Roast Pheasant

Serves: 10

Ingredients

• 10 large Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and cooked
• 5 hen pheasants
• 15 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 bunch thyme
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 500g Lakeland Dairies Butter
• 6 shallots, finely diced
• 500g mixed wild mushrooms (e.g. ceps, chanterelles, morels)
• 500ml Millac Dairy Whipping Cream
• 125g raisins
• 20ml lemon juice
• 2 pointed cabbages, finely shredded

Method

Remove the pheasant legs, season well and place half the chopped garlic cloves and half the thyme sprigs into the cavity of each bird.

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy roasting pan and fry the pheasants until golden on all sides. Transfer to a preheated oven (180°C) and cook for a further 12  minutes.

Remove the pheasants from roasting tin and set aside to rest.

Place the roasting tin over a heat. Add 125g Lakeland Dairies Butter, the remaining chopped garlic and diced shallots. After a couple of minutes stir in the remaining thyme, and sauté gently until the shallots soften.

Add the mushrooms and fry until golden and tender before pouring in 250ml of Millac Dairy Whipping Cream. Season to taste and bring to the boil.

Add a squeeze of lemon juice  and the raisins before setting aside.

Pass the cooked potatoes through a fine sieve. Bring the remaining Millac Dairy Whipping Cream to the boil with 125g Lakeland Dairies Butter and beat in the potato to give a smooth puree. Season to taste.

In a small saucepan, blanch the cabbage, drain and sauté with the remaining Lakeland Dairies Butter and season to taste.

Place a spoonful of the potato purée on each serving plate with some cabbage.

Take the pheasant breasts off the bone and place on top of the cabbage before pouring over the creamy wild mushroom sauce.