Pheasant in the North American tradition
The Contributor* says:
"This recipe is adapted from the exceptionally good,
controlled-circulation Recipes Only Magazine. The original
dish was created by Mary Richard for use in her Teepee Res-
taurant, in Winnipeg. I found some of the ingredients hard
to locate in a hurry and used what I had available with good
results. You can substitute rock Cornish hen, guinea fowl,
or chicken for the pheasant and hazelnuts, filberts or wal-
nuts for the black walnuts."
INGREDIENTS (Serves 2)
2-2˝ lb hen pheasant, cleaned
1 onion, quartered
1 bay leaf
6 peppercorns
1 small carrot, sliced
1 stalk celery, sliced
1 tsp salt
4 Tbsp butter
pinch powdered thyme
1/4 tsp rosemary, dried and crumbled
1/4 cup chopped mushrooms
2 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp black walnut meats, finely chopped
PROCEDURE (BIRDS)
(1) Split pheasant down the breastbone (or have your
butcher do this).
(2) Rinse the halves, place in a deep pot and barely
cover with water. Add bay leaf, onion, carrot,
celery, salt and peppercorns.
(3) Bring to rolling boil, then turn down heat and
simmer for approximately 30 minutes, or until
tender. Remove foam and scum as it forms. Remove
bird(s) from broth, reserving the broth.
(4) Using a heavy skillet, sauté the halves in 2 Tbsp
of the butter until golden.
(5) Place birds into small roasting pan or casserole
with just enough water to cover the bottom of the
pan. Sprinkle with thyme and rosemary.
(6) Bake, lightly covered with foil, for 30-40 minutes
at 350 deg. F.
PROCEDURE (GRAVY)
(1) While the birds are in the oven, strain the broth
and boil rapidly down to 2 cups
(2) Brown the mushrooms using the same skillet in
which you browned the pheasant. Remove the mush-
rooms and keep them warm.
(3) Melt the remaining 2 Tbsp of butter in the skil-
let. Add the flour, stirring up the browning from
the pan.
(4) Cook over moderately high heat until golden brown.
Blend in the broth using a wire whisk.
(5) Add mushrooms and continue cooking approximately 1-2
minutes. Turn down heat, cover and keep warm
until pheasant is roasted.
NOTES
When the pheasants are cooked, remove them from the oven and
scrape the herbs from the skin. After placing the pheasant
halves on a warm platter (or leaving them in the casserole),
pour the gravy over the pheasant. Garnish with the chopped
nutmeats and serve. This dish is particularly good with
wild rice.
RATING
Difficulty: easy once you have the all the ingredients
ready. Time: 40 minutes preparation, 80 minutes cooking.
Precision: measure the spices.
*CONTRIBUTOR
G. Roderick Singleton
Syntronics Manufacturing Inc., Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
gerry@syntron.uucp