Pheasant Leg Meat Doner Kebab

Pheasant leg meat doner kebab

Today's post is the first in a series of three relating to the slow cooked meat from pheasant legs. We are obviously well out of pheasant season but I still have a small supply of both legs and breasts tucked away in my freezer. Normally when I defrost and slow cook a batch of pheasant legs, I use the meat to batch cook such as chillies or curries and freeze it in smaller portions for subsequent use. In this instance, I decided to experiment a little bit further and this doner kebab (of sorts!) is the first dish I came up with.

A traditional doner kebab sees strips of lamb arranged around a skewer and cooked via a rotisserie grill. In the UK, versions of this dish are normally associated with late night takeaways for those leaving pubs or nightclubs but I hope this is a version you may want to try at home for sober consumption, whether you use pheasant leg meat or something more traditional and readily available.

Stage 1 (provides pheasant leg meat for all 3 recipes in series)

Cook Time

Prep time: 5 min (plus resting and cooling time for cooked legs)

Cook time: 10 hours

Ready in: 11 hours, approximately

Yields: Meat for 3 single serving recipes

 

Pheasant legs ready for slow cooking

Ingredients

• 8 whole, skinless, fresh or fully defrosted pheasant legs
• 1 white onion, peeled and quartered
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed
• 2 whole small red chillies
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Water

Slow cooked pheasant legs

Method

Put the pheasant legs, onion, chillies, garlic and salt into your slow cooker. Pour in enough cold water to ensure the legs are comfortably covered. Put the lid on to your slow cooker and switch it on at its low setting. Cook for 10 hours. I usually do this overnight but maybe leaving it to do its job while you are out at work during the day would suit you better?

Pheasant legs removed from slow cooker

Use a large slotted spoon to remove the onion, chillies and garlic from the slow cooker and discard. Lift the pheasant legs to a deep plate, cover and allow to rest and cool sufficiently that they may be comfortably handled. (Note:  around a pint of the pheasant cooking liquid needs to be reserved for part of the kebab preparation.) I then like to break the drumsticks and thighs apart before carefully plucking off all the meat in small clumps. Be aware that this can be pretty time consuming in the case of the drumsticks due to their unusual bone structure. 

Stage 2 (Pheasant Leg Meat Doner Kebab)

Cook Time

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 5 min

Ready in: 15 min

Yields: 2 servings

Combining ingredients for kebab sauce

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons Greek (or plain, natural) yoghurt
• 1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
• 2 teaspoons mint sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon hot chilli powder
• Salt
• 3 or 4 Little Gem lettuce leaves, rolled and sliced
• 6 to 8 baby plum tomatoes, halved
• 3" (7.5cm) piece of cucumber (English cucumber, US), seeded and roughly chopped
• Black pepper
• Generous handful pheasant leg meat
• 1 pint pheasant leg cooking liquid
• 2 pitta breads

Method

Spoon the yoghurt, ketchup and mint sauce into a small bowl. Season with the chilli powder and salt before mixing very well to combine. Refrigerate until required.

Combining kebab salad ingredients

Add the lettuce, tomato and cucumber to a large bowl or suitable dish and season with salt and pepper. Carefully mix by hand to ensure even distribution of the seasoning and ingredients.

Re-heated pheasant leg meat

Pour the pheasant cooking liquid into a small saucepan and bring it up to a gentle simmer. Add the pheasant leg meat, stir well and continue to simmer for 2 or 3 minutes, just until the meat is heated through. Drain through a sieve at your sink.

Pheasant meat is added to pitta pocket

Reheat the pitta breads per the instructions on the pack, ensuring they puff up like filled envelopes. Carefully slice each one open along a long edge and use cooking tongs to divide the warmed pheasant meat between the two pockets.

Pitta pockets are filled with salad

Fill each pocket with salad and drizzle the sauce over the top before serving.

Cheese Crusted Pheasant Breast with Hasselback Potatoes

 

Cheese crusted pheasant breast with hasselback potatoes

Hasselback potatoes are a lot easier to prepare than they may first appear and are a great way to add an extra little bit of class to your serving plate. They work very well with this simple, pan fried pheasant breast, topped with a cheesy combination of peppers.

Cook Time

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 1 hour 15 min

Ready in: 1 hour 30 min

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt
• 1 large garlic clove, peeled and crushed or grated
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 2 medium baking potatoes
• 1 large skinless pheasant breast fillet
• Black pepper
• Vegetable oil for frying
• 1/4 red bell pepper, seeded and moderately finely diced
• 1/4 green bell pepper, seeded and moderately finely diced
• 2 ounce (50g) piece of cheddar or similar hard cheese, grated
• Pinch of chilli powder (optional)

Combining flavourings for hasselback potatoes

Method

Put your oven on to preheat to 200C/Gas Mark 6/400F.

Pour the olive oil into a glass or stone bowl. Add the garlic, rosemary and a generous pinch of salt. Stir very well to combine.

Skewered and sliced baking potatoes

Wash the potatoes, dry with kitchen paper and sit them on a wooden chopping board. The potatoes have to be threaded on to a metal skewer and you want to go through them lengthways about half an inch (1.25cm) up from the bottom as you view them on the chopping board. Take your time doing this to ensure you do it right and avoid piercing your hand with the skewer. The easiest way is to sit the potatoes up on one end, one at a time, and force the skewer from the top, down and through.

Sit the potatoes back on the chopping board, skewered sides down. Take a very sharp knife and make a series of cuts across the potatoes and down through to the skewer, perhaps just slightly less than a quarter inch (0.6cm) apart. Don't make them too close together or you risk taking a wedge out of the potato!

Sit the potatoes on a baking tray, cut sides up. Pour the oil mix carefully over the top and gently rub it in with your hands, trying to ensure as much as possible goes down between the cuts. Put the tray in to the preheated oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Cheesy combination for topping pheasant breast

Season the pheasant breast on both sides with salt and pepper and place it in a small, plastic freezer bag. Lightly pound with such as a small rolling pin, just to flatten it slightly and help tenderise it. Be very careful not to use too much force or you will tear the delicate meat. This is not essential but does make a big difference to the finished product.

When the potatoes have been in the oven for 1 hour, pour a little vegetable oil into a frying pan and bring it up to a medium heat. Lay the pheasant breast in the pan to fry on a low to medium heat for 4 minutes on each side. Turn off the heat, remove the pan to a heatproof cool surface and allow the breast to rest for 5 minutes. Put your kitchen grill/broiler on to preheat to its maximum setting.

Combine the cheese, bell peppers, chilli powder and some black pepper in a small bowl.

Hasselback potatoes removed from oven

Remove the potatoes from the oven to your chopping board, protecting your hands at all times with oven gloves as the skewer and the potatoes will be incredibly hot. Holding the handle of the skewer with one hand, use a fork to slide the potatoes off the skewer and on to your serving plate. If they are fully cooked, they should easily slide free.

Cheesy combination is made to top pheasant breast

Carefully arrange the cheesy combination on top of the pheasant breast. Place the pan under the heat of the grill/broiler for 2 to 3 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbling.

Tucking into cheesy pheasant breast and hasselback potatoes

Lift the cheesy pheasant breast to your plate with a spatula and serve.

Goose Breast and Sprouts Fusilli Pasta

Goose breast, Brussels sprouts and radish fusilli pasta

Brussels sprouts are perhaps not a foodstuff many people associate with pasta. The same can perhaps be said for wild goose! While this recipe may seem a little bit unusual, it was very quick and easy to prepare and proved to be a very enjoyable eating experience.

Cook Time

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 15 min

Ready in: 25 min

Yields: 1 serving

Slicing goose breast fillet

Ingredients

• 1/2 skinless greylag goose breast fillet, sliced across grain to 0.25" (0.6cm) strips
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Salt and pepper
• 4 small red radishes, topped, tailed and sliced to 0.25" (0.6cm) thick discs
• 1 mug whole wheat fusilli (rotini) pasta
• 6 medium Brussels sprouts
• 1 tablespoon garlic infused extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon freshly chopped parsley, plus a little extra to garnish

Fusilli pasta and sprouts are cooked together

Method

Put a large pot of well salted water on to reach a rolling boil. Add the pasta, followed by the sprouts and stir gently but well with a wooden spoon. Adjust the heat to achieve a moderate simmer for 8 to 10 minutes (depending upon how you like your pasta). Stir well again half way through cooking.

Frying goose breast strips

As soon as the pasta is on to cook, add the vegetable oil to a non-stick frying pan and bring it up to a medium to high heat. Season the goose breast strips on both sides and fry on a medium to high heat for precisely 2 minutes each side. Lift to a holding plate, cover and leave to rest while the pasta completes cooking.

Goose strips are combined with pasta and veg

Drain the sprouts and pasta at your sink through a colander and return them to the empty pot. Allow to steam off and dry out for a couple of minutes while you cut the goose strips in half across the grain. Add the goose, radishes and parsley to the pot and stir/fold gently with a wooden spoon to combine. Transfer to a deep serving plate and garnish with the last of the parsley to serve.

Stilton Cheese Venison Burger

 

Homemade Scottish venison burger with Stilton cheese

A cheeseburger comes in an increasing number of forms in modern times. All too often, however, the assemblies are not of the greatest quality, with fat oozing, greasy burgers making for soggy buns, stringy cheese and very little quality in terms of flavour or nourishment. The best way around this problem when you do have an inkling for a burger is of course to prepare it yourself. You may not of course have access to venison or be particularly fond of Stilton cheese, but a little bit of care and imagination can still help you create something many steps up from the mass produced, fast food offerings so readily available. And you will probably find that a homemade burger is a lot cheaper than a fast food one, as well as much better!

Cook Time

Prep time: 5 min

Cook time: 12 min

Ready in: 17 min

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

• 1 homemade venison burger, or quality venison burger from such as farm shop
• Vegetable oil for frying
• 2 or 3 slices of Stilton cheese, as required
• 3 cherry tomatoes, halved down through the core
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small garlic clove, peeled and crushed or grated
• Pinch chilli powder (optional)
• Salt and pepper
• 1 soft burger bun, halved horizontally
• 3 or 4 thin slices from stem of spring/green onion

Method

Pour the extra virgin olive oil into a glass bowl and add the garlic and chilli powder. Season with salt and pepper and stir well. Add the tomato halves and carefully stir fold to ensure even covering in the marinade. Cover until required.

Homemade venison burger is put on to fry

Pour the vegetable oil into a small, non-stick frying pan and bring it up to a medium heat. Fry the venison burger over a medium heat for 5 minutes each side or until done as you like it.

When the burger is turned to fry on its second side, put your kitchen grill (broiler) on to preheat to its maximum setting.

Stilton cheese is laid on venison burger

When the burger still has a couple of minutes to cook, arrange the Stilton cheese slices carefully on top in a single but slightly overlapping layer. When the cooking time is up, turn the heat off under the pan and allow the cheese to complete melting in the residual heat for a further couple of minutes.

Venison cheeseburger on bun

Toast the cut sides of the bun under your grill and lay the halves on your serving plate, cut sides up. Lift the cheesy burger on to the bottom half of the bun with a spatula.

Marinated tomatoes and spring onion on venison burger

Lift the tomato halves from the marinade with a fork and arrange them on top of the cheese. Add the sliced spring onion last of all and close the bun over to serve.

Pheasant Breast Burger and Poached Duck Egg on Stilton Cheese Toast

Poached duck egg and pheasant burger on Stilton toast

The pheasant burger used in this recipe was one of a few which were gifted to me, so although they were homemade, I did not make them personally and cannot therefore share the recipe. I do know they were made with pheasant breast, pork fat and a few herbs and spices. I would suggest though that this idea would work equally well with any type of burger, wild game or otherwise, and hope you like the general concept enough to give it a go.

Cook Time

Prep time: 5 min

Cook time: 10 min

Reay in: 15 min

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

• 1 pheasant burger
• Vegetable oil for frying
• 1 slice of bread for toasting
• 2 or 3 slices of Stilton cheese, as required
• 1 fresh duck egg
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• Salt
• Pinch of dried parsley to garnish

Starting to fry pheasant breast

Method

Pour a little oil in to a non-stick frying pan and bring it up to a medium heat. Add the pheasant burger to fry for 4 to 5 minutes each side until done.

Add the vinegar to a pot of cold water (about 2"/5cm deep) and put it on to reach a boil. Break the duck egg carefully into a small drinking glass.

Put your kitchen grill (broiler) on to preheat to a high setting.

When the vinegar water starts to boil, reduce the heat and very carefully pour the duck egg into the water, holding the lip of the glass just above the water level and releasing the egg in one smooth movement. Do not let the lip of the glass actually touch the water. Simmer very gently for 3.5 minutes.

Cutting a circle from hot toast

Make the toast and use a suitable drinking glass or other item as a template to cut as large a circle from it as possible.

Stilton slices laid on hot toast

Arrange the Stilton on the toast to form a single layer, breaking the slices up as and when required to ensure even cover.

Stilton melted on toast

Put the Stilton covered toast on a tray or the grill-pan and back under the heat, just until the cheese melts. Remove to your serving plate.

Pheasant burger is laid on toast

Lift the pheasant burger with a spatula on to the Stilton toast.

Poached duck egg on pheasant burger and Stilton toast

Lift the poached duck egg form the water with a slotted spoon and allow to drain on the spoon for a few seconds. Sit it carefully on the pheasant burger, season with a little salt and garnish with the dried parsley to serve.

Mini Wood Pigeon Pie #3: Pea and Pigeon Pot Pie with Garlic Mushrooms and Mash

 

Pea and pigeon pot pie with garlic mushrooms and mash

Pigeon and peas is a classic combination and this dish sees them combined in a pie in my latest mini pigeon pie offering. Served with garlic mushrooms and mash, this proved a delicious combination.

Cook Time

Prep time: 30 min

Cook time: 40 min

Ready in: 1 hour 10 min

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons frozen garden peas
• 1 skinless pigeon breast, finely chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 2 teaspoons pigeon stock (see Hunter's Pie post for recipe)
• 2 ounces (50g) puff pastry
• Flour for rolling pastry
• Beaten egg for glazing pastry
• 1 large baking potato, peeled and chopped to 1.5 inch (4cm) chunks
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 large chestnut mushrooms, wiped and roughly chopped
• Little bit of butter for potatoes
• 2 teaspoons freshly chopped Italian (flat leaf) parsley

Method

Put the frozen peas into a bowl and leave them for 15 minutes to partly thaw.

Put your oven on to preheat to 200C/Gas Mark 6/400F.

Combining peas and pigeon meat

Crush the peas with your fingers, just to break them up a bit. Add the pigeon meat to the bowl and season with salt and pepper. Mix well with your hand.

  Pigeon and peas added to cooking dish

Add the pigeon and pea combination to a small rectangular cooking dish about 5" x 4" x 1.5" (12cm x 10cm x 4cm).

Pastry is fitted on top of pea and pigeon pie filling

Roll the pastry out on a clean, dried, floured surface to approximately the size of the pie dish. Lay it on top of the filling and gently tuck it in around the edges. Glaze with beaten egg and be sure to cut a steam vent in the centre. Put the pie on to a baking tray and into the preheated oven for 30 minutes.

When the pie has been in the oven for about 5 minutes, add the potato chunks to a pot of cold, salted water. Put the pot on to a high heat until the water starts to boil then reduce to achieve a simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are just softened.

Pea and pigeon pot pie removed from oven

Take the pie from the oven and sit it on what will be your serving plate. Drain the potatoes through a colander at your sink, return them to the empty pot and allow them to steam off and dry out a bit for a few minutes, while you prepare the mushrooms.

Sauteing garlic mushrooms

Pour the olive oil into a small saucepan, add the garlic pieces and saute over a low to medium heat for about 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms, turn up the heat slightly and stir with a wooden spoon for about 2 minutes as the mushrooms slightly soften.

Potatoes should always be mashed by hand for best effect

Add a little bit of butter to the potatoes and mash with a hand masher until smooth.

Parsley is added to the mashed potatoes

Add the chopped parsley and carefully still through with a large spoon.

Pea and pigeon pie with garlic mushrooms and mash

Spoon the garlic mushrooms and mash side by side on to the plate with the pie and serve.

Wild Goose, Sage and Onion Pasties

 

Wild goose pasty with apple sauce

Pies and pastries of many different types are of course a huge part of traditional food in Scotland and the UK as a whole. It's probably fair to say, though, that wild goose is not one of the meats commonly found in these creations. This simple recipe shows both how easy it is to incorporate goose in a pasty and how the entire pie and pasty concept can be adapted to include just about anything we want in the creation.

Cook Time

Prep time: 20 min

Cook time: 30 min

Ready in: 50 min

Yields: 2 pasties

Goose breast fillet

Ingredients

• 1 skinless grey lag goose fillet, moderately finely chopped
• 1/2 white onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 pound (225g) block puff pastry
• Flour for rolling pastry
• 1 small egg, beaten, for glazing pastry
• Apple sauce to serve (optional)

Chopped goose breast and onion

Method

Put the chopped goose flesh and onion into a bowl. Season with salt, pepper and the dried sage. Mix very well - and the easiest way to do this is by hand!

Goose pasty filling is added to rolled pastry

Cut the pastry block in half and roll each half out in turn on a dry, floured surface to an approximate 8 inch (20cm) square. Lay half the pasty filling on half of each square, leaving a small border around the edge for folding over and crimping.

Folded and crimped goose breast pasty

Lightly glaze the narrow pastry border with beaten egg before folding the empty half of the pastry over the top of the filling and crimping all around. 

Oven ready glazed goose pasties

Lift the assembled pasties to a greased baking tray and allow to rest while your oven preheats to 200C/Gas Mark 6/400F.

Brush the pasties all over with beaten egg and be sure to remember to cut a steam vent in the centre. otherwise, they are liable to burst in the oven. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the pastry is beautifully golden.

Goose, sage and onion pasties

Remove the pasties from the oven and allow to rest for a minimum 15 minutes before serving with apple sauce or accompaniment of choice.

Roast Partridge with Dijon Mustard Mash

 

Roast partridge in bacon with mustard mash and asparagus

I don't often cook whole game birds, as I generally prefer to remove the breasts and legs and cook them separately. When I was gifted, however, this entirely oven ready partridge, I knew it would be a shame not to cook it whole in the time honoured fashion.

Cook Time

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 50 min

Ready in: 1 hour 5 min

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

Ayrshire middle bacon

• 1 whole partridge
• 2 slices of Ayrshire middle bacon (or 4 rashers standard UK bacon)
• 3 ounces/75g (0.75 stick) unsalted butter
• Vegetable oil
• 1 large baking type potato
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 5 asparagus spears
• 1 teaspoon redcurrant jelly
• Salt and pepper
• Chopped sage or other herb to garnish

Method

Put your oven on to preheat to 220C/Gas Mark 8/450F.

Partridge is browned in butter

Melt one third of the butter in a small to medium frying pan and quickly brown the partridge all over, moving it around the pan and turning it as required with cooking tongs. Turn off the heat and push the pan to the side until the bird is cool enough to handle. Wrap it carefully with the bacon, ensuring particularly that the breasts and thighs are covered.

Bacon wrapped partridge ready for roasting

Lightly oil a roasting tray and sit the wrapped partridge on it, breasts side up. Put the tray into the oven for 35 minutes. 

When the partridge has been in the oven for about 15 minutes, peel the potato and dice to around 1 inch (2.5cm) chunks. Add them to a large pot, season with a little salt and pour in enough cold water to ensure all the pieces are comfortably covered. Place the pot on to a high heat until the water starts to boil. Adjust the heat to maintain a moderate simmer for around 20 minutes or until the potatoes are just softened.

When the partridge is done, remove the tray from the oven and sit aside on a heatproof surface to let the bird rest for 15 minutes.

Starting to saute asparagus

Put the remaining butter into a frying pan and gently melt. Add the asparagus, season with salt and pepper and saute for 3 to 4 minutes, turning occasionally with cooking tongs.

Mustard is added to mashed potatoes

Drain the potatoes and return to the empty pot. Allow to steam off and partly dry out for 2 to 3 minutes before mashing with a hand masher. Stir in the Dijon mustard.

Dijon mash and asparagus are plated

Spoon the potato on to a serving plate to serve as a bed for the partridge. Lay the asparagus spears alongside.

Carefully lift the partridge on to the bed of mash, spoon on the redcurrant jelly and garnish with the sage or herb of choice.