Ballotine of pheasant

Name: Ballotine of pheasant
Prep time: 1 h 45 min
Cook time: 1 h 45 min
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Global
Ingredients: 2 oven-ready pheasants; 25 grams soft butter; 12 rashers smoked streaky bacon; 1 onion, finely chopped; 2 teaspoons butter; 50 grams prune, soaked in 3 tbsp brandy; 2 Tbsps thyme leaves; 1 large handful parsley, roughly chopped; 25 grams pistachio; 25 grams fresh breadcrumb; 400 grams sausagemeat, from 6 whole sausages

Ballotine of pheasant might be just the main course you are searching for. This recipe serves 4. One portion of this dish contains around 17g of protein, 59g of fat, and a total of 831 calories. If you have pistachio, butter, breadcrumb, and a few other ingredients on hand, you can make it. From preparation to the plate, this recipe takes approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Instructions

First, make the stuffing. Fry the onion in the butter for 5-10 mins until softened, then leave to cool completely. Thoroughly mix the remaining ingredients in a large bowl, including the cooled onions.

Ingredients you will need

Stuffing

Butter

Onion

Equipment you will use

Bowl

If the wings are attached, cut at the first joint (on most butchered birds they will have been removed). Find the wishbone between the neck and the breast, then use a sharp knife to scrape away the flesh around it. Gently pull it out, trying to keep it as one, cut it away and discard.

Ingredients you will need

Chicken Wings

Equipment you will use

Knife

Place the pheasant, breast side down, on the board. Using a sharp boning knife, see tip, left, cut through the skin to the backbone along the length of the bird.

Ingredients you will need

Pheasant

Equipment you will use

Knife

Working down the length of the pheasant, slowly run your knife down against the ribcage, keeping close to the bone and scraping the flesh away from both. Twist out the thigh joints when you get to them.

Ingredients you will need

Pheasant

Bone

Equipment you will use

Knife

Very carefully cut away the main carcass. This is where the skin is at its thinnest, so cut carefully as you dont want to nip or pierce the skin.

Open the bird out like a book and lay it, skin-side down, on the board.

Season the birds flesh with salt and pepper then arrange half of the stuffing down the middle of each of the birds in a sausage shape.

Ingredients you will need

Salt And Pepper

Stuffing

Sausage

Re-form the bird by lifting the sides up and around the stuffing. After youve done one, repeat with the other pheasant.

Ingredients you will need

Pheasant

Stuffing

Wrap each pheasant tightly and neatly with bacon so that the bacon goes all the way round the bird and joins on the underside.

Ingredients you will need

Pheasant

Bacon

Wrap

Using butchers string, tie the pheasant at regular intervals around the width. Then tie it once around the length to hold the stuffing in.

Ingredients you will need

Pheasant

Stuffing

Finally, tie the legs together. The pheasant can be prepared to this stage and chilled up to a day ahead.

Ingredients you will need

Pheasant

Heat oven to 200C/ 180C/gas

Equipment you will use

Oven

Transfer the pheasant to a roasting tin. Roast for 45-50 mins, basting regularly with the juices from the tin. Finally, cover with foil and rest for about 15 mins.

Ingredients you will need

Pheasant

Equipment you will use

Aluminum Foil