Roasted Pheasant with Chanterelles and Pecans
Adapted from a recipe by
Chef Bob Waggoner of Charleston Grill

For the Stuffing:


3 tablespoons butter
3 shallots
1/2 pound chicken livers
1/2 cup bread crumbs
12 prunes, pitted
1/2 pound fresh ham, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup pecans
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons sour cream
1/4 cup milk
11/2 teaspoons Armagnac
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat a large skillet over medium heat and sauté the shallots in the butter (do not brown). Add the livers and cook for 1 minute. Set aside to cool. Chop the livers into large pieces. Add the bread crumbs, prunes, ham, pecans and nutmeg and stir to combine well. Mix egg, sour cream and milk together and stir the mixture into the stuffing. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serves 4

For the Pheasant:


1- 2 1/2 pound pheasant
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Season the pheasant inside with salt and pepper. Fill the inside of the pheasant with the stuffing and tie or sew the opening closed. Rub the entire bird with the butter, salt and freshly ground white pepper. Place the pheasant on a rack in a roasting pan. Set the pan in the oven and roast until the juices from the thigh are clear when the skin is pierced, about 35 to 45 minutes. Baste often with pan drippings.

For the Chanterelles:


3 tablespoons unsalted butter
11/2 pounds chanterelles
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
4 shallots, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped chives
4 tablespoons pecans
Heat butter in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add chanterelles and "toss," stirring often. Add salt and pepper, and continue stirring for about 5 minutes. Add shallots and cook for another 3 minutes. Add chives and pecans. Arrange the mushrooms around the pheasant on a serving platter and spoon the pan juices over the pheasant just before serving.




Article first published in The Wine News

 

Food Editor Carole Kotkin is a Miami-based cooking instructor and consultant who co-authored Mmmmiami - Tempting Tropical Tastes for Home Cooks Everywhere. It provides clear, simple directions for 150 dishes, from the simple (good old Key Lime Pie) to the sublime (Coconut Mahi-Mahi with Passion Fruit Sauce). The wide array of flavors is especially wonderful and startling to those used to monocultural cooking; Miami cuisine is the product of many generations of interbreeding and hybrid vigor. Click on the link below for more details or to order.

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