Tasty Pheasants, Christmas Presents

Tasty Pheasants, Christmas Presents

I really love Christmastime. Once all of our shopping is done and we are ready for Santa to make his stop at our house, we can settle in and enjoy the anticipation of Christmas morning. We have watched all of our favorite Christmas movies, Elf, the Santa Clause series, Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, Fred Clause, and A Miracle on 34^th St. Christmas music has been playing in the house and the car for a couple of weeks. We’ve planned our post-Christmas trip and now it’s time to sit back, relax and let Christmas happen!

This year we went to the SF Ballet’s performance of the Nutcracker Suite. The SF Ballet was the first ballet troupe to perform the Nutcracker in its entirety in the United States in 1944. I remember going to see the Nutcracker as a child and I was excited to take my girls to see it this year. We went on Christmas Eve in the morning, then finished up a few loose ends related to Christmas Day and settled in for our Christmas Eve dinner. Last year I cooked an English dinner, standing rib roast, Yorkshire pudding, and Brussels sprouts. This year I cooked pheasant for dinner. I went hunting on the Tuesday before Christmas, so they were fresh from the field when I cooked them. Here’s my Christmas Eve dinner menu with recipes:

Winter Salad

Pheasant Braised in White Wine

Roasted Root Vegetables

Potato and Celeriac Puree

Warm Biegnets with Jack the Ripper Cocktails

Winter Salad:

Choose your favorite salad green. I like butter lettuce. Roughly chop the greens and set them aside.

1 head butter lettuce or other salad green of your choice

12 ounces bacon, diced and cooked

¼ cup Italian parsley, chopped

1 pomegranate, seeds removed for use (to easily remove the seeds, slice pomegranate in half and tap each half with the back of a knife over a bowl).

Sherry vinaigrette

            1/3 cup sherry vinegar

            ½ teaspoon dry mustard

            1 clove of garlic, chopped

            1 small shallot, chopped

            1 teaspoon chopped oregano

            1 teaspoon chopped Italian parsley

            1 teaspoon chopped thyme           

            ½ cup extra virgin olive oil

            Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients except the olive in a bowl with a whisk. Once incorporated, slowly add the olive oil while continuing to stir with a whisk. Add more salt and pepper as needed.

Put the salad greens, bacon, parsley and pomegranate seeds into a large bowl. Add a few tablespoons of the dressing and toss to lightly coat the salad. Add more dressing as needed. Serve immediately.

Pheasant Braised in white wine:

2-3 pheasant, cleaned and dressed

1 bottle of dry white wine, chardonnay or sauvignon blanc will do

1 white onion, chopped

4 carrots, peeled and chopped

6 stalks celery, chopped

3-4 sprigs thyme

3-4 sprigs oregano

3-4 sprigs parsley

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

1 bay leaf

1 stick (4 ounces) butter, chopped and reserved

¼ cup vegetable oil

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Quarter the pheasant and season with salt and pepper. In a large, heavy-bottom stockpot, heat the vegetable oil. Add the pheasant and brown on both sides. Once pheasants are browned, remove from the pot and set aside. Add the onion, carrots and celery and cook over high heat until lightly browned. Deglaze the pan with half of the white wine. Return the pheasant to the pot and add the rest of the white wine, the herbs, peppercorns and the bay leaf. Bring the pot to a boil, then cover and place into preheated oven. Cook for about 3 hours, until the meat is falling off of the bone. Remove from oven and take the pheasant out of the pot and set aside. Drain the liquid from the pan into another saucepan and place on the stove. Discard the vegetables from the pheasant cooking pot. Reduce the remaining liquid until about 1 cup of liquid remains. Remove from heat and slowly add in the butter, stirring constantly. Add the pheasant back into the sauce and assemble the meal.

Roasted Root Vegetables:

Choose a few of your favorite root vegetables to roast. I like parsnips, sweet potatoes, cipollini onions, burdock and carrots for this dish.

1 large sweet potato

2-3 parsnips

6-8 cipollini onions

1-2 burdock roots

3-4 carrots (use heirloom varietals if available)

½ cup olive oil

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (you can roast the vegetables in the same oven that the pheasant is being cooked in). Peel and cut all of the vegetables into similar size pieces, about 1/2 inch cubes. Mix all the vegetables together in a large bowl and toss with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread evenly on a sheet pan and roast for about 45 minutes or until lightly browned and soft all the way through when pierced with a knife. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

Potato and Celery Root Puree

I like this slight modification to traditional mashed potatoes. The celery root adds a flavor that is pleasant and adds depth to the meal.

2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes (substitute Russets if Yukon Golds aren’t available)

1 celery root

3-4 cloves garlic

½-1 cup crème fraiche or sour cream

4-6 ounces unsalted butter

¾ -1 cup buttermilk or half and half

Salt and pepper to taste

Peel the potatoes and celery root and cut into (roughly) 1-inch cubes. Place into a large pot and cover with water. Add the garlic cloves to the water (up to this point can be done up to a day in advance), place on the stove and bring to a boil. Once a boil is reached, lower to a simmer. Cook until the potatoes and celery root are soft all the way through when pierced with a knife. Strain through a colander in the sink and pass the potato-celery root mixture through a food mill (if you don’t have a food mill or potato ricer, an old fashioned masher or beaters will work fine, you just might not have perfectly smooth potatoes!). Add one stick of the butter, half of the buttermilk or half and half and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Add the crème fraiche or sour cream and stir to incorporate. Season with salt and pepper and add more of the butter, milk and sour cream to your taste. Cover with plastic and set aside until ready to serve. If it’s done too early, you can gently heat them up over medium-low heat while stirring constantly. Add milk as necessary while reheating them to make sure you don’t burn them!

Warm Beignets and Jack the Ripper Cocktails:

I was introduced to the “Jack the Ripper” a few weeks ago at my boss’s birthday party by my good friends at Rye on the Road Beverage Catering. It’s basically hot chocolate with whiskey. They made it with melted Ghirardelli chocolate, warm milk and fresh-made marshmallow. I was successful making the cocktail at home with good quality hot chocolate mix and store bought marshmallows. If you’re adventurous and want to make the marshmallows at home, try this recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Homemade-Marshmallows-242701

The drink was so good all I could think about was how good it would be with warm beignets. Beignets take a bit of effort, but you are well rewarded when you have fresh doughnuts to eat while you sit by the fire and enjoy your new favorite winter cocktail.

For the cocktails:

1 quart whole milk

Good quality hot chocolate mix

Good quality American whiskey

Large marshmallows

Heat the milk in a heavy-bottom pan over medium low heat, stirring occasionally. Once milk has arrived at the desired temperature, pour into a coffee mug and add the hot chocolate mix (remembering to leave space for the whiskey!). Stir well and add the whiskey, an ounce to ounce and a half should do. Float 2 of the marshmallows on top and enjoy!

Beignets:

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup evaporated milk

7 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup shortening

1 quart vegetable oil for frying

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup white sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon

In the bowl of a mixer, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar, salt, eggs, evaporated milk, and blend well with either a whisk o the whisk attachment of the mixer. If you used the whisk attachment, replace it now with the dough hook. Mix in 4 cups of the flour and beat until smooth. Add the shortening, and then the remaining 3 cups of flour. Cover and chill for up to 24 hours.

Roll out dough 1/8 inch thick. Cut into 2 1/2 inch squares. Fry in 360 degree F (180 degrees C) hot oil. If beignets do not pop up, oil is not hot enough. Drain onto paper towels.

Shake confectioners' sugar on some of the hot beignets, and toss some of the beignets in the cinnamon sugar mix. Serve warm.

Sit back, relax and enjoy!