Grouse (or pheasant) di Zarra:
(Serves Four)
4 whole breasted Grouse or Pheasant of your choice or luck.
1 cup of flour
1 teaspoon of fine black pepper
1 teaspoon of cracked black pepper
1 optional crack or two of sea salt
2 teaspoon of ground sage
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 pinch of ground clove
1 pinch of ground cinnamon
3/4 cup (or more if you desire) dried cranberries
1/4 cup Toasted Almonds
2 cups of Rose or Blush Wine
1 Stick of Butter
1/4 cup of olive oil
Wild Rice or Rice of Choice
Steamed Broccoli Chilled and Lightly dressed with Virgin Olive Oil and fresh lemon juice
1. Fillet each skinned breast from bone so you have to individual halves from each breast.
2. Soak dried cranberries in a bowl with Rose Wine
3. Sift flour onto dish and mix with 1 teaspoon of fine black pepper and one teaspoon of ground sage.
4. Dip each breast into lightly seasoned flour
5. Use medium heat to melt 1/2 stick butter into skillet with a little olive oil to prevent butter from burning.
6. Pan sear prepared game on each side until cooked properly. (Be careful not to over cook, wild game, it is much leaner and will cook faster than farm raised fowl)
7. Remove and cover cooked breasts.
8. Add remaining 1/2 stick of butter, and melt.
9. Pinch ground clove, cinnamon, sage, ground black pepper and sea salt, into the melting butter.
10. Mix a tablespoon of flour and brown sugar into blush wine and soaking cranberries then fold into the seasoned skillet of butter and reduce to until desired.
11. Place two Wild Grouse and/or Pheasant breasts along side rice and broccoli onto your best china and ladle reduced sauce across the center of each breast and lightly over the rice.
Top breast and rice lightly with toasted almonds.
Open a bottle of your best white or rose wine and toast: "To the birds, the hunters, the dogs, and cooks!"
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Duck's Donato or Dove Delight
(Serves Four)
2 whole mallard breasts skinned and cut from bone. Smaller Ducks such as Teal or Wood Ducks use 4 whole breasts. Half breasts from bone and tenderize.
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup Panko (Japanese Bread Crumbs)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground clove
1 table spoon ground black pepper
1 cup Orange Marmalade
4 Macintosh (or other tart apple) cut into wedges about 3/8 inch thick
1/2 cup of apple butter
1 cup apple cider
1.5 stick of butter
1/4 cup virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of cracked sea salt (optional)
A bottle of Heavy Cabernet or Shiraz at the ready and preferably in a wine glass.
Dip breast into flour, then egg, then Pakora. Melt 3/4 stick of butter into skillet with some olive oil into skillet on Medium High heat and add 1 teaspoon of ground sage, 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper, and pan sear ducks until medium rare to medium temperature. Remove breasts and add remaining butter. Once butter is melted add the apple wedges and the rest of your sage, pepper, clove, cinnamon, and brown sugar as you cook the apples until aldente. Mix the marmalade and apple butter together and loosen it a little with some apple cider. Fold the mix into the apples and then serve atop of your cooked breast beside some steamed asparagus, and some redskin garlic and parsley potatoes or polenta - topped with mushrooms sauteed with garlic, olive oil and ground black pepper.
The finest and heaviest reds are in order! Salute! And don't forget a proper toast!
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Jamie's Country Pheasant
4 to 5 pheasant breasts
2 cups of chicken broth
5 celery stock, chopped
2 small onion, chopped
Stick of butter
1/2 lb. of your favorite bacon
2 tablespoons of thyme
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of pepper
1 loaf of white bread chopped into cubes (or ripped with hands)
2 eggs
Preheat oven 350 degrees
Fillet pheasant breast from bone (try not to fillet too thin). Keep the breast bone.
To make stuffing:
Preheat skillet on medium to medium high heat and fry bacon until nice and crispy. Set bacon aside to cool on plate atop of paper towel. In another frying pan add butter, chopped celery and onion. Cook until soft or onion is golden brown. Stir occasionally. While that is cooking take your "shredded" bread and add seasoning: Thyme, salt, pepper. Add 2 eggs to bread mixture. Now chop the bacon, add to bread mixture with the sauteed onions and celery; use a spoon mix everything together. You can use your hands to mix once the onion and celery cools down a bit. Take the individual breasts and place about a heaping (tablespoon) scoop of stuffing in center of each cut. Close meat together using toothpicks to hold in place. Pour some chicken broth in the bottom of a baking dish and set prepared breasts inside. Cover baking dish with aluminum foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for half an hour. Be sure to check on meat, and if necessary add more broth.
Bake extra stuffing until golden brown on top.
Serve with corn, carrots, the extra stuffing and basic chicken gravy.
Nelina's Homemade Pheasant Soup:
Okay, remember those pheasant bones you saved. Yes we can use them too. My dog worked really hard to find and retrieve the pheasant; I will be sure to use everything!
Boil pheasant bones in 6 cups of water and any extra chicken broth that you have. Add seasoning to your liking (salt, pepper, onion) If you use chicken base do not use salt! You don't want salty broth! Boil for about an hour and remove bones. Add carrots and celery. Once veggies are al dente add your choice of egg noodles or dumplings. Viola! Now you have a nice soup. |
