Pheasant pithiviers

1. 1

   Place the pheasant legs skin side down into a large bowl. Sprinkle over the sea salt, black pepper, sliced garlic, thyme, bay leaf, and crushed juniper berries. Lightly mix, cover, and marinate in the fridge for 6 hours.

2. 2

   After 6 hours, rinse the marinade off the leg meat and pat thoroughly dry with a clean kitchen towel.

3. 3

   Place 600g of duck fat into a saucepan and heat over low heat to 80 - 90C. Add the pheasant legs and gently confit for 1 hour and 30 minutes, keeping below simmering point. Remove from heat and allow to cool in the fat.

4. 4

   Season the pheasant breasts with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

5. 5

   Heat a pan with a tablespoon of duck fat and fry the breasts flesh side down for 3 - 4 minutes. Turn over and fry for 4 - 6 more minutes until golden and crisp. Rest for a few minutes, then dice into small cubes.

6. 6

   Return the pan to the heat, add the onions and fry for 1 minute, then add the thyme, sage, bay leaf, and juniper berries. Cook for 3 - 4 minutes until softened and light golden.

7. 7

   Increase the heat to high, add the mushrooms, and fry for 2 - 3 minutes until golden and moisture evaporates.

8. 8

   Add the crumbled cooked chestnuts and stir. Transfer to a bowl, fold in the dried cranberries and diced pheasant breast, and season with salt and pepper.

9. 9

   Deglaze the pan with a little water and stir it into the pheasant mixture.

10. 10

    Remove confit legs from fat and crisp in a hot, dry frying pan for 3 - 4 minutes. Cool, strip meat from bones, roughly chop, fold into the filling mixture, cover, and chill.

11. 11

    Roll out puff pastry to 2mm thickness. Cut eight 10cm discs and eight 14cm discs and chill on lined trays for 5 minutes.

12. 12

    Grease a small 8cm cup or bowl and pack about 60g of the chilled filling firmly into the base.

13. 13

    Invert the filling onto the smaller pastry disc. Brush edges with beaten egg yolk, drape the larger disc over, and press firmly around the base to seal without air pockets. Repeat and chill for 10 - 15 minutes.

14. 14

    Trim excess pastry to neaten. Brush with egg yolk and lightly score curved spiral lines over the dome with the back of a knife. Keep chilled until baking.

15. 15

    Preheat the oven to 200C and place a baking sheet inside to heat up.

16. 16

    For the sauce, chop the reserved pheasant carcass into 3cm pieces.

17. 17

    Heat duck fat in a large frying pan, add the carcass pieces and juniper berries, and fry for 4 - 5 minutes until browned. Transfer pieces to a bowl.

18. 18

    In the same pan, fry onion for 3 - 4 minutes, add mushrooms for 1 - 2 minutes, then return the carcass pieces.

19. 19

    Pour in Madeira and port, bring to a boil, and reduce by half.

20. 20

    Add cold water, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

21. 21

    Pass through a fine sieve into a clean pan, pressing to extract liquid. Simmer for 1 - 2 minutes until thick enough to coat a spoon.

22. 22

    Slide pithiviers onto the hot baking sheet and bake for 15 - 20 minutes until crisp and golden - brown.

23. 23

    For garnish, dry - fry the prunes, currants, and walnuts in a pan for 2 - 3 minutes until warm.

24. 24

    Place each pithivier on a plate, make a small opening in the top, spoon in sauce, scatter warm dried fruit and walnuts around, and serve.

1 serving ≈ 225 g

Nutrition values are estimates. - means data is unavailable.