Roast Pheasant

Ingredients

• 2 x Pheasant breast

• 6 slices of unsmoked bacon

• 1 large parsnip

• 2 large potatoes 

Marinade

• 2 tbsps. olive oil

• 1/2 cup red wine

• 2 cloves of garlic

• 3 tbsps. fresh parsley roughly chopped

• 1 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp black pepper
  

Avocado puree

• 1 avocado

•  juice of 1/2 lemon

• 1 tbsp. chopped parsley

• salt to taste
  

Chestnut puree

• 150g chestnuts

• 30 mls double cream

• pinch of cinnamon

• pinch of ginger

Preparation

Make the marinade by mixing all the ingredients together. Put the pheasants breast in a shallow bowl and pour the marinade over and leave to marinade for at least one hour.

Mash up the avocado in a bowl, add the parsley, salt and lemon juice, use a hand blender to blend to a smooth consistency.

Boil the chestnuts for 5 mins, when soft strain off the liquid saving some for later, push the chestnuts through a sieve, then put the strained mixture into a pan with some of the reserved liquid, mix well and then add the cream and pinch of cinnamon and ginger, use a hand blender to blend to a smooth consistency adding more of the reserved liquid as required.

When the pheasant is ready, heat the oven to 180°C, wrap each pheasant breast in the bacon slices, put the pheasant in a roasting dish and pour over some of the remaining marinade.

Cut the parsnip into strips lengthways and then cut each of the strips into 8-10 cms pieces, put the pieces into a roasting tin in one layer, season with salt and pepper and drizzle over 2-3 tablespoons of sunflower oil. Roast the parsnips in the oven for 35-40 mins.

Cut the potatoes into cubes of approximately 1.5 cms, bring a large pan of water to the boil then add the potatoes and boil for 3 minutes. Drain and leave to one side.

When the parsnips have been roasting for around 10 mins, put the pheasant in the oven and roast for 20-25 mins

10 mins before the pheasant is ready heat 6-8 tbsps. sunflower oil in a large none stick frying pan, add the potato cubes and sauté, turning with tongs to ensure that they brown evenly.

When every is ready plate up the dish and serve.