Pheasant in Brandy

I made this one up when someone kindly gave us a pheasant, I reckon it’ll work pretty well with any game bird. If I say so myself, it was very yummy.

I cooked it in France using very basic facilities, so all measurements are a bit on the approximate side.

A pheasant isn’t a large bird and we found that the whole bird made two goodly sized portions. I divided the carcass before cooking into two breast/wing portions and two leg portions using a heavy bladed knife and a cavalier disregard for the safety of my fingers.

What you’ll need (serves 2):

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pheasant, plucked, drawn and divided into quarters.

1 medium sized onion, coarsely chopped

2 carrots, sliced in half lengthways and then chopped into chunks

12 (or more) small button mushrooms

750ml chicken stock (as always, I cheated and used a stock cube)

4 or 5 tablespoons brandy.

What to do:

Par-boil the carrots on the hob in the stock, allow to simmer for about 10 minutes.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet or heavy bottomed frying pan

Brown the pheasant quarters in the oil for about 2 or 3 minutes on each side.

Remove the pheasant from the pan and keep to one side.

Sweat the onion in the oil and meat juices in the same pan until just transparent.

Heat the oven to Gas 4 (180˚C /350˚F).

Pour the stock and carrots into a casserole pot, add the brandy (if in doubt – be generous with the amount) and add the onion all the juices/oil from the skillet.

Put the pheasant into the liquid and scatter mushrooms all around the pot.

Put a lid on the casserole pot and cook in the oven for 90 minutes.

Serve with mashed potato and a big hearty red wine.