If you've never cooked with pheasant before then you're in for a treat with this slow cooker casserole recipe.
Pheasant is a game bird and has a similar taste to chicken and turkey, and works brilliantly in this casserole dish for it's light and subtly sweet taste.
Pheasant is very lean and the meat benefits from being slow cooked. Plus, it's been paired with streaky bacon, onions, herbaceous dried juniper berries, fresh ginger, cider and apples for a sweet and tart finish.
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Yields:
8 serving(s)
Prep Time:
20 mins
Cook Time:
7 hrs
Total Time:
8 hrs 15 mins
Cal/Serv:
478
Ingredients
2
large oven-ready pheasants, cut into four portions (see Tip)
2Tbsp.
plain flour, plus extra to dust
50g
butter
4
rindless streaky bacon rashers, halved
2
onions, chopped
2
celery sticks, chopped
1Tbsp.
dried juniper berries, lightly crushed
21/2
cm piece fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
150ml
hot pheasant or chicken stock
350ml
dry cider
150ml
double cream
4
crisp eating apples, such as Granny Smith
1Tbsp.
lemon juice
Handful parsley, roughly chopped (optional)
Directions
Step 1
Season the pheasant portions and dust with flour. Melt 40g (11/2oz) of the butter in a large pan and brown the pheasant portions, in batches, over a high heat until deep golden brown on all sides. Transfer pheasant to a slow cooker (don't turn the cooker on at this point).
Step 2
Add the bacon rashers to the empty pheasant pan and fry over a high heat for 4min, turning once during the cooking time, until golden. Turn the heat to medium, add the onions, celery, juniper berries and ginger and cook for 8-10min until the vegetables have softened.
Step 3
Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 2min, then gradually stir in the hot stock and the cider and bring to the boil, stirring frequently. Carefully pour the mixture over the pheasant pieces in the slow cooker, season well, then cover and cook on Low for 6-7hr until the pheasant is tender.
Step 4
Lift out the pheasant and put into a warmed dish and cover loosely to keep warm. Strain the sauce through a sieve into a pan. Stir in the cream, bring to the boil and bubble for 10min or until syrupy.
Step 5
Quarter, core and cut the apples into wedges, then toss in the lemon juice. Melt the remaining butter in a small pan and fry the apple wedges for 2-3min until golden. Put the pheasant back into the sauce, along with the apples, warm through and check the seasoning. Scatter with parsley, is using, before serving.
Any good butcher should have pheasant available and you'll need two birds, each cut up into four portions. If you're not sure how to do this, ask your butcher to do it for you.
We recommend browning the pheasant first, before adding into the slow cooker and cook for up to seven hours until meltingly tender.
Serve with a crusty baguette and a fresh, crisp cider to compliment the flavours of the dish.
Per serving:
Calories: 478
Total carbs: 12 g
Total fat: 28 g
Saturated fat: 16 g
Protein: 32 g
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An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
