When my friend said he ordered a pheasant and some quail eggs off Amazon, I thought he was kidding. When we had to look up some pheasant recipes, I still didn’t think it was a big thing. Oh, but then he brought a smoked pheasant and 2 dozen quail eggs to my house so… I guess he was serious.
This is the story of the pheasant.
We found this pheasant recipe on the Food Network’s website. I think you should be able to guess by now that we tweaked the recipe.
Ingredients:
1 small pheasant (we used a smoked one)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 sage leaves
2 bay leaves3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 rosemary branches
1 14-oz can peeled tomatoes and their juices
1 can chicken broth
8 slices pancetta
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Prep&Cook
Quarter the bird (or tear it up. Which ever is easier) and put it in a skillet with the oil.
Sear it on all sides (or just cook it for a while, turning occasionally, because you aren’t sure what sear means.) Remove from skillet and set aside.
Add onions, sage, bay leaves, rosemary, garlic, and parsley and mix it around until the onions start to brown.
Add the broth and tomatoes, bring to a boil.
Wrap your pheasant pieces in the pancetta and set them back in the pan.
Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
We cooked off all the liquids and ran out of chicken broth. So I popped open a can of chicken soup and used the broth from that. Sometimes, you have to get creative.
Remove bird pieces to a platter, and if there’s any liquid left in the pan it can be used for a sauce. We didn’t have a sauce.
(Featured here with scrambled quail eggs!)
Eat!
I would suggest NOT using a smoked pheasant. Or, if you have a smoked pheasant, find a recipe to accommodate it.
