Rick Stein’s Pheasant Breasts with Islay Malt and Celeriac, Apple and Parsnip Rösti
If you’re looking for a Christmas dish that contains all of the elements you’ll need in a single recipe, look no further than this festive offering from Rick Stein. Featuring pheasant breasts roasted in pancetta, a creamy whisky sauce, and an apple, parsnip and celeriac rösti, it would work well for any special meal throughout the season, from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day.
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Introduction
An excellent dish, this would go down very well for a New Year’s Eve dinner or indeed a New Year’s Day lunch and, unusually for my recipes these days, everything is designed to go together – a restaurant dish if you like. Indeed, I am planning to use it on my run-up-to Christmas menus this year. It’s a good idea to get quite well prepared for this, so I suggest you cook the röstis up to an hour before you serve and keep them warm in an 80°C oven, and wrap the breasts in pancetta well in advance. The sauce must be done at the last minute in the pan you used for cooking the pheasant breasts but it’s simple and you’ll find the Islay malt with its peaty flavour really special.
Ingredients
| 4 | pheasant breasts |
| 16 thin slices of | smoked pancetta |
| 40g | butter |
| 2 | shallots, finely chopped |
| 150g | chestnut mushrooms, sliced |
| 50ml | Islay malt whisky |
| 150ml | chicken stock |
| 60ml | double cream |
| A little | curly parsley, some chopped, and 4 small sprigs kept for garnish |
| salt and black pepper | |
| For the rösti: | |
|---|---|
| 300g | celeriac, peeled and coarsely grated |
| 175g | parsnip, peeled and coarsely grated |
| 175g | apple, peeled, cored and coarsely grated |
| 3 tbsp | plain flour |
| 1 | egg, beaten (you may not need it all) |
| 1 tbsp | butter |
| 1 tbsp | oil |
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C. Wrap each pheasant breast in 4 slices of pancetta. Heat 20g of the butter in a heavy-based, ovenproof frying pan, then fry the breasts over a medium heat for 2–3 minutes. Turn them over and fry for a further 2 minutes, then transfer the pan to the oven and cook the breasts for another 4–5 minutes until cooked through. Check the internal temperature with a meat probe inserted into the thickest part of one of the breasts – it should be 63°C. Keep the breasts warm while you make the sauce.
Melt the remaining 20g of butter in the pan, add the shallots and fry gently until soft. Add the mushrooms and fry them for 2–3 minutes, then add the whisky, chicken stock and cream. Bring to the boil, then immediately turn the heat down to a simmer and cook the sauce for a couple of minutes until bubbling and thickened. Add some chopped parsley, then taste and season with salt and pepper.
Slice the pheasant breasts on the diagonal into 1.5cm thick slices (or leave whole as desired) and serve on warmed plates on top of a rösti, with some of the sauce spooned around. Garnish with a parsley sprig.
Rösti: To make the rösti, mix the grated vegetables and apple together, then wrap in a clean tea towel and wring out the excess moisture. Put the grated mixture in a bowl, add the flour and enough of the egg to bind together, then season with salt and pepper.
Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan. Divide the grated mixture into 4 and, using your hands, shape into flattish patties about the size of your palm. Fry the rösti for 4–5 minutes over a medium heat, then flip them over and cook for another 3–4 minutes until golden and crisp. Keep them warm until ready to serve.
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