PHEASANT LEGS RECIPES RECIPES

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 170ºC/325ºF/gas 3.
  2. Peel and halve the carrot lengthways, then peel and thinly slice the onions.
  3. Take both legs off the birds and snap off the back bone at the base of the breastbone (or get your butcher to prepare them for you).
  4. Place a shallow, heavy-based casserole dish over a medium–high heat, add 50g butter and brown the legs, skin-side down. Flip and repeat on the other side.
  5. When they are brown all over, remove from the pan, add the carrot and onion, reduce the heat to low, pop on the lid and cook slowly for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  6. Add the vinegar and wine, then reduce by half. Return the legs to the pan, skin-side up. Add the thyme and pour over the stock to almost cover. Bring to a simmer, pop on the lid and cook in the oven for 1½ hours, until you can pull the meat from the bone.
  7. Leave the dish in the oven but take off the lid so that the skin on the legs colours and crisps up, then remove from the oven, season and keep warm. Reduce the oven to 100ºC/gas ¼.
  8. Place a heavy-based frying pan over a medium–high heat and colour the crown on all sides.
  9. Add the remaining butter, reduce the heat and continuously baste the birds. Once they’re golden and crispy, cook in the oven until the temperature in the thickest part of the breast reaches 59ºC. Carve and serve with seasonal veg.

Steps:

• Start with the potatoes. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Trim the wider side off the potato and cut into 2 thick slices, so each side sits flat in the pan. Heat the oil in an ovenproof frying pan and fry the bacon for 2 mins until crisp. Push the bacon aside; then, over a very high heat, brown the potato slices really well for about 3 mins on each side.
• Add the thyme, splash in the stock and place in the oven while you cook the pheasant.
• Season the pheasant really well. Heat the oil in a casserole dish and add the pheasant pieces. Spend about 10 mins making sure the meat is well coloured on all sides, using tongs to turn the pieces when needed.
• Remove the meat from the dish and add a splash more oil. Sizzle the bacon for 1 min, then add all the vegetables and the thyme. Turn up the heat and brown the vegetables really well. Nestle the legs amongst the vegetables and sit the breast on top. Place in the oven, uncovered, to roast for 25 mins.
• Remove the dish from oven, lift out the breast and leave somewhere warm to rest. Pour the chicken stock over the legs and return to the oven for 20 mins to braise. Meanwhile, gently reheat the carrot purée in a pan, stirring in a touch of butter.
• Remove the legs from the dish and set aside. Use a potato masher to squash the veg into the sauce to thicken. Season well and strain the sauce into a bowl. Remove the potatoes from the oven, and finely chop the bacon from the potato pan into small bits – you are now ready to carve the pheasant and plate up.
• Neatly cut each breast away from the carcass. Slice into 2 and cut each leg through the joint into 2 pieces. Cut each potato in half on an angle. Smear a large spoonful of carrot purée along one side of the plate. Lean the pheasant pieces against each other and lay a piece of potato alongside. Scatter the pheasant breast with the chopped bacon, spoon over the sauce and serve.