A Brace of Pheasants and a Chocolate and Chestnut Truffle Cake

Last night Rob and I had a feast fit for a King, which celebrated the season in a big way. Pheasants, parsnips, chestnuts; we had the best autumn has to offer. The meal felt very festive and would make a spectacular offering over the Christmas period.

I bought the pheasants already prepared (thankfully!) from my local farm shop. Last time I cooked pheasant I casseroled it so this time I wanted to try roasting.

It seems that the biggest concern when considering how to cook pheasant is preventing the birds from becoming dry, which they easily can. This is of particular concern when roasting pheasant. In order to prevent this I used plenty of butter and lay rashes of bacon over the breasts, and I basted the birds in the buttery juices half way through the cooking time. Finally I rested them for 10 minutes after cooking, breast side down to encourage the juices back into the breast.

A few sprigs of thyme and a bay leaf inside each bird added good flavour, and a halved onion in the roasting tray along with some deglazing with white wine at the end of the cooking ensured delicious juices to pour over the birds.

I served the pheasants with mashed potato to soak up the juices, and roasted parsnips. You can tell that the parsnips are in season just by looking at them, they are larger, creamier and fresher looking – really at their best.




Roast Brace of Pheasants

Ingredients
2 pheasants
1 onion
A small bunch of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
4 rashes of bacon
A little white wine

1. Make sure the guts and other internal organs have been removed from the birds.

2. Smear butter generously over each bird and lay 2 bacon rashes across the top of each. Place a few sprigs of thyme and a bay leaf inside each cavity.

3. Place the birds in a roasting tray with a halved onion halved tucked just under each one. Put some tin foil over the tray and roast at 220c.

4. After 30 minutes remove the foil and baste each pheasant with the golden, buttery juices. Cook for a further 15-35 minutes without the foil, until cooked through. Note: the cooking time is just a guide as it will vary depending on size of birds.

5. When the birds are cooked remove them from the roasting tray and rest them breast side down for 10 minutes, covered in foil to keep them warm.

6. While the birds are resting remove any excess fat from the roasting tray and put the tray on the hob over a medium heat. Slosh in some white wine to deglaze the pan with, while scraping all the bits off the pan with a wooden spoon and stiring them into the juices. Remove the onion and pour the juices over the pheasants before serving.



I wasn’t sure I could manage anything else after all that, but I’d been so looking forward to trying Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Chestnut and Chocolate Truffle Cake and not even my full tummy was going to stop me.

I’ve watched Hugh make this cake on countless occasions, thanks to the River Cottage DVDs Rob and I have almost worn out. Each time I’ve marvelled at how seasonal and festive it is and told myself one day I will make it.

Although this cake can be made with canned chestnuts I wanted to roast my own this first time of making it, particularly as chestnuts are in season and available at the farm shop. I found that these particular chestnuts weren’t quite as flavoursome or sweet as I’d hoped though, and that did reflect in the cake, so I’d say if your chestnuts aren’t so great you’re better off with canned.



There’s been some pondering in the blogsphere recently on how to roast chestnuts. They can be tricky and the peeling can leave you with sore fingers but I still find them so worth it. Hot roasted chestnuts are so wintry and festive and I absolutely adore them, particularly bought from street sellers and eaten outside out of those little bags they put them in.

The way I cooked the chestnuts last night was to cut a cross into the flat bottom of each (please do be careful when you do this, the skins are tough), and then to roast them at 220c for 30 minutes, by which time the shells start to peel back at the crosses and blacken a little. They are easiest to peel as hot as you can handle and they get harder as they cool. Having cooked them this way and peeling them whilst still hot I had no trouble at all, they just slipped out of their shells easy as anything.

Hugh’s recipe requires 250g of peeled chestnuts, so I figured on cooking 500g of the uncooked chestnuts still in their shell. This gave me a nice handful for eating straight away too!





The cake itself was a doddle to make and cooked perfectly at the temperature and time the recipe specified. Warm from the oven the cake was light and mousy, just as Hugh promised, and it firms up as it cools, becoming quite like a chocolate brownie. It’s very rich and very chocolaty so perfect for real chocolate lovers. It's a little on the rich side for me, but then I'm not a lover of dark chocolate. I think it would be delicious served warm as a pudding, with cold vanilla ice cream to cut through the chocolate.

In the Bag: Cooking the Month of November!

We’re going for a change this month with a sweet bag, and I just know you’re going to love it. Take a peek at the goodies inside:

Chestnuts
Chocolate
Sugar

For those new to this event, here's how it works. Each month we pick 3 ingredients, at least 1 of which is seasonal, for you to make a dish with. All you need to do to enter is to create your dish, then post about it on your blog or website and drop me an email.

Mmmmm....I can’t wait to see what you come up with! My next post should give you some inspiration, as I’ll be posting about Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Chestnut and Chocolate Truffle cake.

Entry Details
Send an email with ‘In the Bag in the subject line to asliceofcherrypie AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk by Friday 30th November with the following information:

• your name
• the name of your blog or website
• a link to your post
• the name of your dish
• a picture of your dish

Rules
Here are the loose rules - but ultimately remember the objective is to have fun whilst highlighting seasonal food:

1. Participants should attempt to use all the ingredients 'in the bag' for that particular month, but one can be left out if necessary. The dish should be based around the seasonal ingredient, rather then just including it as an afterthought.

2. Participants can include any "extra" ingredients that they see fit.

3. Entries should include a link back to the host for that month, and the post should be tagged "In the Bag".

4. Entries can be written any time during the month, as long as the URL is emailed to that month's host before the closing date.

5. Particpants from outside of the UK are most welcome to join in and substitute an item from their own local seasonal produce if necessary.

That's all! Any deviations from the above are at the discretion of the host. Have fun!

'In The Bag' is a food event run monthly by 'A Slice of Cherry Pie', 'Real Epicurean', and 'Cherry's English Kitchen'.

Technorati Tags: food blogging event, In the Bagchocolate, chestnuts

Beef and Red Wine Stew with Dumplings

We’ve had some beautiful days this week, with clear, bright blue skies and sunshine, the kind you often get on cold, cold days, as these have been. The last few mornings have seen frost; pretty on grass while a nuisance on cars that need driving.



With the frost and the cold comes the winter cooking, and when I saw this fabulous stewing steak in the window of my local butcher today I knew a rich stew was in order, and it absolutely had to have dumplings in it. I love dumplings but Rob doesn’t like them so I don’t make them very often. The last time I made a stew I decided to be self-indulgent and make myself some, but my suet was out of date (see, it had been that long), so I missed out. Thankfully my butcher, bless him, stocks packets of suet so today I was able to buy some with the beef. Tonight I would have my dumplings.

Beef and Red Wine Stew with Dumplings

Ingredients
500g good stewing steak, cut into chunks
250g baby carrots
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
Half a bottle of good red wine
1 bay leaf
A few sprigs of thyme
Salt and black pepper

For the dumplings
50g self-raising flour
25g suet
Pinch of salt
A little water for binding

1. Brown the beef well in a casserole dish over a high heat with a little olive oil.

2. Remove the beef from the dish then fry the onion for a few minutes, adding a little more olive oil if required, until it just starts to take on a little colour.

3. Add the garlic, then the carrots, wine and herbs. Season well.

4. Bring the stew up to the boil then turn it down to the lowest setting so it is barely simmering. Put on a lid and cook for 2 hours.

5. To make the dumplings mix the flour, salt and suet with a little water to form a dough, then form 4 round balls for the dumplings. 20 minutes before the end of the cooking time place them on top of the stew and put the lid back on.

6. Remove the bay leaf and thyme sprigs before serving.

This recipe serves 2 but can easily be doubled.

Announcing the new Forums

I’m delighted to be able to bring you brand new forums for ‘A Slice of Cherry Pie’ readers!

It seems that forums are springing up on blogs all over the place, but I really do think they’re a great way to really interact in a way that you just can’t on a blog alone. Forums are a great place for help and support, to share recipes and ideas or just to chat on a rainy afternoon. I've been toying with the idea for months and after with a little know-how from my friend Cherry I've finally been able to make it happen.

I really hope you enjoy using the forums and I’m really looking forward to getting to know you all a little better through them. You can visit them by clicking on the side bar link under 'Interact', or by clicking here.

P.S. I’ve also opened forums over at the UK Food Bloggers Association, so if you’re a UK based food blogger and would like to join in visit the UK Food Bloggers Association Site where you can click through to the forums.