This isn't an easy recipe, but is very good, and most impressive. In other words, ideal for a special occasion. If need be you could also use guinea hen or even chicken. To serve four you'll need:
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 90 minutes
Ingredients:
- A pheasant, cleaned, plucked and ready to cook (about 2 1/2 pounds, 1.2 k), with its heart and liver
- 1/2 cup (100 g) unsalted butter
- A medium onion, finely chopped
- A carrot, chopped
- The crumb from a dinner roll
- A bouquet garni made with a few sprigs of parsley, a bay leaf, and a few sprigs of thyme, tied together
- 2/5 cup (100 ml) brandy
- 4 slices white bread, cut into triangles
- 1/4 pound (100 g) thinly sliced flat pancetta or fatty prosciutto (if need be)
- 1/2 pound (225 g) shelled skinned walnuts (set aside the 6 prettiest halves)
- A small clove of garlic, peeled
- A small bunch of sage
- 2/5 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano
- An egg
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Butcher's twine
Preparation:
Split the roll and soak it in half of the cream for a few minutes. Before adding it to the stuffing squeeze it gently to remove excess cream.
Salt and pepper the pheasant, inside and out.
Set your oven to 360 F (180 C).
Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan and cook the liver and heart for a few minutes, seasoning them with salt and pepper to taste. Blend them with the garlic, sage, roll, and walnuts. Turn the mixture out into a bowl and incorporate the remaining cream, the grated cheese, and the egg. Check seasoning and fill the bird with the stuffing, sewing the opening shut when you're done.
Wrap the breast and back with the finely sliced pancetta and tie it tightly in place with butcher's twine.
Heat 3 tablespoons of butter in a casserole and brown the bird, turning it to color all sides. Add the vegetables and the bouquet garni and roast the bird for an hour.
While it's cooking, toast the slices of bread in the remaining butter and decorate them with half of each of the walnut halves you set aside. When the time is up, remove the pancetta from the pheasant and put the bird on a warmed serving platter. Spoon the drippings over them, sprinkle the brandy into them, light the sauce, and serve the bird flaming, with the toasted bread.
The wine? A red, and I'd go with a Valpolicella Superiore.
Salt and pepper the pheasant, inside and out.
Set your oven to 360 F (180 C).
Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan and cook the liver and heart for a few minutes, seasoning them with salt and pepper to taste. Blend them with the garlic, sage, roll, and walnuts. Turn the mixture out into a bowl and incorporate the remaining cream, the grated cheese, and the egg. Check seasoning and fill the bird with the stuffing, sewing the opening shut when you're done.
Wrap the breast and back with the finely sliced pancetta and tie it tightly in place with butcher's twine.
Heat 3 tablespoons of butter in a casserole and brown the bird, turning it to color all sides. Add the vegetables and the bouquet garni and roast the bird for an hour.
While it's cooking, toast the slices of bread in the remaining butter and decorate them with half of each of the walnut halves you set aside. When the time is up, remove the pancetta from the pheasant and put the bird on a warmed serving platter. Spoon the drippings over them, sprinkle the brandy into them, light the sauce, and serve the bird flaming, with the toasted bread.
The wine? A red, and I'd go with a Valpolicella Superiore.
