Category: 2.9 Pheasant

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Pheasant Paella (or chicken or rabbit)

Before you get upset and say this isn’t Paella, remember my recipes aren’t authentic – they are just mine. The names are how I will find them in my blog…

This is a great recipe for late autumn, just into pheasant season, or a cold spring day. If you use rabbit – I joint 2 rabbits into 5 pieces (legs and saddle) for this dish, miss out the prawns and cook the rabbit to flavour the stock first. Otherwise it’s the same.

If I use a pre-made chicken stock it is from the bones of a roast – adds more flavour.

Prep: 15min Cook: 2hours if your making the stock as you go

Ingredients:

1 portion of chicken or 2 pheasant breasts

1 onion chopped

1 pepper chopped

2 garlic cloves crushed

1tsp smoked paprike

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp black pepper

20g chorizo finely cubed

125g prawns

25ml sherry or white wine

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves chopped

1 chopped fresh tomato

175g basmati rice

~500ml stock

Method

  1. make the stock – if your using chicken I put 1 leg one wing and a carcass with 1/2 tsp of bouillon in water to simmer for 90min. If Pheasant I use pre-made pheasant stock. Strain and strip the meat from the bones.
  2. In a wide iron dish, fry the onions, peppers and chorizo in olive oil until the onions and pepper are softened.
  3. Add the pepper, paprika and garlic and fry for 15sec
  4. Deglaze with the sherry and add the rice, stir for a few seconds to drive off the alcohol and add the stock and thyme, turn it right down, and cook for 20min.
  5. When the stock is almost all absorbed, add the tomato and 2min later add the prawns. Be brave, as soon as the prawns aren’t grey serve with a drizzle of lemon juice, the prawns will carry on cooking on the way to the table.

This recipe has lots of ingredients – but they all play an important part in the flavour. The thyme and chorizo are the core of flavour here, with the paprika’s just adding more depth.

It’s important not to over-cook the tomato, if the tomato breaks down into the sauce it’s too much – you want it as warm chunks. And I use basmati rice because I only keep that and sticky rice in the house – a decent long grain will do well – you want something that stays separated.

If you want to be fancy you can decorate the top with nasturtium flowers – looks impressive and the flavours go really well.

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Tandoori Chicken / Pheasant / Partridge

This is my take on tandoori, like I say in my ‘about’ page – this is about the ingredients I have to hand, so not trying to be authentic – just after something that tastes good to me.

I love this, prepare the marinade after breakfast, leave the bird in it all day and cook in the evening.

Prep: 5 min Marinade: 2+ hours Prep: 5 min Cooking: 24 min

Ingredients

  • 2 Chicken or two Pheasant breasts cut into 6 pieces each. Or 4 partridge breasts cut in 3 pieces each (skinless)
  • 1 green pepper cut into large squares
  • 1 onion cut into large squares
  • 2 tomatoes halved

For the marinade

  • 1/2 tub sour cream (about 125ml)
  • 1 tsp coriander
  • 1 cayenne chilli finely chopped or 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1.5 tsp cumin
  • 1 dstspn garam masala
  • 2 garlic cloves crushed or chopped
  • 1.5 tsp paprika
  • 1 piece stem ginger chopped or crushed
  • juice of 1/2 a lime
  • salt and pepper

Method

  1. Mix all the marinade ingredients in a bowl then add the pieces of meat and stir to give them a good coating. Cover and put in the fridge for as long as you like (6 hours is good). When your ready start on step 2.
  2. Preheat the oven to 225oc (fan).
  3. Make up skewers of onion, pepper and the marinaded meat. place these over a baking tray and pour on any remaining marinade. Drizzle with a little vegetable oil.
  4. Add 50ml water and the tomato halves directly to the baking tray – this is to steam the meat as it cooks and with the marinade drips makes the sauce.
  5. Place in the oven to cook for 24min, baste every 6 minutes and turn at least once during the cooking time.
  6. Take out of the oven and empty the skewers onto the plate, put the baking tray on the hob on a high heat (8/10 on my induction) and stir briefly to mix the remaining water, sauce and roasted tomato halves. Remove the skins and drizzle on top of the tandoori.

Things to think about…

I use Vietnamese coriander paste because I grow it, and I use stem ginger, lime and sour cream rather than root, lemon and yogurt because I keep these in my fridge all the time. But use what you’ve got.

I normally serve it with a little rice (often flavoured with a cardamon pod in the water), a potato or pumpkin curry and poppadum’s or naan, along with dips – basically I love to have a taps style curry rather than a one dish meal.

Oh and skewers – get ones that are wide and flat so you can turn them and they stay – the bog-standard ones are two narrow and annoy me.

This recipe also works on the BBQ and with smoked paprika if you fancy mixing it up, although that’s best reserved for pheasant as it goes better with the taste of the bird.