Pot roast pheasant with Fenland celery white wine and fennel seeds
Author: www.fenlandcelery.com
Ingredients
- 50g butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 pheasants
- 6 shallots, peeled and halved
- 4 large sticks Fenland celery, each cut into 3, plus a few leaves
- 3 fat cloves garlic, sliced
- 2 tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed in a pestle & mortar
- 500ml white wine
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Preheat the oven to 160C/Gas 4.
- Over a medium heat, melt the butter with the olive oil in a flameproof casserole dish large enough to fit both pheasants.
- When it is foaming, add one of the pheasants and fry until crisp and golden all over.
- Transfer to a plate and repeat with the other bird, also transferring to a plate.
- Reduce the heat to a minimum, add the shallots and cook for around 10 mins until soft and translucent.
- Add the celery (reserving the leaves), garlic and fennel seeds, stirring well to coat in the buttery juices.
- Season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Pour in the wine, return the pheasants to the pan and bring up to a simmer.
- Cover with a lid or tightly fitting piece of foil and transfer to the oven.
- Cook for 60-90 mins, until the meat from the birds is falling away from the bone.
- Turn off the oven.
- Remove pheasants from the pot and pull off the legs and carve off the breast in one piece.
- Transfer to a serving platter, cover loosely with foil and return to the oven to keep warm.
- Simmer the sauce on the hob until slightly thickened, whisking briskly to emulsify it together a little.
- Serve the pheasant with a little sauce poured over, and the rest in a jug alongside for adding as you eat.
- Serve with creamy mashed potato and buttered greens.
