN SAUCE

Steps:

• To prepare the stuffing: Melt the butter in a saute pan over low heat. Add the onion and celery and cook for 20 minutes, or until the onion is cooked through but not brown. Set aside. Put the crackers in a large bowl, add the egg, the cooked onion and celery, the sage, roasted corn, chicken stock, salt, and pepper and mix well. To stuff and roast the pheasant: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Season the pheasant cavity with some of the salt and pepper, then put the stuffing inside. Truss with skewers or tie with butcher's twine. Season the bird with the remaining salt and pepper. Lay the bacon over the breast. Place the pheasant on a metal roasting rack set inside a roasting pan and place on the middle rack of the oven. Roast for 25 minutes, basting the legs once or twice with the pan juices. After 25 minutes raise the temperature to 450 degrees and finish the bird for 10 minutes more, or until golden brown with an internal temperature of about 140 degrees near the thigh. To prepare the sauce: While the pheasant is roasting, puree the corn kernels in a food processor. You should have about 2 cups of pure. Place in a small saucepan with the habanero. Bring the juice to 200 degrees. Do not boil or the sauce will break. Add the lime juice and salt. To serve: Let the bird rest for 5 minutes before carving. Take the bacon off the breast and carve the bird, dividing the breast and thighs. Serve with the corn sauce and sauteed leeks.