Rustic Pheasant Casserole
I always find that casseroles are better the day after they are made and reheated, which makes this a perfect dinner party dish as everything apart from the green vegetables and potatoes you might be serving with it, is done! Potato Dauphinoise is very good with this but it is just as delicious with some good quality warm crusty bread to soak up the juices.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
8 baby onions, peeled and kept whole or halved if they are a bit larger
1 clove of garlic, crushed
4 portabella mushrooms, sliced fairly thickly
5 juniper berries, crushed in a pestle and mortar or with the back of a large knife
2 rashers of smoked streaky bacon or pancetta, chopped into lardons
4 pheasant breasts cut into about 4 pieces each (the thighs could be used in this too and it would feed a couple more)
1 bouquet garni (a parcel of thyme, parsley stalk and bay leaf)
2 large glasses of red wine
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
½ beef stock cube melted in 250ml boiling water or the same amount of fresh stock of any kind (apart from lamb or fish) if you happen to have it to hand.
1 tbsp Worcester sauce
Pepper and salt
a good handful of thyme, chopped finely
Oven on at 170c
Method:
In a large casserole dish with a lid, heat a tbsp of olive oil and add the onions. Fry for a couple of minutes until golden and then add the crushed garlic, juniper berries and the mushrooms. Careful not to burn the garlic at this stage as it will give the dish a bitter flavour. Take the pan off the heat for a while if needs be, (casseroles retain their heat for some time). Fry for another minute and then remove everything from the pan.
Without cleaning it, add the bacon and pheasant to the pan (if you are using the thighs too, you may have to do this in batches so that everything browns nicely, you may also need to add a little more oil at this stage if the pan looks a little dry).
Fry the meat until it is golden brown but don't worry about it being cooked through at this stage.
When all the meat is brown add the onions, garlic, juniper berries and mushrooms back to the pan and turn up the heat. When the pan is hot (without burning everything!) add the red wine. It will sizzle and you need to reduce it by about half, which will take about 5-10 minutes depending on how hot your pan was when you added the wine (it doesn't have to be exact). Then add the tomatoes, stock and Worcester sauce and bring it all up to the boil.
Finally add the bouquet garni, and season with salt and pepper. Give it a stir to combine all the ingredients and then put the lid on and place in the centre of the oven for 1½ hrs. Check it after an hour and if the liquid is sufficiently reduced and the pheasant is tender then, it is ready. Just add the thyme before serving. NB: You could put the casserole in the oven for longer if the heat was lower (just adjust it accordingly).
