Ingredients
Ingredients
2 pheasants, tied (ask your butcher to do this)
1 tbsp plain flour, well seasoned
50ml vegetable oil
2 rashers smoked streaky bacon, thinly sliced
8 shallots, peeled and left whole
2 carrots, peeled and quartered lengthways
2 parsnips, peeled and quartered lengthways
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1 thyme sprig
1 marjoram sprig
2 bay leaves
100ml marsala or sweet sherry
50ml red wine
200ml chicken stock
1 tsp caster sugar
bread sauce, to serve
Tip
Carrot purée with star anise
Heat a small knob of butter in a small pan and gently sizzle 3 finely sliced carrots for 5 mins. Pour in 100ml fresh chicken stock and add 1 star anise. Season and simmer for 15 mins until the carrots are really soft – add a splash more stock if needed, but by the time the carrots are cooked you want most of the stock to have reduced. Stir in 2 tbsp double cream and bring back to the boil. Remove the star anise and blend until as smooth as possible.
Direction
Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Dust the pheasants with the flour, then heat the oil in a large flameproof dish. Brown the pheasants all over, then remove from the dish. In the same dish, fry the bacon, vegetables, garlic and herbs with 1 tbsp of the dusting flour for 5 mins, until the vegetables start to colour. Put the pheasants and any resting juices back in the dish, pour on the Marsala, wine and stock, add the sugar, then cover and cook for 1 hr 30 mins – 1 hr 50 mins or until the leg meat easily comes away from the bone. Serve with bread sauce.
