“I enjoy cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.” – Julia Child.
Our family has always enjoyed pheasant shoots, so we have spent a lot of time perfecting this recipe over the years. The key is really fresh pheasant but be careful with game birds. You may find bits of buck shot in the meat. Just one of the hazards of fresh caught food. After cleaning the birds, be sure to save the feathers for other DIY projects.
We prefer to soak our pheasant breasts in milk for at least one hour prior to cooking in order optimize tenderness and minimize gaminess.
Ingredients:
3 pheasants, split (6 breast)
1 stick butter
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ cup chopped onion
1 cup chicken stock
Crazy Jane salt
Fresh ground pepper
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Remove birds from milk and pat dry. Season birds with Crazy Jane salt and ground pepper. Sauté in the butter in a Dutch oven or large skillet for 5 minutes per side. Remove and let rest.
Sauté onion, mushrooms, and garlic, in remaining butter until soft.
Add wine, lemon juice, and chicken stock. Let simmer for 2 minutes stirring frequently. Add pheasants back to the Dutch oven. Cover and cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Remove birds to complete the sauce.
Dissolve 2 tablespoons corn starch in ¼ cup cold water. On the stove bring the sauce to a boil, whisk in dissolved corn starch. Cook on high for one minute while stirring constantly in order to thicken. You may need to use your feel at this step. If it is not a gravy consistency, add more dissolved corn starch until the sauce is your desired consistency.
Finally, slowly add 2 tablespoons of heavy cream and stir well for one minute. Turn. Off the heat and serve over egg noodles (or rice if preferred).
As an aside, Gammy is lactose intolerant, so we made this recipe tonight with lactose free half and half and it was just as good! You could also make this with chicken!
