Taking the best meat from a pheasant - the quick no-pluck, no-smell method

Required:

• One pheasant
• Very sharp knife

 

Doing this on newspaper is a great idea because when you've finished you can simply wrap up the remains and pop it in the wheelie bin.

 

part the feathers at the breast bone and expose the skin as best you can. Gently cut the skin for an inch or two down the breast bone. Pull it apart with your fingers, tearing it all the way down and away from the meat.

 

slide your knife down one side of the breast bone. Cut the meat from the bone using the breast bone and wishbone as a guide. There is a very thin membrane separating you from the body cavity (you can see it in the picture below), and if you are very careful not to pierce this, there will be no smell at all. If you do break through into the body cavity it will make your kitchen smell a bit unpleasant for a while. Do this both sides to get the breast fillets off.

Now the legs. I think this is the tastiest meat. pull the skin away, just like taking off its PJ bottoms. Gently cut the meat away from the body and break the joint where the leg joins the body. Also break the knee joint to get the foot off (or is it the ankle? You know what I mean). There are some seriously hard tendons there that will need cutting.

That's it. It is possible to delve into the bird to get out the heart, kidneys and liver, but for today we'll just wrap up the remains and cook the meat.

Wrap the breast fillets in bacon and grill everything for a couple of minutes to seal it.

Put the meat in a casserole dish, pour on white wine and sprinkle with rosemary. Cover and cook in the oven.

When the meat is tender, pour off the juice, reduce / add some cornflour to thicken. Pour back over the meat and serve with roasties and lots of veg. That's just the way the bird would have wanted it. [edit - I can't believe I couldn't manage to pick matching plates after all that effort.]

Shiela's Quiche Lorraine

This one's for Dive. It's one of the more labour-intensive things I'm prepared to make, but it can be prepared, including making the pastry, in about half an hour.
Ingredients for Pastry

• Flour - 6 oz
• Butter - 2 oz
• Fat (Lard or marge) - 1oz
• Ground Nutmeg - 1/2 tsp

Ingredients for Quiche

• Milk - 1/4 pt
• Cream - 1/4 pt
• Eggs - 3
• Ground Nutmeg - 1/2 tsp
• Bacon or bacon bits - ad lib
• Mushrooms, sliced thinly - ad lib
• Tomato - 1, sliced thinly
• Grated Cheese - small amount

Method - Pastry

1. Rub the butter and fat into the flour until well incorporated (I hate doing this!)
2. add a tiny amount of water - just enough so that the pastry stays in a ball when squeezed without any stickiness.
3. Give it a good knead - you're aiming for a pliable dough.
4. I find it 's better if you set this aside, in a cool place, for a while, say half an hour.
5. Sprinkle flour on your surface and pin, and roll out the pastry, turning it this way and that, and turning it over, until you have a circle larger than your flan dish.
6. Line your flan dish with the pastry, trimming the excess
7. Make some jam tarts with the excess!

Method - Quiche

1. Grill the bacon or bacon bits to just cook it through.
2. cut up the bacon into smaller pieces and throw into your flan dish (which is already lined with the pastry), throw in some mushrooms, then place the sliced tomato on top. This all shouldn't end up higher than the top of the flan dish!
3. Warm the oven to 150 degrees C.
4. Beat the eggs, adding the nutmeg, and add to the milk and cream.
5. Warm the milk / egg / cream mixture in a pan, getting it to the temperature just before the egg starts to solidify
6. Pour this warmed egg mixture over the bacon / mushroom / tomato in the flan dish
7. Put into the warm oven until the pastry is cooked and the liquid has set.
8. put a little grated cheese on top and return to the oven for a minute or two
9. take out and leave to cool
10. Enjoy!

Satay Chicken with Cashews

Ingredients

• 1 lb / 500g diced chicken (substitute pork or other meat if you like, or mixed veg for a vegetarian alternative)
• 1 coarsely chopped onion
• half small packet cashews (plain, unsalted, unroasted)

Sauce

• 1tsp corriander
• 1tsp sof brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 3 tsp peanut butter
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• a little milk
• 1 chilli, de-seeded if desired. Use dried, powdered or paste if desired

method

1. Brown the meat and onion in a pan. If using chopped vegetables as an alternative, steam harder vegetables such as carrots.
2. put all of the sauce ingredients into a blender and buzz until blended.
3. put the meat/veg into a casserole dish, add the cashews and pour the sauce over. Cook in a medium oven until the meat is cooked or veg softened to taste.
4. Enjoy!